ELYRIA − After a back-and-forth third quarter in Tuesday evening’s Division V regional semifinal game between Chippewa and Columbiana Crestview that left things all tied up at 28-all heading into the fourth quarter, Chippewa guard Emme Donnelly was quite sure that the Chipps team defense was going to have to bring it in order to keep their season alive.
“We knew defense had to win this game,” she said. “Our offense would come from our defense.”
Indeed it was the Chipps stern defensive stand in the final quarter that propelled the Chipps (18-8) past Columbiana Crestview (23-3) 42-36 and on the verge of a state semifinal appearance.
It was Chippewa’s 11-0 run in the fourth quarter to go up 39-28 − that featured made 3-pointers by each Lucy Goodrich and Myra Lewis, a Bree Regan layup and three made free throws − where the Chipps extended a lead the Rebels couldn’t come back from. Yet, it was their defensive effort that didn’t allow Columbiana Crestview to score a point until 2:08 minutes left.
“Yeah that was awesome. We just came down and started working as a team and started communicating with each other,” said Donnelly. “We worked together really well and made some good passes and got some steals that led to our victory.”
If there’s one area where Chippewa worked together fully as a team, it was in their defensive gameplan against Columbiana Crestview’s star guard Addison Rhodes, who was averaging a whomping 31.4 points per game coming into Tuesday and a player who was totally capable of taking over a game.
Donnelly and Goodrich had the task of defending Rhodes throughout the game, with Donnelly matching up with Rhodes the bulk of the second half. Rhodes had just five points through three quarters and finished the game with only 13 points, 18 below her season average.
“Both of them did a phenomenal job against her,” said Chippewa head coach Katie Miller. “We played great team defense because they ran her off staggered screens. They ran her off staggered ball screens. She down picked and tried to come off the block on the wing. We really talked about hedging out on her and having good help-side defense. For as little prep as we had, we did a really good job.”
Donnelly talked about what is was like fighting through the many screens Rebels teammates set for Rhodes and the importance of closing out on her jump shooting.
“Very important,” Donnelly said. “She’s definitely a catch-and-shoot shooter and there’s definitely a height difference between me and her. I definitely needed to get to her off screens just to limit the space between us because that’s definitely an advantage for her. Any space given, she’s an excellent shooter and I had to limit that.”
Chippewa’s Aira Regan (12 points) and Delaney Marshall (11 points) led the way in the scoring department for the Chipps.
After the win, Miller contemplated Chippewa’s regional final matchup against either Norwayne or Triway, before both teams matched up in the second regional semifinal.
“Both Jake [Shoup] and Mike [Miller] are excellent coaches,” Miller said. “It will be a good game to watch because we can kind of see different things. Norwayne, we played them twice. We played them three times last year too. We know them well but we also have to prepare for Triway because you never know what’s going to happen.”
jamessimpson@gannett.com
Twitter/X: @JamesSimpsonII
This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Chippewa’s fourth quarter defensive stand clamps down Columbiana Crestview in Div. V regional semifinal
Reporting by James Simpson II, Wooster Daily Record / The Daily Record
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