District girls basketball: Medina goes cold behind the arc in loss to Berea-Midpark

BEREA — The Medina girls basketball team had one made 3-pointer and Berea-Midpark drained seven. That made all the difference Wednesday in a 53-36 Bees loss in a Division I, Northeast 5 District semifinal. Fourth-seeded Berea-Midpark moved to the district final and will take on eighth-seeded Normandy, a 44-35 winner over ninth-seeded John Hay, on Saturday. The 11th-seeded Bees (12-11) gave the Titans (18-5) all they could handle in the first half and used a dominating defensive second quarter to enter the break in front 25-21. Medina held Berea-Midpark to an 0-of-7 performance from behind the arc and to just two points to turn a 19-12 deficit after one quarter into a lead. "It was a long two weeks for everyone in D-I," Medina coach Karen Kase said. "I thought we handled it well. We had great practices. They were focused, attentive and hungry. We had a great plan coming in and the seniors led the way. We played awesome in the first half." Abby Dress carried the load early, scoring six points on 3-for-3 shooting in the opening quarter. "I think our ball movement was really good," she said. "We always talk about starting on defense. Our defense starts our offense. I think our defense was really good in the first half, so I think that is why we were up at half." The Bees, who were without veteran wing Vivian Kelps, consistently beat pressure and converted at the offensive end while locking down defensively. Senior Addy Shook was everywhere for Medina in the second quarter, scoring six of her team-best 14 points and grabbing four of her game-high 10 boards. "We came out firing," Shook said. "We had our legs under us. We were making shots and playing defense well. We really just came out and started good." Shook was particularly lethal driving the paint, either converting or making her way to the free throw line, where she was 4-of-5 in the period. Just as important was Medina's ability to avoid turnovers against pressure, committing just two. In the third quarter, however, the drive-and-kick offense of the Titans stopped kicking and started converting on drives. The pressure started to wear on the Bees. "It definitely wore us down," Dress said. "They also changed their defense, which we practiced, but I think that also wore us down because they were trapping us. Our legs just got out from under us." The quarter snowballed quickly for the Bees as the turnovers mounted. So did the point total for the Titans. "We knew they were going to do that swarming, trapping defense," Kase said. "We miscued on it the first couple times and they were able to attack downhill. We didn't play good man-to-man individual defense, so they were able to get layups." It led to a 19-3 run to start the second half, giving Berea-Midpark a 40-28 lead. The run was amplified by Medina's inability to get anything to fall and turnovers in bunches. "Their pressure was really tough," Shook said. "We did practice it, so we knew it was going to come. It was tough. We just couldn't get past it." The Bees' first made shot of the second half came from Shook with 1:15 left in the third quarter. Aly Gacek (2 points, 5 rebounds) followed with a strong putback to cut the deficit to 40-32. Regan Braaten (23 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals) closed the third by scoring four points to push the lead to 44-32. Medina cut to eight again to start the fourth on another driving hoop from Shook and a long jumper by Emily Fischer, but did not score the rest of the game. The Titans locked up the win with a 9-0 finish. Berea-Midpark was 7-for-25 from long range, with guard Miya Walker (14 points) doing most of the damage at 4-for-8. Dress made the Bees' only 3-pointer, which came during the dominating second quarter. Medina finished just 1-of-11 from behind the arc. Medina won the rebounding battle by a significant margin (36-24) but was consistently hurt by extended Titans possessions that were converted into points. Both teams had 11 offensive rebounds, but the Titans always seemed to grab theirs during significant moments. Contact Chad Grant at sports@medina-gazette.com. Berea-Midpark 53, Medina 36 Division I, Northeast 5 District Semifinal MEDINA&emsp;12 13 7 4 — 36 BEREA-MIDPARK&emsp;19 2 23 9 — 53 Medina — Addy Shook 4-6-14, Kinley Miller 0-2-2, Abby Dress 4-0-9, Gillian Kurka 0-1-1, Molly Gilbert 2-0-4, Aly Gacek 1-0-2, Emma Carlson 0-0-0, Emily Fischer 1-0-2, Bri Kudley 0-0-0, Olivia Miller 1-0-2, Haylie Perdue 0-0-0, Avery Rodgers 0-0-0, Abby Novak 0-0-0, Cam Brown 0-0-0. TOTALS: 13-9-36. Berea-Midpark — Lilly Jones 3-2-8, Emma Arnold 0-1-1, Casey Friel 2-0-4, Regan Braaten 8-5-23, Miya Walker 5-0-14, Avery James 0-0-0, Pressley Fathauer 1-0-3, Bella Miller 0-0-0, Mia Marascan 0-0-0, Cassidy Adams 0-0-0, Sophia Little 0-0-0, Joyce Richards 0-0-0, Lillian Little 0-0-0. TOTALS: 19-8-53. 3-point goals — Dress, Walker 4, Braaten 2, Fathauer. Rebounds — Medina 36 (Shook 10), Berea-Midpark 24 (Friel 5). Assists — Medina 8 (Dress, Kurka 2), Berea-Midpark 6 (Arnold, Braaten 2). Records — Medina (12-11), Berea-Midpark (18-5).