Coach Kurt Kaufman’s Tri-Valley girls basketball team demonstrated a giant dose of grit and determination Wednesday night, Feb. 22 in their D-I District semi-final game vs. Newark, rallying from a halftime deficit to defeat the Lady Wildcats 49-41 at Johnstown HS.
The win advances the Lady Dawgs (the No. 12 seed) to the D-I Central District championship game on Saturday evening at 6:30 p.m. vs top-seeded Pickerington Central. The winner moves on to Regional ‘Sweet Sixteen’ play.
A slow-moving first quarter of action saw Tri-Valley jump out to an 8-3 lead over the Lady Wildcats, thanks to a pair of fielders from Mackenzie Harvey, a Lexi Howe lane counter, and an Addison Wilson layup. But Newark responded with a 6-0 run to close the quarter and led 9-8 at the break.
Lady Dawg junior guard Karlee Rose nailed a trey on TV’s first possession of the second stanza, but the black-and-gold would then go seven straight possessions before scoring again, as a Lexi Howe three-point bomb with two minutes left in the first half stopped the bleeding and kept Tri-Valley within striking distance at intermission, trailing 19-14.
The third quarter was a slugfest, as physical play dominated the action – but saw the gritty Lady Dawgs survive.
Tri-Valley used an early third-quarter three-point play from Harvey to spark a second-half charge that saw Howe add a rebound bucket two possessions later, then another three points from Harvey on a trey that gave TV a 22-21 lead at 2:21. Howe added a late third-period free throw that gave the Lady Dawgs a 23-21 lead heading to the fourth quarter. Newark was 1-8 from the field and 0-4 from the line in the pivotal third quarter.
The fourth quarter saw both teams finally get their offenses cranked up, as the Lady Dawgs (who missed only one shot from the field in the fourth frame) got five straight points from Howe to start the period, then a pair of buckets from PD Moore and Mackenzie Harvey for a 32-27 TV lead midway through the period. Back came the Lady Wildcats however with a 10-4 run that gave NHS a 37-36 lead with 2:52 left.
But a Harvey three-point bomb sent the Lady Dawgs on a run of their own, as Tri-Valley closed the contest with a 13-4 spurt – aided greatly by Lexi Howe’s 6-6 performance at the charity stripe, and three big free throws from freshman Maddie Garber – which sent the TV team headed back to Dresden with a memorable 49-41 win in tow.
Howe’s game-high 19 points led the winners, followed closely by Harvey’s 18 counters. PD Moore added a pair of crucial fourth-frame counters, Karlee Rose a second-period trey, and Addison Wilson a first-quarter lay-up for the black and gold.
Senior guard Brie Gingras led Newark with 10 points (just one in the second half) and Jenna Shackelford added seven.
Back on Saturday evening, Feb. 18 in Dresden at The Dawg House in their tournament opener, the Lady Dawgs defeated Columbus Walnut Ridge 73-16, grabbing a Sectional title, and advancing to district play.
Host Tri-Valley jumped out to a 24-4 lead at the first break and never looked back, as the Lady Dawgs knocked down nine of their attempted 13 shots from the field and were 5-5 from the charity stripe. Lexi Howe’s 10 first-frame points and Mackenzie Harvey’s eight fueled the hot start. The home team led 47-10 at halftime, then cruised the rest of the way with a second-half running clock to get the win.
Howe’s 22 points led the winners who also got 14 from Harvey (with four treys), 11 from freshman starter Maddie Garber (with three treys) eight from PD Moore, six out of freshman Ella Knowlton (who swished a pair of fourth frame bombs), five counters from freshman Clara Goss, a trey from Karlee Rose, and a pair of fielders from Addison Wilson and Sami Cameron. Deja Briggs’ five points led the Lady Scots.
