ELYRIA − When two teams are familiar with one another and play as often as Norwayne and Chippewa have for the last two seasons (six meetings in all), they’re really no secrets between the two Wayne County Athletic League rivals. When it comes to matching up over and over again, there are usually adjustments and some small tweaks made here and there that teams do to gain an upper hand.
Along with the familiarity might come annoyance, too.
Just ask Norwayne guard/forward Ava Maibach.
“It gets kind of annoying. ‘Oh, we have to play them again you know’. But we have to play them again,” she said.
Maibach uttered those words after March 6’s Division V regional final and the second season in a row the two teams have met in the tournament. The end result pointed toward Norwayne (24-2) as they defeated Chippewa (18-9) 52-33 for their second straight regional title and third win of the season versus the Chipps.
Entering the regional final, what Norwayne head coach Jake Shoup wasn’t expecting was that Chippewa would play man-to-man defense for much of the game.
“I fully expected them to throw some different things at us,” he said. “Seeing them on recent films, they started to play some 2-3 zone, where some of the time they trapped out of it and some of the time they don’t. Then other times we knew they like to go to their 1-2-2 half-court trap or 2-2-1 press. Just being able to handle whatever it is they throw at us defensively was important for us.”
“We felt like they would have took their time and controlled tempo. We felt that was the only thing that would give us an advantage,” said Chippewa head coach Katie Miller, explaining her decision to matchup man-to-man against Norwayne. “Pick them up early. Try to get Ava [Maibach] to direct the offense 70 feet away from the basket as opposed to 30 feet. Trying to get Hannah [Froelich], Ava [Maibach] and [Allie] DeMassimo away from the hoop.”
For a Norwayne team that had a 12-game winning streak coming in and won their four tournament games by an average margin of 46.0, Friday wasn’t the cleanest of performances by the Bobcats. Neither was it for the Chipps, as both teams committed and forced the other into a high amount of turnovers throughout.
“I feel like the first time we played Chippewa, we had a lot of turnovers,” Maibach said. “They just try and speed the game up and it gets out of control. They like to trap and put the pressure on and that kinds off gets into our head sometimes. We’ve done a lot better as the season has gone along of staying more composed.”
“Yeah, we turned it over but it helped us more than it helped them to be honest,” said guard Courtney Cline. “It worked out for us.”
Said Shoup, “We wanted to really value the ball but we turned it over quite a bit. We also know defensively we couldn’t reach but if there was a loose ball, we had to dive for it.”
Norwayne took a 30-16 lead into halftime and even when the Chipps made a 7-1 run to trim the Bobcats lead to nine early in the third quarter, Norwayne then answered with its own 8-0 run to get the lead to 15.
Miller credited Norwayne by saying, “They do a good job of making runs. Ava elevates inside. Cline and DeMassimo attack the rim well and Hannah, who happens to be in the right spot at the right time.”
While Norwayne’s outside shot wasn’t humming tonight like it was against Triway in Tuesday’s regional semifinal game (Bobcats made 10 3-pointers), it was their always reliable and physical inside scoring game that just wears opponents down over the course of four quarters. Chippewa and their smaller lineup got a taste of that in their first two meetings, and they had a rough time dealing with it in the third meeting.
“Our big girl Hannah. She’s phenomenal. No one can match her toughness and strength,” said Maibach, who finished with 12 points. “She just opens up a whole new part of the game. Even when they double-team her, someone else is open and we’re really good at moving the ball. She just dominates.”
Froelich and DeMassimo both scored 17 points for the Bobcats. Myra Lewis led Chippewa with 10 points.
“I mean our size really helps us a lot,” Cline added. “A lot of teams don’t have size like we do. I would say Hannah and Ava getting putbacks helps us a lot. Even if we miss a shot, they’re there to rebound it.”
“We wanted to take away as much as we can inside and force them to play on the perimeter,” Miller said. “We also thought if we could pick them up a little bit sooner and put some pressure on them, we could force them into some uncharacteristic 3s.”
“We really wanted to pound that ball inside,” said Shoup. “That’s something that’s been consistent for us all season. I thought Hannah Froelich and Ava Maibach did a really nice job with that.”
In a season where Chippewa was runner-up in the mighty strong WCAL, won its third straight district title and was a regional finalist, Miller put the spotlight on her two seniors in Aira Regan and Cally West. She highlighted how much enjoyed having West play basketball this season for the first time since middle school and how Regan was able to overcome some injuries to have a fine four-year career at Chippewa.
“We had a goal after losing to them last season that we wanted to get back to this point,” said Miller. “We had always knew that they were a team that was likely to return to regionals and if we played well enough, we could get back here. Sometimes you run into teams that is a tough matchup. They should keep their heads up and hopefully we will get back here.”
As for Norwayne, they reflected on making their second straight appearance in the state Final Four, which will take place next Friday, March 13 at Wright State University in Dayton.
“First off, all credit to God. What he’s done with with this team has been beautiful and such a blessing,” said Shoup. “At the same time, so much credit to our kids for buying into our program and all their dedication over the summer and during the whole year getting to this point.”
“It means so much. Especially to do it two years in a row,” said Maibach. “Just getting through them and getting to enjoy it. No one wants the season to end. We’re really enjoying it and we just wanna win and keep on going. Make the most of it and that’s what we’re doing.”
“If it works out again, we get to play Portsmouth,” said Cline, on Norwayne’s potential state semifinal opponent and the very team that defeated the Bobcats in last season’s Division V state title game. “Hopefully we get to redeem ourselves from last year.”
jamessimpson@gannett.com
Twitter/X: @JamesSimpsonII
This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Going Back to State! Norwayne marches past rival Chippewa, returning to Final Four
Reporting by James Simpson II, Wooster Daily Record / The Daily Record
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