The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Cornerstone rides rugged slate to state
Cornerstone Christian didn’t pull any punches, scheduling predominantly larger-school foes to be ready for a Division IV state final-four charge. Those tests served their purpose, John Kampf writes.
The goal of the Cornerstone Christian girls basketball team, ever since last spring, has been to be playing in the Division IV state tournament March 15-16.
With that in mind, Coach Lisa Stopp made sure the Patriots would be well-prepared once they got there.
When the Patriots step onto the court for a 1 p.m. state semifinal March 15 against defending Division IV state champion Minster, they will do so tested by the most difficult — by far — schedule of any team in the Division IV tournament.
It’s that schedule that has the Patriots (23-4) confident as they had into the program’s first state tournament since the 2015-16 season.
“Honestly, I feel if we had played easy games all season, we wouldn’t be as prepared as we are now,” said Lauren Harris, the lone senior on the team. “Playing all those tougher Division I and Division II big schools really helped.”
Cornerstone’s schedule this year was a who’s who of girls basketball juggernauts in Northeast Ohio. Aside from Division IV Lisbon David Anderson and Andrews Osborne, every opponent Cornerstone faced this season was Division III or bigger.
So as much respect as the Patriots have for semifinal foe Minster (26-1), as well as Ottoville (24-3) and Shadyside (24-4) on the other half of the state tournament bracket, they feel that what they’ve seen this season in the regular season has prepared them for anything they’ll see at the Jerome Schottenstein Center this weekend.
“Our strength-of-schedule as been huge,” Stopp said. “It was intentional. It was a risk, but we felt the risk was worth it.”
Cornerstone’s four losses came to Division I teams — Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame, Akron Hoban, Walsh Jesuit and Magnificat.
But a deeper look into the Patriots’ schedule shows just how brutal of a schedule Stopp put together.
Two of Cornerstone’s foes — Mount Notre Dame and Division II Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary — are playing in the state tournament this weekend. Cornerstone got hammered by Mount Notre Dame, 59-32, in the Classic in the Country tournament, but throttled SVSM, 69-52, in Akron.
The Patriots beat Division II regional semifinalist Perry and also topped Division III regional semifinalist Elyria Catholic.
Additionally, Cornerstone went 6-0 against teams that lost their district championship games, including Division I Euclid, Division II Ursuline (twice), Laurel and Gilmour, and Division III Youngstown Liberty.
Cardinal Mooney, Padua, Mentor, Brush, Hathaway Brown and more are also on Cornerstone’s Been-ThereDone-That tour.
“Those are the kind of teams I don’t think a lot of Division IV teams play,” Stopp said of her schedule chock full of landmines. “There are quite a few games we were down and had to come back.”
Including a win over Euclid in which Cornerstone trailed by 20 and rallied to defeat the visiting Panthers.
“That was definitely my favorite game of the season,” junior Michaela Cloonan said. “We were down by 20 but stuck together. We hit some clutch shots. Kailey Tyna with those 3s. It was awesome to have that experience. It was a good experience for playoff time.”
Good because it not only exposed the Patriots to outstanding teams, but also outstanding individual players such as Constance Chaplin (Euclid), Gabbie Marshall (Mount Notre Dame), Lonasia Brewer (Hoban), Annika Corcoran (Gilmour), Dayshanette Harris (Ursuline), Faith Williams (Elyria Catholic), Nika Humeniuk (AOA) and other prominent names likely to be listed when the All-Ohio basketball teams are announced this week.
“We definitely learned lessons when playing those teams,” Tyna said. “It helped us see what we could work on and what we could improve on.”
Minster presents a massive challenge in its own right. Sophomore guards Ivy Wolf (13.8 points) and Janae Hoying (7.3 points) are topnotch despite being 10thgraders, and 6-foot-2 Xavier commit Courtney Pregar (11.1 points, 6.6 rebounds) will be a challenge to defend.
Minster’s defense is considered one of the best in the state.
But considering what Cornerstone has seen all season from a schedule that bordered on cruel-and-unusual punishment at times, the Patriots are confident they will be ready for whatever is thrown at them.
“I’d say there’s no pressure at all,” Harris said. “We’re going to go in focused and not worry about anything or anyone. We just have to play our game.”