Elida beats Melrose to win its seventh straight state title
The Elida girls basketball team found seventh heaven at the Pit on Friday afternoon.
The top-seeded Tigers claimed their seventh consecutive state championship, defeating No. 2 Melrose 49-38 the Class 1A title game.
Elida (26-6) has won three straight 1A titles after claiming all four Class B championships.
“I don’t think it can ever get old,” Tigers coach Jaden Isler said. “It takes so much work and so much time. … But you put the time in so you can have moments like these.”
Senior Taylor Epps finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds as Elida dominated inside. Though the final tally of rebounds was only barely in the Tigers’ favor, 49-47, they controlled the offensive rebounds and secondchance points.
“We knew that no matter where the shot came from the first time around, we all needed to box out, because if we got a second-chance shot we’d have a better chance of getting the lead and making it stand up,” Elida senior forward Madison Haley said.
Melrose (22-11), which had won back-to-back 2A titles before dropping down this season, led only early in the second quarter when Reagan Carthel made a jumper for a 13-11 advantage. The two teams continued to go back and forth, with the score knotted one last time at 17-17.
Then Elida took control with a 7-1 run to finish the first half, with Epps scoring six of those points, four from the free-throw line. The Tigers finished 18-for-29 from the line, while the Buffaloes were just 6-for-16.
“What really killed us was just missing free throws,” said Melrose coach Caleb King, whose team also shot just 26 percent (14for-54) from the floor. “We were shooting 70 to 72 percent from the line during the season.”
Carthel finished with points and 12 rebounds for the Buffaloes, but it was simply not enough.
“I’m disappointed. It hurts,” she said.
Elida loses two other seniors besides Epps and Haley (nine points, 10 rebounds): Bonnie Bennett (five points) and Brianna Bargas (three points, six rebounds).
“This group of seniors is a really special group,” Isler said. “It’s the biggest group of seniors we’ve had in a while. It’s special to be able to go out with a win with them.”