Versailles triumphs, 57-32
Full-court press powers victory against Greeneview.
SPRINGFIELD
— Versailles used a sticky full-court press to force Greeneview into numerous firsthalf turnovers and take the Rams out of their normal offense en route to a 57-32 victory in the girls Division III regional final at Springfield High School on Saturday.
Versailles advances to the state tournament at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus and will play Proctorville Fairland on Friday at 3 p.m.
“It hurts,” Greeneview coach Gregg Haines said. “They are long, they can move and we knew that if we wanted to stay in the game that we had to compete in the paint and that just didn’t happen.”
The state tournament is a familiar place for Versailles, which claimed the title in 2008 and also made state appearances in 1992, 1998, 2007 and 2009.
“We’ve been thinking about the final four for a long time,” said Versailles senior Emily Harman, who led a wellbalanced attack with 12 points. “We saw the other team do it in 2008 and it’s been a goal ever since.”
Tough defense and excellent rebounding led Versailles to a 16-7 advantage in the first quarter that was pushed to 33- 13 at the half. Versailles held Greeneview’s leading scorer Ashton Lovely to five points in the first half. Lovely, a senior headed to the University of Cincinnati next year, finished with 18 points. The Southwest District Division III player of the year averaged 23.5 during the regular season.
“It’s more like a gang defense that you have to play on her and that’s what we did,” Versailles coach Jacki Stonebraker said. “We all have to gang up on her then release quickly because she is going to find an open girl if she doesn’t have a shot.”
Versailles’ height took a major toll on the Rams. The starters stand 5-foot9, 6-1, 5-6, 6-2 and 5-10 with another 6-footer coming off the bench.
“That was probably the best first half of basketball that we’ve played,” Stonebraker said.
“We were on target, focused, stuck to the game plan. We focused on getting the ball to our posts and we knew Lovely would probably have to guard a post player and we knew we could maybe wear her out with that option.”
The Rams pulled within 18 twice early in the third quarter but could never get anything going despite 11 points from Lovely in the period.
“I think we handled the pressure good,” Lovely said. “It’s just that we couldn’t stop them defensively. We just didn’t have the size and we didn’t have the depth on the bench like they do. They were just better than us.”
The Tigers went up 4424 at the 2:40 mark of the third quarter on a bucket by Harman and would do nothing but stretch that lead on into the fourth.
“I am proud of our girls. They battled to the end,” Haines said. “When you’re down 20 at the half, you don’t know how your girls are going to respond. They were ready to fight and go down swinging.”
Advancing to the regional final was a first for Greeneview, which finished 24-4. The Rams graduate six seniors, three of whom have started the last three years.
“The senior group raised the bar for our program,” Haines said. “They have kind of put our school on the map for girls basketball. I think this team is special. It’s going to be tough to lose that group of seniors.”