NEW WASHINGTON – In last year’s district championship, Ashland put on a clinic against top-seed Norwalk for the Arrows’ first title since 1979.
Tuesday night, it was Norwalk’s turn to usurp top-seed Ashland in a Division III district semifinal controlling the game from the opening tip to the final buzzer in a shocking 50-20 win.
“We played Ashland twice last year, the first game we got them pretty good and the next time around they got us pretty good,” Truckers coach Kyle Brubaker said. “It’s kind of a rivalry because we’re seeing each other a lot at districts, but it’s a rivalry built on respect. Coach Holt is someone I talk to more than some other area coaches, I have a lot of respect for her and her program.
“They jumped out on us last year on the same floor, and I guess it was our turn.”
Last season Ashland built an impressive 31-8 halftime lead. This time, Norwalk wasted no time storming out to a 20-4 lead after one and stretching that to 34-5 at the intermission holding the Arrows to just a free throw in the second quarter. The only two Ashland field goals made came in the first few minutes of the opening quarter before an almost 15-minute scoring drought.
“That’s how we felt last year,” Brubaker said. “We watched last year’s film leading up to this and we felt like we were getting good shots, we just couldn’t make them. I’m sure that’s how they felt tonight.”
It’s exactly how they felt.
“They had the upper hand on the height, but I always believed it’s how tough you want it … and my kids had the heart all year,” Ashland coach Renee Holt said. “But it also comes with knocking down our shots and I thought that’s the coldest we’ve ever shot.”
As expected, Kennedy Lacey — Ashland’s career scoring leader as a junior — was the focal point of Norwalk’s defensive schemes. Unlike everyone else the Arrows have played this season, the Truckers were actually able to succeed in taking her 22.7 points per game out of the equation entirely.
“The main part of our defensive game plan was focused around her, but we know they have other players and lights out shooters,” Brubaker said. “We thought we could pack the paint a little bit more and with the right lineups in, we planned on doing that with as much length as we could … but it was really focused on her, and we thought we could not let (Cienna) Steury go off, not let (Camryn) Cox go off, and still make things tough on Lacey.
Lacey finished with a career-low four points and six rebounds. It’s only the seventh time in 72 games played that she has been held to single digits, twice it has happened against the Truckers.
“Luckily, we were able to do that,” Brubaker said.
Grace Tobias led the Arrows with six points, four rebounds, and four steals in her final game while classmates Cox (two points, five rebounds), Kaya Hendershott (two rebounds), and Madison Hoffman (inj.) also capped off their careers. And despite Ashland not defending its district title, this group of seniors helped revive a program that had a combined 12 wins in the four seasons prior to their arrival.
“I’m proud of the fight we had not only tonight, but all season,” Holt said. “It’s just an awesome group of girls and this senior class set the standard. They reminded me in there that we won four games when they were freshmen, so to respond these past two seasons and put up 20 wins is a testament to the work they put in.
“Back-to-back conference championship when they hadn’t won one before that in 30 years, last year we secured a district championship and that was 47 years. It really is a testament to that senior class that set the standard, but just as important are the followers.
“Yes we had leaders, but the followers wanted to follow.”
zholden@gannett.com | 419-617-6018 | Twitter/X: @Zachary_Holden
This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Ashland girls stunned by Norwalk in district semifinal
Reporting by Zachary Holden, Ashland Times-Gazette / Ashland Times Gazette
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