Girls basketball: Defense keys Medina to non-league win over Wooster

SMITHVILLE — Coming out of halftime Wednesday, Medina's girls basketball team turned the Wilbur Berkey Fieldhouse into a pressure cooker and walked away with a 76-45 non-league victory over Wooster. Playing in the second annual Smithville Barn Ball Classic, the Bees used a series of pressing defenses to turn over the Generals on the first four possessions of the second half as part of a 12-0 run that gave Medina a 47-27 lead with 4:53 left in the third quarter. From there, a career night by Abby Dress and hot shooting by standout guard Olivia Klanac, who each scored a game-high 20 points, allowed Medina to match its highest scoring performance since an 85-11 victory over Rhodes on Feb. 17, 2018. "Getting the win feels good," Dress said. "The energy in the gym helped our team a lot. Coming out of halftime, we knew we needed to bring our energy up on defense and offense. That helped us get the lead that we got." Dress, who scored 15 points as a freshman, now has 10- and 20-point efforts this season. "(Dress) had a great night. What can I say?" Klanac said. "She's always a shooter, and her being able to come off the bench and score 20 points is a big impact on our team that helps all of us." Dress scored 13 of her 20 points in the second half, including nine in a runaway fourth quarter. "The whole team was hyping me up," Dress said. "That was fun. I caught up to Liv Klanac, which was fun." Dress said the last part while chuckling and giving Klanac a playful nudge as they stood next to each other. The run to begin the third quarter led to nine Wooster turnovers and a 22-5 margin in the period that resulted in a 57-32 lead for the Bees (2-0). The Generals (0-2) had turned the tables on Medina and went on a 13-7 run to close the first half that cut their deficit to 35-27. Wooster got 13 points from quick shooting guard Grace Kostohryz and seven from post Josie Wright in the first half. The Bees were able to limit the duo to seven and two points, respectively in the second. "I don't think we need to expect to win games in the first quarter," Medina coach Karen Kase said. "It's going to take four quarters of play and sticking to what we're doing. We came out so well in the third quarter. "We have a few different pless looks, and we changed it at halftime and it really threw them off with an element of surprise." Kostohryz matched Klanac and Dress with 20 points to go with six rebounds. Wright finished with nine points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Medina's pressure was a problem for the Generals, who had 28 turnovers. The Bees also kept Wooster from scoring for 4:07 to begin the second half. There also was a 4:17 stretch over the first two quarters in which the Generals went without a field goal in an 18-2 run that turned a 12-10 Wooster lead into a 28-14 Medina advantage. The Bees did a respectable job holding onto the ball with only 13 turnovers. "We focus on defense a lot in practice," Klanac said. "Being able to do different defenses in certain situations and know everyone will do what they are told is helpful. We don't have to worry about something's going to get messed up because we don't have a drop off." Medina's ball movement was excellent, coming away with 20 assists on 29 field goals, led by senior point guard Hailey Johnson's five. With nine rebounds apiece, Johnson and reserve forward Addy Shook led a group effort that gave the Bees a 45-34 edge. Klanac and Dress each had five rebounds, while Ashley Kollar, Kylie O'Cull and Izzy Kurka each had four. Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com. Medina 76, Wooster 45 Barn Ball Classic MEDINA 21 14 22 19 — 76 WOOSTER 12 15 5 13 — 45 Medina — Izzy Kurka 3-0-6, Kylie O'Cull 1-0-2, Sylvie Hipp 1-2-4, Olivia Klanac 7-2-20, Hailey Johnson 0-1-1, Ashley Kollar 2-0-4, Joy Hilvert 2-0-6, Molly Gilbert 3-0-7, Abby Dress 8-2-20, Addy Shook 2-2-6. TOTALS: 29-9-76. Wooster — Jay-Cee Hackett 1-2-4, Tori Pettorini 1-2-5, Josie Wright 3-1-9, Grace Kostohryz 7-5-20, Brooke Ritchie 0-3-3, Avery Topovski 2-0-4, Venita Shultz 0-0-0, Amelia Correll 0-0-0, Keely Stasiowski 0-0-0, Kameah Lyons 0-0-0. TOTALS: 14-13-45. 3-point goals — Klanac 4, Hilvert 2, Dress 2, Gilbert, Wright 2, Kostohryz, Pettorini. Rebounds — Medina 45 (Shook, Johnson 9), Wooster 32 (Wright 10). Assists — Medina 20 (Johnson 5), Wooster 4 (Ritchie 2). Records — Medina (2-0), Wooster (0-2).