IN THEIR PRIME FROM THE LINE
Free throws key as Adams advances past Ike in OT of district opener
Rochester Adams erased a double-digit deficit and proved itself the better team at the charity stripe in Monday’s 53-50 overtime win over Utica Eisenhower in a Division 1 girls basketball district opener at Stoney Creek High School.
“That’s hard to overcome,” said Eisenhower head coach Cliff Piper, whose team made just 5-of-23 free-throw attempts. “We had some crucial turnovers. They ended up shooting the ball well, (Adams sophomore Faith Zoldos) had a great second half. It was a great game. They pulled it out at the end and made their free throws, we didn’t.”
The game went past regulation when, with 9.2 seconds left and the game tied at 46-all, Zoldos poked the rock from Eagles sophomore Gabriella Gojcaj as she drove the lane right, but Adams senior Samantha Blaine, who came up with the loose ball, couldn’t convert a running layup before time expired.
In overtime, Blaine helped open up a lead roughly a minute in with a corner 3-pointer in front of her team’s bench. As the Eagles continued to miss, Adams split on three trips to the line to extend its lead to six before Ike countered with a long jumper from Gabriella Gojcaj and two free throws by Natalya Stojcevski.
The Highlanders, though only needed to make 1-of-2 again at the line as Eagles senior Mariana Stojcevski was fouled putting up a second-chance shot, but missed her first free throw, and the second was negated on a lane violation, effectively putting the game to bed.
It marked the completion of a comeback attempt by the Highlanders, who led 8-2 out of the gates, then trailed for the game’s middle portion until free throws by Kailee Huffman gave Adams a 41-40 advantage with 4:48 to go in the fourth quarter, at which point the Highlanders were in the bonus.
“They struggled a little bit from the line and kept us in it when we were struggling offensively in the first half,” Adams head coach Joe Malburg said. “We didn’t want to put them on the line, but the reason they were getting there was their size. They’re very physical in there, so we needed them to miss some of those to keep us in it, and then we made enough of ours down the stretch.”
Adams went 20 of 34 (58.8%) at the stripe, led by 7 of 8 from sophomore guard Layla Tomezak. “I was really just trying not to miss, honestly,” she said.
Eisenhower turned around the game in the first half with its height — including the 6-foot-2 Bertoia, who equaled Gojcaj with a team-high 12 points — and length by pressing.
“That was a pretty big surprise to me,” Malburg said. “I watched 14 or 15 of their games in the last week, and that’s the first time I’d seen them put the post player right on the ball, which created an issue for us. Running our normal press-breaker, we don’t have a 6-foot-2 player standing in the way. The angles were different; we had tipped passes, threw it off the shoe a couple times. In the second half, we adjusted to move the ball to the outside with the initial pass and hit our cutters and created some opportunities in transition.”
On the efficiency of the press, Piper added, “We picked and chose which games we were able to press or not this season. I felt it would work on this group, and it did. Our best offense was our press, to be honest.”
Ike finishes the season 10-13, and graduates three starters, but the two it returns doesn’t include Bertoia, who projects as a problem for opposing MAC teams if she continues to develop.
“We should be a good squad next year,” Piper said. “We’ll be OK.”
Zolos led Adams (7-16) with 24 points, all but five of them coming after halftime, and added seven rebounds as well. Tomezak combined her 11 points with six assists, five boards and seven steals, while Blaine also pulled down eight boards in the winning effort.
Up next is Stoney Creek for the Highlanders on Wednesday in the district semifinals. Adams fell to Stoney Creek 38-31 back on Feb. 16.
“We need to play the same way we did the first time,” Malburg said. “Last time we played was at the Crosstown Showdown at OU, and we were in it for most of the game. They have a great guard over there, (Sarah) LaPrairie, and there’s a reason they have a record they have. She’s really tough at the end of games. We held her to four for three quarters, and because she’s a great player, she got 14 in the fourth quarter. That was the difference. We just need to play our game and do a little bit better job on their best player down the stretch.”