March 6 ended up providing central Ohio girls basketball’s edition of the “first four.”
Pickerington Central (Division I), Big Walnut (Division II), Circleville (Division IV) and Harvest Prep (Division VI) won regional championships to lock up state tournament berths.
Hartley (Division III) and Africentric (Division V) hope to join them March 7.
Circleville defeated Wintersville Indian Creek 40-26 at Zanesville and Harvest Prep beat Sarahsville Shenandoah 52-42 at Pickerington North.
Here are takeaways from Central’s 59-28 win over New Albany, Olentangy’s 66-45 loss to Kettering Fairmont in Division I and Big Walnut’s 67-54 victory over Worthington Kilbourne.
Pickerington Central rolls to fourth straight regional title
The number was likely in the back of his mind, but Tigers coach Johnathan Hedgepeth still flashed a wide smile when told that Central, the defending state champion, was headed to state for the 17th time.
“I like when I don’t know how many,” Hedgepeth said. “I was telling our senior class that going [to state] four times … that was our goal from the beginning, getting those seniors back to the [state tournament]. Our goal every year is simple. We are trying to win titles.”
Behind 13 points from junior forward Zoe Coleman, 12 from senior forward and Ohio University signee Blossom Wallace and a bevy of second and third chances, the Tigers (23-3) steamrolled New Albany in the Region 3 final at Taft Coliseum and earned their fourth straight regional championship.
Central led 16-5 after a quarter, 34-11 at halftime and invoked the running clock – a 35-point lead – in the final seconds of the third.
The Tigers will play Fairmont (26-0) in a state semifinal at 8 p.m. March 12 at University of Dayton Arena.
“We prioritize rebound and second chances,” Coleman said. “We are just ready for any team, to compete with any team. We came out fast with a lot of tempo, just moving the ball, sharing the ball and not getting good shots but great shots.”
Senior forward Mary Kidwell and freshman guard Abby Leimeister each had seven points to lead New Albany (17-9), which reached its first regional final since 2003 in Division II and improved by 11 wins from a year ago (6-17).
With only one day to prepare for Central after a regional semifinal win over Marysville, Eagles coach Eric Van Cleave admitted the matchup would have been a tall task even if New Albany had been on top of its game.
“They’re athletic, they do a lot of really good things, they have a lot of good matchups across the board,” Van Cleave said. “There are teams we’ve played who have pieces like that, but one through five, they are phenomenal. They play hard and they play fast. It’s a tough turnaround.”
–Dave Purpura
Olentangy falls short of first regional championship
Appearing in their second consecutive regional title game, the Braves (22-4) had problems all night with Fairmont’s relentless pressure and size underneath and trailed by as many as 22 points in the second half in the Region 2 final at Taft Coliseum.
Senior point guard and Ms. Basketball finalist Whitney Stafford scored 16 of her 21 points in the first half, and no other Olentangy player added more than seven points as the Braves fell short of their first state berth.
Junior guard Kareena Agrawal, a Loyola Chicago commit, was held to seven points.
“They’re long, athletic, well coached and organized,” Braves coach Klarke Ransome said of Fairmont. “They forced some turnovers and easy ones, and that’s what we wanted to try to eliminate.
“We wanted to limit turnovers and hold them to one shot [per possession] but they are not only really skilled and athletic, but they play really hard. A group that puts all of that together makes things difficult. Their length and athleticism just gave us problems down the stretch.”
Kaylah Thornton’s 22 points led Fairmont, which advanced to state for the first time since winning the Division I championship in 2013. That was the last of four consecutive regional titles for the Firebirds.
Janiyah Hargrave added 14 points.
Olentangy got within 24-23 with 4:07 left in the second quarter, but Fairmont went on a 12-5 run to end the half. The Braves never got closer than 10 points again.
“We settled in there after a little bit,” Firebirds coach Jeremey Finn said. “After everybody took a deep breath, we played really well. … If we could get back to our zone defense and have them shoot over the top, if we could get out there and contest it, it would give us a better shot.”
–Dave Purpura
Big Walnut survives scare against Worthington Kilbourne
As her team prepared for its third meeting with OCC-Capital rival Kilbourne, Big Walnut coach Carey Largent warned her players to expect a closer battle than the first two contests.
Largent was proven right, as her team held off a challenge from the Wolves before pulling away in the fourth quarter for a 13-point win in the Region 7 final at Morral Ridgedale.
The Golden Eagles (23-4) earned their second consecutive state berth and will play Cincinnati Seton or Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame in a semifinal March 13 at a site to be determined.
Last season, Big Walnut lost to Cincinnati Winton Woods 58-55 in overtime in a state semifinal.
The Golden Eagles coasted to 62-41 and 66-45 wins over Kilbourne during the regular season.
“I prepared the girls for a fight like that all week,” Largent said of Kilbourne’s effort. “I highly respect Kilbourne. They’re a very good team and very well coached.”
Trailing 21-8 after one quarter, Kilbourne pulled to within 27-21 late in the first half before continuing its comeback in the third quarter.
The Wolves (22-5) closed to 39-37 in the final minute of the third and trailed 41-37 heading into the fourth before Big Walnut regained control, building its largest lead at 59-42 on junior Remy Largent’s 3-pointer.
Junior Sydney Mobley, a Ms. Basketball finalist, dominated inside throughout the game and led the Golden Eagles with 28 points. Sophomore Ryleigh Thrapp scored 20 and Largent had 10.
“What I love about our team is you never know who’s going to come through with some big plays,” Carey Largent said. “Alexa (Morris) came in and gets a steal and a layup and hits a 3 in that (fourth-quarter) spark, and Ryleigh in the first quarter. That’s what makes our team special.”
Sophomore Mia Williams led Kilbourne with 18 points. Senior Oliviah Wilkerson scored 17 and sophomore Audrey Bennett added 11.
“We’ve grown as a team and we’ve really jelled,” Kilbourne coach Stephanie Jones said. “We made a great tournament run. We were clicking as a team. We knew that we were going to come in with a strong game plan to try to make it a game. We were confident that we were going to win the game.”
–Frank DiRenna
(This story has been updated with new information.)
High school sports reporters Frank DiRenna and Dave Purpura can be reached at sports@dispatch.com and at @DispatchPreps on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Four central Ohio girls basketball teams advance to state tournament
Reporting by Dave Purpura and Frank DiRenna, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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