Brush bows out in district semifinal

NORTH CANTON » Throughout last offseason, the Brush girls basketball team motivated itself by saying, “next year is our year.”

Unfortunately for the Arcs, they’ll be mumbling the same mantra this offseason.

Doomed by turnovers and by a pesky second-half defense by host North Canton Hoover, Brush bowed out of the Division I tournament on Feb. 23 via a 5945 district semifinal loss.

The defeat ended Brush’s eight-game winning streak, and the Arcs’ season.

“It’s been a good run. It was a great year for us,” said coach Demarris Winters. “We’re going to regroup. We’ll be back in 30 days and start getting better.”

Brush (16-6) looked to be in pretty good shape after two Jada Henderson free throws helped give the Arcs a 28-25 lead at halftime. Brush’s game plan of pouring the ball into the post accounted for 20 of the team’s 28 first-half points.

But Hoover (15-5) made

defensive adjustments in the second half that changed the complexion of the game.

First, Coach Abbey Allerding’s squad began to front Brush’s post players.

Then Allerding cranked up the pressure on Brush point guard Kayla White, with sophomore Regann Jeffries smothering the senior guard to the point that the Arcs’ leading scorer did not score her first point until a mere 3:40 remained in the game.

“They made adjustments, started to front our bigs and were more aggressive defensively,” Winters said. “We had a lot of defensive lapses.

“(Hoover) has been here before. They’re a skilled team. They’re different than you see on tape. When you see them up close and personal, you see how good they really are.”

Hoover outscored Brush, 16-5, in the third quarter to take the lead for good. When Emily Walker hit two free throws, followed by Angela

Roshak’s bucket off a Brush turnover, the Vikings had a 34-30 lead that they wouldn’t lose.

Asia Nicholson put back a missed shot to bring Brush within two at 34-32, but a 10-1 run starting with a Roshak bucket and ending with a Kate Haubert free throw, pretty much put the game out of reach at 46-33.

Brush whittled the lead down to nine points in the fourth on a Taylor JohnsonMatthews free throw that made it 50-41, but Hoover made 12 of 15 free throws in the fourth to put the game away.

Walker made six of eight. “She stepped up,” Allerding said of the senior guard. “I’m really proud of her.

Kate (Haubert), too.”

Haubert made four of five charity shots in the fourth.

Allerding said her team’s defense and momentum were contagious in the second-half run.

“They do feed off each other,” she said. “It’s a blessing to coach them. They’re a great group of girls.”

Haubert (17), Walker (15) and Roshak (12) all hit double figures for the Vikings.

Donee Frazier had 11 for Brush, eight in the first half. Nine Arcs scored, with Johnson-Matthews next in line with nine.

Winters said he will likely second-guess himself on some of the second-half adjustments he made. He lamented that, as well as turnovers and missed free throws down the stretch.

“We’re still young,” said Winters of his team, which will lose four seniors to graduation. “We were super-super young two years ago. We were super young last year. We’re young this year. We’ve always said next year is gonna be our year.”

Unfortunately for them, they’ll be saying it again this offseason.

“It’s been a good run. It was a great year for us. We’re going to regroup. We’ll be back in 30 days and start getting better.” — Brush coach Demarris Winters