UTICA ― The banks were open at Utica on Feb. 21, and the girls basketball team cashed in.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Emily Ritzer and Makena Wilson kissed off the glass and in. Those baskets at the end of the third quarter were big, but it was Utica’s teamwork that pulled it across the finish line in a 58-51 Division V district win against Centerburg.
“Our bench energy and team bonding were great, and everyone played strong team ball,” said Ritzer, a 6-foot-2 junior who may have played her best game of the season with a 23-point, 14-rebound, three-assist effort. She did it with a little help from her friends.
Added first-year coach Micah Keith: “I’m happy with the team ball and how well we played. Our execution was really, really good.”
Fourth-seeded Utica (18-4) committed 19 turnovers but otherwise survived the ferocious 1-3-1 zone trap thrown up by the eighth-seeded Trojans (16-5). Utica now gets another home game after 14th-seeded Amanda-Clearcreek (10-13) upset No. 3 North Union 62-61 and will host the Aces at 7 p.m. Feb. 24 in a district semifinal.
“We worked hard on it all week, and we had to take advantage of the 1-3-1,” Ritzer said. “We scrimmaged Fredericktown, which brings a lot of pressure, and it helped a lot.”
Observed senior guard Emily Meyers, who added 11 points and three assists: “We set up for the 1-3-1 and learned how to break it. We wanted to attack the bottom of the zone and get [Ritzer] all the shots we could. It helped that our shots were on, especially Makena’s at the end of the third quarter.”
Centerburg, like Utica, a senior-laden team, got a 27-point outburst from guard Kenlee Fairall and went up 20-14 early in the second quarter. But it missed a layup and had just one field goal the rest of the half.
Utica responded with a 14-4 run to take a 28-24 lead. Wilson, a senior forward who had to sit with foul trouble before eventually fouling out, triggered the surge with baskets off assists by classmates Callie Baker and Meyers, and Ritzer scored off one of her many rebounds. Wilson lobbed to Ritzer for a layup, and Baker made a 3 on a pass out of the post from Ritzer.
“We’ve been strong all year,” Keith said. “We’re never down, never out. We knew they would have their runs and couldn’t get too upset about it. We were ready for it. Our first two practices of the week didn’t go well, but they were good practices because we learned from it.”
It was still a 37-33 game late in the third when Ritzer and Wilson hit their 3s. Utica took a 48-35 lead in the fourth when Meyers made a 3 off an assist by classmate Gracie Cyphers and Ritzer assisted Wilson on a baseline jumper. The tenacious Trojans whittled it down to 54-49, but Meyers then found Ritzer for a layup and scored herself off the press.
Utica also played an active zone and held Centerburg to 41% shooting (18 of 44) and Lauren Ellis to just 4 points after she had 8 in the first quarter.
“We were moving around and tried to get in the gaps,” Ritzer said.
But the biggest story was rebounding, where the winners owned a huge 36-15 advantage. Wilson, who scored 13 points and had three steals, and Cyphers each added six boards to Ritzer’s big day. Cyphers had four of those down the stretch.
“We call her ‘junkyard dog.’ She’s always hustling and seems to get every rebound,” Meyers said.
Keith said a lot of Ritzer’s rebounds came because of effort.
“We want to get people boxed out, but a lot of people that height don’t play as hard as she does,” he said.
Now, Utica gets a rematch with Amanda, rejuvenated by the return of 1,000-point scorer Taylor Evans from a knee injury and winners of nine of its last 10. Utica won 37-36 at Amanda the night of Evans’ return.
Utica’s only loss over its last 14 games came 55-54 to Johnstown, which plays top seed Columbus Academy in the other semifinal. The game against Amanda will mark the final home game for Utica’s seniors.
“Almost all of our starters are seniors, and I think we’ve built this up pretty well,” Meyers said. “We’ve had the season we thought we could, and proved a lot of people wrong.”
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This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Utica girls stave off Centerburg, get another home game for seniors
Reporting by Dave Weidig, Newark Advocate / Newark Advocate
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
