LOGAN — There were no magic potions downed or Clif bars consumed. No paint-peeling speeches or trash cans overturned from head coach Tyler Bates.
Halftime during the Strasburg girls basketball team’s Division VII regional final clash with Reedsville Eastern did include some poignant items of emphasis, however.
“We weren’t defending (in the first half),” senior post player Ally Miller said. “Our second-quarter form was much better than the first, but we knew we needed to defend.”
Consider the point taken. Once the rough-and-tumble Tigers flipped the intensity switch, it was all over but the clean-up efforts in a 50-33 win beneath the bright lights at Logan High School’s Jim Myers Gymnasium.
Strasburg (23-5), in its first state tournament, plays either Stryker (22-4) or Ottoville (22-4) at 11 a.m. on March. 13 at Wright State’s Nutter Center.
The Panthers, from Williams County, and Big Green, from Putnam County (named after Revolutionary War General Israel Putnam), play at 1 p.m. on March 8 at Bluffton University. Their game was moved on March 7 due to condensation on the Bluffton playing surface.
Slow start, big finish
The Tigers twice trailed by nine points in the first quarter with as many turnovers (seven) as field goal attempts, and still saw an 18-9 deficit two possessions into the second.
But Miller’s classmates, the back-court tandem Olivia Spidell and Sofia Secrest, helped fuel a dominant defensive effort that steadily got the trademark transition game rolling.
An 8-2 run in the second, with inside scores from four different players, started a stretch when Eastern failed to score from the field on 15 of 16 possessions.
It allowed the Tigers to eventually to take a 22-21 lead into halftime after Miller scored on a putback in the final minute.
That Strasburg led after 11 turnovers and 30% shooting from the field was an ominous sign for Eastern’s hopes at pulling another tournament upset.
“I was surprised with how we turned the ball over early,” Bates said. “But once we settled in and were able to get some buckets in transition, the girls calmed down a little bit and our defense led to our offense.”
Freshmen fuel second-half fire
Freshman Lydia Thomas, kid sister of former All-Ohioan Riley Thomas, scored 14 of her game-high 16 points in the second half. It led a balanced effort that saw five players score and the Tigers get nine baskets in the paint.
But it Thomas’ classmate, freshman Delaney Herron, known as “DeDe” in Tiger Country, who set the second-half ground rules quickly with 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to start the third quarter. They were the team’s first distance strikes of the game.
The latter pushed the lead to 29-23 and triggered a 13-2 run to end the third that saw five Tigers score inside and Eastern come up empty on nine of 10 possessions.
At 39-26 entering the fourth, the proverbial writing was painted in enamel.
“Credit to Delaney and Lydia for making big buckets for us when we need it,” Bates said. “To be freshmen on the big state like that, and do that, it’s just priceless.”
Strasburg spent much of the final frame playing keep-away as Eastern, despite trailing 49-29, elected not to foul for a stretch of almost four minutes. It allowed the seniors a grand exit before a riled-up crowd.
Bates called the win “textbook for us.”
“Because we’ve said all year here that we wanted to play four quarters and play a brand of full-court basketball,” Bates said. “And even though things maybe weren’t going our way early, because we continue to stick with it, I think it paid off for us in the end.”
Herron finished with 10 points and Miller and Olivia Spidell eight. Sofia Secrest managed five markers, but her quickness pestered the Eagles’ backcourt from the outset. She and Spidell also keyed the transition game with hockey-like stretch passes.
It was an example of their team-first approach.
“I can trust Olivia so much,” Miller said. “I know she is going to get me the ball when I need to. I know she is going to box out, play defense — whatever the team needs her to do, she will do it.”
sblackbu@usatoday.com; X: @SamBlackburnTR
This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: Beat rolls on in ‘textbook’ win for stingy Strasburg in Elite Eight
Reporting by Sam Blackburn, The Times-Reporter / The Times-Reporter
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
