Girls district basketball: Cloverleaf rally comes up short in loss to Streetsboro

STREETSBORO — The Cloverleaf girls basketball team made a furious comeback Tuesday night, but its season still concluded with a 53-46 loss to ninth-seeded Streetsboro in the Division IV, Northeast 2 District semifinals. Trailing by 14 points early in the third quarter, the 10th-seeded Colts (18-6) finished the period on an 11-4 run to cut the deficit to seven. Then a 16-9 start to the fourth saw them tie at 42 with 2:22 left. "The kids were starting to make some good plays, defensive deflections and getting the ball out and running in transition like we knew we needed to do," Cloverleaf coach John Carmigiano said. "We wanted to make sure that we were tiring Streetsboro out, making them play the whole floor, and once we got that into our rhythm, I thought that we put a lot of things in our favor." Unfortunately for the Colts, the Rockets (17-7) answered immediately and scored 11 of the final 15 points. "About halfway through the third quarter, we definitely turned it on and started playing how we want to," said Cloverleaf senior Evie Barth, who had 12 points. "It just didn't go our way in the end. We kind of got in too big of a hole." The fourth quarter rally was led by senior Madi Young, who had all 11 of her points, including the tying layup in transition. Kendall Seiwerth scored a team-high 13 points for the Colts and Makinsey Bayer, who had missed the previous two games with a hamstring injury, added nine. The game was at a physical intensity that seemed to keep the Colts off their game in the first half, scoring just eight points in the first quarter and four in the second. The physical nature was a halftime conversation between Carmigiano and his players. "Streetsboro was really aggressive and physical in the first half," Carmigiano said. "We challenged our girls to step up and just match that. We knew if we matched that physicality, then we would have a chance to win in the end." The players listened, and the second half was more intense for the Colts, who were led by not only the five on the floor but by their cheering teammates on the bench as well. "We just said that we needed to start matching their intensity, because they were being way more physical than we were," Barth said. "We kind of just came out in the third quarter and the bench turned it on, players on the court turned it on and we kind of started to match their physicality more than we did in the first half." As the game got tighter, the Colts were drawing off the energy they felt in the gym. "The fans started getting louder, and the bench started getting louder," Barth said. "It started getting chippy (on the court). All of that kind of builds up for the players, and it kind of gives us the adrenaline to keep pushing ourselves harder." While the performance wasn't enough in the end, it was yet another night in which the Colts gave it all they had and never hung their heads despite trailing by as many as 14 on the road. "This team has a lot of character," Carmigiano said. "They never quit, and they gave us what they've given us all year. We've never given up in a game. We proved that we wanted to win." While it was the final game for Colts seniors Barth, Young, Merrin Crow, Addie Evans, Jayce Kreider and Kayla Shook, they were happy with the effort they showed in not letting Streetsboro run away. "It was a close game, it was a fun game," Barth said. "Obviously it didn't turn out our way. We wanted to win and move on, but it was a good game. It was a close game, and I'm glad we didn't end on a blowout or anything." Contact Ryan Isley at sports@medina-gazette.com. Streetsboro 53, Cloverleaf 46 CLOVERLEAF&emsp;8 4 14 20 — 46 STREETSBORO&emsp;10 13 10 20 — 53 Cloverleaf — Makinsey Bayer 4-1-9, Kendall Seiwerth 6-1-13, Kayla Shook 0-0-0, Madi Young 4-2-11, Evie Barth 5-2-12, Merrin Crow 0-1-1, Selena Velez 0-0-0, Cameron Todd 0-0-0. TOTALS: 19-7-46. Streetsboro — Olivia Johnson-Wilson 2-5-9, Claire Campbell 3-0-9, Ava Bodovetz 4-0-8, Carlee Bedford 5-5-15, Sara Koyan 2-2-4, Kendall Epple 2-0-5, Carmen Marcini 1-0-3, Ava Scisciani 0-0-0. TOTALS: 18-12-53. 3-point goals — Young, Campbell 3, Epple, Marcini. Rebounds — Cloverleaf 27 (Seiwerth 8), Streetsboro 52 (Johnson-Wilson 13). Assists — Cloverleaf 7 (Young 3), Streetsboro 8 (Johnson-Wilson 13). Records — Cloverleaf (18-6), Streetsboro (17-7).