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2019 Girls Basketball State Tournament Recaps

Division I Final

Cougars Knock Off Defending Champ; Become Third Team with Seven Girls Basketball State Championships

No. 4 Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame defeats Pickerington Central 52-31 to win state title
 
COLUMBUS, Ohio — No. 4 Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame (27-2) defeated No. 1 Pickerington Central (28-2) 52-31 to win the 2019 OHSAA Division I girls basketball state championship Saturday night at the Jerome Schottenstein Center.
 
Heading into the fourth quarter with a 32-29 advantage, the Cougars of Mt. Notre Dame reeled off 16-straight points over the span of six minutes to solidify their title. When it was all said and done, the Cougars outscored the Tigers 20-2 in the fourth quarter. Prior to the fourth-quarter run, neither team held a lead greater than five.
 
Mount Notre Dame head coach Scott Rogers was asked about the fourth quarter and final outcome as a whole. "I never expected it," said Rogers, "it's a dream come true. This team had a fantastic season and it couldn't have ended in any better fashion."
 
Mount Notre Dame won with a balanced scoring attack from its starting five, as they scored all 52 points with each finishing with more than eight points. Junior Makira Cook finished with eight, freshman KK Bransford with nine, sophomore Laila Phelia with 10, senior Gabbie Marshall with 11 and senior Julia Hoefling with 14. Marshall, a First Team All-Ohio honoree, added six rebounds, three assists and two steals. The Cougars shot 62 percent from the field in the game.
 
Madison Greene, another All-Ohio First Teamer, was the lone Tiger to finish in double-digit scoring with 10 points.
 
Pickerington Central was looking to win back-to-back state titles after defeating Solon in the 2018 title game.
 
Mount Notre Dame now joins Pickerington Central and Columbus Africentric as the only schools with seven OHSAA girls basketball state titles.
 
Attendance for the game was 3,456, bringing the total attendance for the 2019 OHSAA girls basketball state tournament to 36,298.

Division IV Final

Minster Wins Back-to-Back State Championships

Minster defeats Ottoville 53-37 to win second straight title
 
COLUMBUS, Ohio – In a rematch of the 2018 title game, the No. 4 Minster Wildcats (28-1) defeated No. 6 Ottoville (25-4) 53-37 to win the 2019 OHSAA Division IV Girls Basketball State Championship Saturday at the Jerome Schottenstein Center.
 
Down by four (13-9) going into the second quarter, the Wildcats were able to fight their way back and take control of the game by outscoring the Lady Green in the second and third quarters by 20 points.
 
"Coming out of halftime, I was really impressed with the energy these girls brought. Our defense is what brings energy to the floor and that's what we did coming out in the third quarter," said Minster head coach Mike Wiss when asked the change in momentum.
 
Sophomore Janae Hoying was the high scorer for the Wildcats with 19 points. Second team All-Ohio senior Courtney Prenger aided her with 16 points, eight rebounds and three blocks.
 
Senior Haley Hoersten scored a team-high 10 points for Ottoville. First-Team All-Ohio senior Kasey Knippen finished with nine points and six rebounds. The Lady Green go home with its second-straight runner-up finish in the Division IV state tournament.
 
Ottoville was looking to win its first state title in its eighth state tournament appearance.
 
Saturday’s victory marks Minster’s fourth girls basketball state championship in five state tournament appearances.
 
Attendance for the game was 4,357.

Division II Final

Lady Rams Defend Division II Crown, Knock Off Top-Ranked Dayton Carroll

No. 4 Toledo Rogers wins back-to-back state titles with 56-45 win over No. 1 Dayton Carroll
 
COLUMBUS, Ohio — No. 4 Toledo Rogers (27-2) defeated No. 1 Dayton Carroll (27-3) 56-45 to win the 2019 OHSAA Division II girls basketball state championship Saturday at the Jerome Schottenstein Center.
 
The victory marks back-to-back Division II state championships for the Lady Rams.
 
It was clear early on that Carroll's defensive mindset was to attempt to shut down Rogers' senior Zia Cooke, the Division II Player of the Year. The Patriots ran a zone defense for the majority of the game with a single defender shadowing Cooke.
 
Rogers sophomore Madison Royal-Davis, a First Team All-Ohio honoree, took advantage of the Cooke-focused defense and scored a game-high 17 points while also grabbing eight rebounds and dishing out seven assists. Royal-Davis scored the opening basket 1:32 into the game and the Lady Rams kept the lead for the remainder of the game.
 
Cooke, even with the Patriots' defensive scheme, finished the game with 13 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and two steals. Over the course of Cooke's four career OHSAA state tournament games, she scored 104 points, good for sixth all-time.
 
Following the game, Cooke was asked about the defense's heavy focus on her. "It was actually a good thing, kind of. It slowed the game down on offense and I was able to focus my energy on defense and getting others involved."
 
Rogers head coach Lamar Smith kept his answer simple when asked about his team's victory. "Defense wins championships, and we played great defense today."
 
Dayton Carroll, in its second state title game appearance, was led in scoring by junior forward Julia Keller, who finished with 17 points and six rebounds. Senior guard Elisabeth Bush, a Second Team All-Ohioan, finished with a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds.
 
Attendance for the game was 3,982.

Division III Final

Columbus Africentric Caps Off Perfect Season, Becomes Second School to Win Seven Girls Basketball State Titles

No. 1 Africentric defeats No. 3 Waynesville 51-47
 
COLUMBUS, Ohio — No. 1 Columbus Africentric defeated No. 3 Waynesville 51-47 in a battle of the unbeaten to claim the 2019 OHSAA Division III girls basketball state championship Saturday at the Jerome Schottenstein Center.
 
Africentric (28-0) joins Pickerington Central as the only schools to win seven state titles. Pickerington Central has the opportunity to make it eight when they match up against Mount Notre Dame in the Division I championship game at 8:30 p.m.
 
Africentric has now won back-to-back titles and three in the past four seasons.
 
For a team that scored less than 60 only twice in the 2018-19 season, the Africentric offense got off to an uncharacteristically slow start; leading Waynesville 18-15 at the half. Even as the offense awoke in the second half to the tune of 33 points, it primarily came from offensive rebounding.
 
"It was the worst-shooting performance in the state tournament since I've been here," Africentric head coach William McKinney said after the game. "But, I was never worried about the scoring; it was going to come eventually, and it was great to fight and grind one out with great defense and rebounding."
 
Waynesville (27-1) outshot the Nubians 37 percent to 27 percent, but the Nubians outrebounded the Spartans 46-24 including 26 on the offensive end leading to easy put-backs.
 
Despite playing through the stomach flu and a 102-degree fever that sent her to urgent care the night before the game, Division III Player of the Year, senior Jordan Horston, was the co-leading scorer in the game with 15 points. Horston added 10 rebounds, a game-high six assists and two steals. Horston, a three-time state champion, is now tied for the seventh-most points scored in OHSAA girls basketball state tournament history with 101 in her career.
 
Sophomore Maliyah Johnson led the Nubians in rebounds with 13, including nine offensive, and added seven points.
 
Starting the fourth quarter down 39-24, Waynesville could've rolled over and succumb to the full-court Africentric defensive pressure, but the Spartans refused to quit and opened the quarter with a 12-4 run to cut the Nubian lead to six with 4:16 left.
 
From that point, Waynesville senior Rachel Murray and Horston traded baskets, scoring the game's next 11 points to make it 50-42 in favor Africentric with 24 seconds left, leaving too little time for Waynesville to finish the comeback.
 
Murray, a senior First Team All-Ohio guard, finished with 15 points, and senior Marcella Sizer finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Spartans.
 
This was Waynesville's second trip to the state tournament and first to the championship game.
 
Attendance for the game was  4,042.

Division I Semifinals

No. 4 Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame 55, No. 7 Canton GlenOak 37

 
COLUMBUS, Ohio – No. 4 Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame (26-2) defeated No. 7 Canton GlenOak (24-3) 55-37 in the OHSAA Division I girls basketball semifinals on Friday at the Schottenstein Center. Mount Notre Dame will be looking to win their 7th state championship.
 
The Cougars controlled the game from the tip and by halftime had more than doubled the Eagles’ scoring output, 33-14.
 
The Cougars’ leading scorer was freshman KK Bransford with 13 points. Senior Julia Hoefling stuffed the stat sheet, scoring 11 points on 3-of-4 shooting, grabbing seven rebounds and recording three blocks.
 
The key to Mount Notre Dame’s victory was its shooting. The cougars shot 18-22 from the free throw line and 46 percent from the field.
 
GlenOak senior Hayley Smith led the Eagles in scoring and rebounds with 10 and seven, respectively. This was GlenOak’s first state tournament appearance since 1990.
 
Mount Notre Dame will play the winner of No. 1 Pickerington Central and Toledo Notre Dame in the 2019 OHSAA Division I Girls Basketball State Championship game Saturday at 8:30 p.m.

No. 1 Pickerington Central 52, Toledo Notre Dame Academy 42

 
COLUMBUS, Ohio — No. 1 Pickerington Central (28-1) defeated Toledo Notre Dame Academy (23-6) 52-42 in the 2019 OHSAA girls basketball Division I semifinals Friday night at the Jerome Schottenstein Center.
 
Up 15 with 4:26 remaining in the game, it looked as though Pick Central was going to run away with the win; however, over the next 3:20, Notre Dame Academy responded with a 13-2 run, capped by a Jala Johnson three pointer, to make it 46-42.
 
It seemed as though NDA's run took all the energy they had remaining as Pick Central closed the final 1:24 with a 6-0 run of its own.
 
Pickerington Central was led by a balanced offensive attack, with three players finishing in double-figure scoring. First Team All-Ohio point guard, senior Madison Greene, finished with a team-high 14 points and five steals, while fellow seniors Jada Tate and Maliya Perry both scored 11.
 
Grace VanSlooten was the one of two Eagles to finish with double-figure scoring. The second-team All-Ohioan finished with 15 points while adding 7 rebounds. This was Notre Dame Academy's sixth trip to the OHSAA state tournament.
 
Pickerington Central will be looking to win back-to-back, and its eighth overall, girls basketball state titles when they face off against No. 4 Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame Saturday at 8:30 p.m. at the Schottenstein Center.
 
Attendance for session four, consisting of both Division I semifinal games, was 5,530.

Division IV Semifinals

No. 2 Minster 65, No. 9 Willoughby Cornerstone Christian 31

 
COLUMBUS, Ohio – No. 2 Minster (27-1) defeated No. 9 Willoughby Cornerstone Christian (23-5) 65-31 to advance to its second-straight Division IV state final Thursday at the Jerome Schottenstein Center in Columbus.
 
Minster took control of the game early with a 18-6 lead by the end of the first quarter and never relinquished it as the lead grew over each of the next three quarters.
 
Division IV Second Team All-Ohio senior Courtney Prenger was the high scorer for the Wildcats with 18 points and nine rebounds. Division IV First Team All-Ohio sophomore Ivy Wolf aided Prenger with 12 points of her own.
 
Division IV Honorable Mention junior Kailey Tyna led the way for Cornerstone with 13 points and five rebounds.
 
The Wildcats will be looking to make it back-to-back state championships when they play the winner of the second Division IV semifinal game between No. 6 Ottoville (24-3) and Shadyside (24-4) Saturday at 5:15 p.m. Minster defeated Ottoville 63-48 in the 2018 finals.

No. 6 Ottoville 50, Shadyside 43

 
COLUMBUS, Ohio — No. 6 Ottoville (25-3) defeated Shadyside (24-5) 50-43 in the second OHSAA Division IV girls basketball state semifinal Friday at the Jerome Schottenstein Center.
 
After a deadlocked first quarter that ended in an 11-11 tie, Ottoville's First-Team All-Ohioan, senior Kasey Knippen, stole the ball and finished with a layup on back-to-back possessions, giving the Lady Green a lead that they would hold for the remainder of the game.
 
Knippen, one of two returning starters from the 2018 runner-up Ottoville squad, was the game's high scorer with 20 points while also adding seven rebounds, four steals, and three blocks.
 
Shadyside sophomore Baylee Wach, a Third-Team All-Ohio honoree, led the Tigers with 17 points, including an OHSAA Division IV semifinal game record five three-point field goals. This was the Tigers fourth appearance in the state tournament.
 
For the second-consecutive year, Ottoville will face Minster in the state championship game. Last year, Minster defeated Ottoville 63-48. The Division IV title game is set for 5:15 p.m. Saturday at the Schottenstein Center.
 
Attendance for session three, consisting of both Division IV semifinal games, was 5,197.

Division II Semifinals

No. 1 Dayton Carroll 57, Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary 38

 
COLUMBUS, Ohio – No. 1-tie Dayton Carroll (27-2) defeated Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary (18-10) 57-38 in the OHSAA girls basketball Division II semifinal game Thursday at the Jerome Schottenstein Center.
 
On defense Dayton Carroll held SVST to 35 percent shooting and forced 15 turnovers. On offense, the Patriots couldn’t be stopped, as three players finished with double-digit points. Freshmen Sarah Ochs led all the scorers with 14 points. Juniors Allie Stefanek and Julia Keller each contributed 12.
 
St. Vincent-St. Mary was able to cut the lead to six with 3:42 remaining in the quarter. However, Carroll countered with an 11-0 scoring run to increase the lead to 17 and never looked back as Carroll’s lead grew to 21 in the fourth quarter.
 
Division II Honorable Mention All-Ohioan Maria Dobson led with ten points for the Fighting Irish. This was St. Vincent-St. Mary’s sixth appearance at the state tournament, the first since 2014.
 
Dayton Carroll will look to win its first girls basketball state title when they play the winner of the matchup between of No. 4 Toledo Rogers (25-2) and No. 5 Thornville Sheridan (25-2) on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.

No. 4 Toledo Rogers 56, No. 5 Thornville Sheridan 48

 
COLUMBUS, Ohio – In the second OHSAA girls basketball Division II semifinal on Thursday at Jerome Schottenstein Center, Toledo Rogers (26-2) defeated Thornville Sheridan (25-3) 56-48. No. 4 Toledo Rogers will face No. 1 Dayton Carroll in the Division II State Championship on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
 
Division II Player of the Year, Zia Cooke was the high scorer for Rogers with 37 points, which is tied for the fifth-most points in an OHSAA state tournament game. Cooke also added a team-high 12 rebounds. Over her past three state tournament games, she has amassed 91 points and 33 rebounds.
 
Freshman Faith Stinson and junior Kendyl Mick led the way for Sheridan. Stinson finished with a double-double with a team-high 16 points and 13 rebounds. Mick, a Division II Second Team All-Ohioan aided with 10 points. The Generals shot just 28 percent from the field and 12 percent from three.
 
This was Sheridan’s third trip to the state tournament with the last being in 2004.
 
Toledo Rogers will be looking to win back-to-back OHSAA girls basketball state championships on Saturday.
 
Session Two attendance was 4,928.

Division III Semifinals

No. 1 Columbus Africentric 61, No. 4 Berlin Hiland 48

 
COLUMBUS, Ohio — No. 1 Columbus Africentric defeated No. 4 Berlin Hiland 61-48 in the first OHSAA Division III girls basketball state semifinal Thursday at the Jerome Schottenstein Center.
 
The Nubians (27-0) led throughout, holding a five point lead after each of the first three quarters and eventually extending their lead to 15 points late in the fourth.
 
Junior Alexia Smith led Africentric with 19 points on 8-of-17 shooting. Jordan Horston, the Associated Press OHSAA Division III Player of the Year, stuffed the stat sheet with 15 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and two blocks.
 
Hiland (26-3) was led by sophomore guard Morgan Yoder, who finished with a game-high 21 points. This was the Hawks state-record 16th trip to the state tournament.
 
Africentric will look to win back-to-back, and seventh overall, OHSAA girls basketball state championships. The Division III state championship is set for 10:45 a.m. on Saturday, and the Nubians will play the winner of No. 3 Waynesville and No. 6 Doylestown Chippewa.

No. 3 Waynesville 41, No. 6 Doylestown Chippewa 39 (OT)

 
COLUMBUS, Ohio — No. 3 Waynesville (27-0) will make its first state title game appearance after defeating No. 6 Doylestown Chippewa 41-39 in overtime in the OHSAA Division III state semifinal Thursday at the Jerome Schottenstein Center.
 
Down 32-21 after three quarters, the Spartans ripped off eight-straight points to get back into the game and take the momentum. The two teams battled the rest of the fourth to force overtime at 37-37.
 
In overtime, the score remained tied until the final seconds when Waynesville's Marcella Sizer pulled down an offensive rebound and finished a layup as she was fouled and time expired to win.
 
Sizer finished with a team-high 13 points and game-high 16 rebounds.
 
Doylestown Chippewa (25-2) was looking to make its first trip to the state title game since it finished as runner-up in 1994. The Chips were led by second-team All-Ohio guard, junior Celina Koncz. Koncz finished with a game-high 20 points, and pulled down 11 rebounds.
 
The Division III state championship will be a battle of the undefeateds as Waynesville takes on No. 1 Columbus Africentric (27-0) Saturday at 10:45 a.m at the Schottenstein Center.
 
Session one attendance, consisting of both Division III semifinal games was 4,804.