Girls basketball: Depleted Cloverleaf team routed by Springfield

LAKEMORE — Minus three starters, a regular rotation member and six players overall due to illness — a seventh became sick at halftime and did not play after intermission — the eight remaining members of the Cloverleaf girls basketball team were simply trying to gain some varsity experience Thursday night. They got it the hard way. Former Colts assistant Lance Price's Springfield Spartans dominated from start to finish en route to a 47-17 Metro Athletic Conference victory. The win improved the Spartans to 10-12, 7-7 and gave the program its first 10-win season since 1997-98, while the Colts fell to 8-11, 4-10 after committing 27 turnovers and going 4-for-44 from the field (.091) and 7-for-20 at the line (.350). "I was so excited when I found out I was going to play a lot more, but I was really nervous," 5-foot-6 freshman point guard Makinsey Bayer said. "Normally my nerves go away after the first jump ball, but they stayed for the entire first quarter this time. It was really nerve-racking." Minus starters Evie Barth, Saige Foky and Emma Hibler and top reserve Merrin Crow, the shorthanded Colts were as mismatched as their gray shorts and green jerseys. Cloverleaf fell behind 17-1 after the first quarter and missed its first 13 shots before Mackenzie Seiwerth, who didn't play in the second half due to illness, hit an 18-footer with 3:02 left in the second period for the Colts' lone first-half field goal in 18 attempts. Cloverleaf, which lost the teams' first meeting 46-36 on Dec. 22, had quarter scoring totals of one, five, three and eight. "We told our kids we just wanted to see energy and effort as best they could," Colts coach John Carmigiano said. "We were up against it tonight, but they were excited to try and make something happen." Bayer led a balanced Cloverleaf attack with five points, while shooting guard Madi Young had three, small forward Seiwerth, center Kayla Shook and reserves Addie Evans and Jayce Kreider had two each and power forward Karoline Kreider had one. The Colts, who got six rebounds from Shook and five from Jayce Kreider, were 2-for-33 from the field through three quarters before going 2-for-11 in the fourth. Shook had her team's lonest assist. "They were really aggressive in a full-court press that our kids haven't played against at this level," Carmigiano said. "We lost the ball a little more than we normally would. Once we got comfortable and started moving the ball, we got some open shots that were really good." Springfield, which started its five 12th-graders on senior night, got a career-high four points from center Sidney Mehling in the first 1:26 of the game and never looked back. The Spartans also got 15 points from Rhian Kendall, 11 points, six rebounds, six assists and six steals from Kendall Wilderman, four points, nine boards and two assists from Sydney Hillyard and three points and nine boards from Destiny Ruggiero. Springfield finished with a 44-22 rebounding advantage, including 25-6 in the first half, which ended with it ahead 26-6. "It was new and it was pretty different," Bayer said. "We had a lot of new starters and we were all really nervous. "The pressure at the beginning of the game, we just weren't ready for it, but I thought we did pretty well after that. A lot of us hadn't had a lot of varsity time." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on X. Springfield 47, Cloverleaf 17 CLOVERLEAF 1 5 3 8 — 17 SPRINGFIELD 17 9 8 13 — 47 Cloverleaf — Mackenzie Seiwerth 1-0-2, Karoline Kreider 0-1-1, Kayla Shook 0-2-2, Madi Young 1-0-3, Makinsey Bayer 1-2-5, Brooke Gucker 0-0-0, Addie Evans 0-2-2, Jayce Kreider 1-0-2, Alyson Croft 0-0-0. TOTALS: 4-7-17. Springfield — Sydney Hillyard 1-1-4, Destiny Ruggiero 0-3-3, Sidney Mehling 2-0-4, Grace Frient 1-0-2, Rhian Kendall 5-3-15, Kendall Wilderman 4-2-11, Kayla Gaspar 2-0-4, Jillian Inch 1-0-2, Taylor Holmes 0-1-1, JoElle Carter 0-0-0, Evie Kunkler 0-1-1, Nora Kunkler 0-0-0. TOTALS: 16-11-47. 3-point goals — Young, Gayer, Kendall 2, Hillyard, Wilderman. Rebounds — Cloverleaf 22 (Shook 6), Springfield 44 (Ruggiero, Hillyard 9). Assists — Cloverleaf 1 (Shook), Springfield 10 (Wilderman 6). Records — Cloverleaf (8-11, 4-10), Springfield (10-12, 7-7).