Newark fails to overcome slow start
With 25 seconds left in the first half, Newark might have gotten the feeling that it met its match when Toledo Notre Dame guard Mariah Copeland hit nothing but net on a three-pointer almost 30 feet from the basket.
It was that kind of night for the Wildcats as somewhere between the Licking County line and Value City Arena, they misplaced the magnificent all-around game that made them the talk of central Ohio most of the winter.
Notre Dame was too tall and too quick, especially with 6-foot-3 junior center Ariel Cummings totaling 28 points and 14 rebounds, and Copeland collecting 11 points and four assists, in a 75-59 victory in a Division I state semifinal on Friday night.
Copeland has signed with
the University of Toledo and Cummings has committed to the school.
“I thought the game got off to a rough start for us,” Newark coach J.R. Shumate said. “They were really physical and that showed in the rebounding numbers. Anytime you give a good team easy shots in the paint, you are going to pay the price. We didn’t play our best game.”
The Wildcats (28-1) were trying to become the first team from central Ohio to win a big school championship since Pickerington in 1999, but they struggled from the opening tip in trailing 11-4 on a power move by Cummings underneath the basket.
What made things worse was key players Katie Shumate and Carlee Street each had two fouls early with the team failing to get into its motion offense.
It was too much Cummings, who had a career game.
“We’ve always had confidence in her, but she had to get confidence in herself,” Notre Dame guard Bre Hampton-Bey said of Cummings.
Cummings transferred from Toledo Rogers.
“I came to this school for a specific reason, and that was to go to states,” she said.
Notre Dame (26-3) will play Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame (25-4) for the title at 8:30 tonight.
A three-point playzby freshman forward Gabby Stare seemed to give the Wildcats a boost in cutting an 11-point deficit to eight with 5:48 left in the second quarter, but the Eagles closed the half with a 13-4 run to lead 33-16.
Senior center Olivia Fox said Newark could become a consistent state power.
“This was huge,” she said. “Even though we didn’t win this year, there are girls in (the locker room) who will have a chance to win. They can learn from this.”