The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
John Carroll men ready to play host for tourney
Kirtland falls to Lutheran West for second straight year
NORTH RIDGEVILLE » It is a rare occasion when opposing coaches come out of their respective postgame locker rooms and say the same thing.
But such was the case Feb. 28 following Lutheran West’s hardfought 61-58 victory over Kirtland in a Division III district semifinal at North Ridgeville High School. Not only did the thirdseeded Longhorns earn a spot in the March 3 district championship game against Elyria Catholic, but they also ended Kirtland’s undefeated streak at 23 games.
“That was very similar to last year’s game,” both Trey Senney of Lutheran West and Bob Bell of Kirtland said.
Last year the teams met in the same gym and also in a district semifinal. The only difference was that last year Lutheran West was seeded second and Kirtland third, and this year that was reversed. But otherwise the similarities were uncanny, including the Longhorns coming out on top, last year by a count of 40-38.
“That was the spitting image of last year’s game,” Senney said.
“The only difference is that last year it was about 20 points lower. I really wasn’t expecting the score to be that high.”
The score was that high because the Longhorns had three players in double figures and a fourth with nine, which Kirtland struggled to match. Abriana Rondin led Lutheran West with 16 points, followed by Larnae Vance and Raiyah Johnson with 14 each and Carleen Ellerbruch with nine. The Hornets countered with 24 from Sydney Snyder and 13 from Jenna Sayle, but nobody else reached double figures.
In a game that comes down to the final seconds before the outcome is determined, it often is difficult to identify what was the difference — why did one team win and the other did not? Senney said the teams were so similar in style and talent that the difference between them was marginal.
“I don’t think there was a huge difference,” he said. “If we had played 10 minutes longer you might have had five different outcomes.”
But Bell did see a difference, one that became apparent in the game’s opening minutes as Lutheran West sprinted out to leads of 12-2, 14-4 and 20-9. The first period ended with the Longhorns on top, 20-12, and Kirtland was faced with an uphill battle the rest of the way.
“I think the difference was their quickness,” Bell said. “We’re not a slow team. In fact, we’ve used our speed to our advantage throughout the season. But their speed was a little better than ours.”
When talking about the speed of Lutheran West the focus has to be on guards Vance, Johnson and Rondin. All three used their speed on defense to disrupt the Kirtland attack. Offensively, the guards were able to attack the basket, resulting in 25 free throws to 19 for Kirtland.
“Offensively, it was about a normal game for us,” Bell said. “Defensively, we didn’t do a very good job of closing people out. But when you try to hold down speed like that, it usually opens up other things.”
Despite the early deficit, Kirtland battled back and trailed by just two at the half, 30-28. The third quarter was a back-and-forth affair until the Longhorns scored the final six points of the period to take a 4640 lead.
Midway through the fourth period the Hornets managed to sneak back into the game to trail by just two, 50-48. But the Longhorns turned up the defensive pressure and Kirtland went cold. As the clock ran down the Hornets were forced to foul and Rondin took advantage, hitting 7 of 11 free throws in the fourth quarter.
While the Hornets were disappointed with the game’s outcome, they came out of their locker room to a rousing round of applause from their fans, a tribute to a 23-1 season that saw them set a school record for wins and also give Bell his first 23-win season and his first undefeated regular season in his 40th years as a head coach.
“It’s been incredible,” Bell said. “It’s been a really fun ride. The kids have played their hearts out the entire season. We jut didn’t have quite enough tonight.”