Elyria boys hit 13 3s in victory

When Jayden Crutcher plays like that, and his teammates are playing like that, watch out for Elyria.

One game after Crutcher tied the school record with nine 3s in a game and the team made 12 total, the Pioneers (11-5, 8-2 SWC) made 13 in a commanding 77-53 win over North Ridgeville on Feb. 2.

Crutcher has been on a tear, and it continued with 28 points in this game. After making a few triples and drawing attention like he should, he was making the right play and getting his teammates involved. Cam Bell and Taylor Blanton both scored 12 points behind him, and Jermiah Daniels added nine.

“They impressed me today,” Elyria coach Brett Larrick said of his team. “They stepped up, they did what we asked and they paid attention the last two days in practice. … I’m really impressed. We’ve talked a lot about building and getting a little bit better each day, each game. That’s got to be our mindset is to keep improving. I think it’s starting to show.”

North Ridgeville (8-7, 4-6 SWC) took an early 12-7 lead, but the game flipped completely when Griffin Turay picked up his second foul just three minutes into the game. He had to sit for the remainder of the first quarter, and all the Pioneers needed was those five minutes to go on a 17-2 run to take control.

Daniels got off to a hot start and scored all nine of his points in the first quarter. Tied at 14-14, Elyria scored the final 10 points of the first. Crutcher gave his team the lead with a jumper, and he hit a 3 to increase the lead to five. Baskets from Bell and Rondell Grimmett extended the lead to double digits.

The Rangers were able to battle back within five a couple of times, but they were never able to fully recover from Turay’s absence. In limited playing time, he was still able to score a team-high 18 points. However, giving up 77 points made it tough to get back into the game.

“We got really far away from our defensive identity tonight,” North Ridgeville coach Ben Chase said. “I was surprised. We don’t defend that way, and we’ll have to clean it up.”

It’s no secret Crutcher is a lethal shooter. However, even in a different role last year, that was clear. Now as the star of the show, he’s shown the ability to be more than a scorer. He had another great outing, but what separated the Pioneers’ offense was him finding open shooters.

“It just shows how tough we are to guard,” Crutcher said. “I’m not the only scorer on our team. We have two, three other scorers that can shoot the ball and get a bucket.”

All of the bright lights were on this game. Getting Turay back, this was a chance for North Ridgeville to prove that it’s a team to be reckoned with down the stretch. With that being said, Elyria is on a role now winning for the eighth time in nine games. This might’ve been its best performance yet.

“(This win) means a lot,” Daniels said. “We played as a team and we definitely shocked some people.”

Were the Pioneers shocked?

“Nah, we knew we were coming in to play hard and get the win,” Daniels added.

Both teams return to SWC action on Feb. 6. Elyria hosts Avon Lake and North Ridgeville is at home against Midview.

Girls basketball: North Ridgeville 65, Elyria 51

The Rangers’ girls basketball team couldn’t have asked for a better start to the varsity doubleheader. Celebrating the program’s six seniors, they pulled away for a 65-51 conference victory over Elyria (3-17, 0-12 SWC).

North Ridgeville (16-4, 10-2 SWC) did senior night right with a ceremony before the game honoring all six seniors. Grace Kingery came off the bench for the first time and still scored a game-high 24 points. However, she also got to watch her fellow five seniors — Maddie Eldridge, Kailey Schulz, Brooke Lime, Olivia Poltorek and Adrianna Brown — get the Rangers off to a hot start.

“Everybody got a ton of playing time and it was a good win for us,” North Ridgeville coach Amy Esser said. “It was nice to get everybody in and celebrate our seniors tonight.”

It’s rare to see a class of six seniors on one basketball team, and they all gave contributions in this game. Lime is the Rangers’ second option on most nights for a reason, and she shined again with 13 points. It was a memorable night with the win serving as the cherry on top.

“All of the seniors having been playing for a long time together, ever since we were little,” Lime said. “It was nice growing up with them and playing with them for so long. It came together tonight and we had a fun game.”

Schulz scored six quick points to get Ridgeville going early, and Lime also added five in the first quarter. Kingery came in three minutes into the game, and also put six on the board in the opening frame. After scoring a school-record 45 points in the first meeting against the Pioneers on Jan. 5, it appeared that scoring 24 in this one was still more than enough.

Elyria came to play, but just came up short in this one. It was only a nine-point game at the half. Hayli Hendrix led the Pioneers with 16 points and Sirriah Drummer added 11.

The Rangers return to the court on Feb. 7 at Midview. Elyria travels to Avon Lake.