Girls district basketball: Highland defense pounces in win over Rocky River

WOOSTER TWP. — The pack of crazy kittens came out to play and, sheesh, are they ridiculously annoying to tangle with. The Highland girls basketball players just want to play all day. They'll fearlessly attack all challengers big and small, often in suspicious ways, and if someone else has the ball, they'll scratch, claw, pounce and bite — OK, maybe that last one's a stretch — to get it back before finally getting bored and heading somewhere to eat. Despite being one of the most prolific 3-point shooting teams in the state, seventh-seeded Rocky River walked away from the Division III, Northeast 5 District championship game at beautiful Triway High battered and bruised Saturday afternoon. The second-seeded Hornets imposed their will, as suffocating perimeter defense powered a 55-27 blowout that only appeared to be competitive until Highland's unselfish offense finally got on track. The Hornets (22-3), who won the second half 36-15, advanced to play Northeast 6 winner St. Vincent-St. Mary (19-5) in the Region 10 semifinals at Elida on Wednesday, another cherry on top of what already has been a sweet, overachieving season by every measure. They're now back-to-back district champions for the first time since 1991-92, when Medina County Sports Hall of Famers and Jill (Smith) Sooy and Carrie (Headrick) Zuro were lighting up the scoreboard. "I mean, this is amazing," headband-rocking point guard Grace Shondel said after cutting down the nets. "Going into this season, we kind of didn't know what to expect. We lost a lot of seniors (five), and honestly I think all of us just have a passion. This is something we all really wanted, and it came down to how many of us were going to put in the work. That's what won us this today and every game leading up to this. "We definitely used high-intensity defense. We knew they had shooters and that they liked to shoot, so before the game we said, 'It starts with defense. You've got to get out (on the shooters).'" A whirling dervish senior who can't sit still if her life depended on it, Shondel had another virtuoso performance with eight points, five rebounds, 10 assists and seven steals. Athletic forward Madi Morgan nailed a flick-of-the-wrist 3-pointer at the first-quarter buzzer and ultimately posted a game-high 14 points, eight rebounds, two assists, three steals and three blocks, wing Rowan Kildoo (11 points, 8 steals) was masterful in the game-changing third quarter and 5-foot-9 center Emeri Gausman pushed around taller counterpart Elizabeth Lang en route to 10 points and 11 rebounds. Led by 74 from Nora Bruder and 30 apiece from Claire Roche and Olivia Dewey, Rocky River (20-5) entered play with an incredible 173 3-pointers and a streak of nine games with at least 25 attempts. The perimeter prowess opened room down low for the 6-0 Lang to put up averages of 14.0 points and 12.3 rebounds, providing an outside-in challenge for the Hornets' defense. Firing from deep is impossible without the ball, and the Pirates committed 22 turnovers and made only 1-of-6 threes while falling behind 33-14 heading into the fourth quarter. Shondel, Morgan, Kildoo and Jordyn Caples were relentless outside and Gausman continuously moved Lang off the blocks — she also received expert backside help whenever Lang did touch the rock — holding Lang to five points on 2-for-6 shooting. With a scouting report by assistant coach Rick Wallenhorst enhanced by further breakdowns from Hornets boys boss Tanner Houska, who attended the Rocky River-Ursuline game Wednesday, Highland was locked in. "I want to thank Coach Houska for taking a break from all of the wedding planning he's been doing to scout Rocky River Wednesday night while we played Westlake," coach James Madison said before a celebratory postgame dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings off state Route 18. "It was very helpful." Morgan's 22-footer off a Shondel inbounds pass capped an unwatchable 8-5 in first quarter in which the teams combined to shoot 5-for-23 with 14 turnovers. Highland's defense never wavered as the offense remained stuck in neutral, though clutch threes from Morgan and Kildoo extended the lead to 19-12 at halftime. Given the Pirates' 3-point abilities, the Cleveland West Conference champions had a golden opportunity to steal momentum to begin the third quarter. Instead, the crazy kittens got their claws back out and changed everything in a matter of 52 seconds. Gausman began the barrage by poking away an entry pass away to Lang, dropping to her knees and passing to Caples for what resulted in Kildoo saving the ball from going out of bounds at the other end and flipping directly to Shondel for a layup. Caples then picked off long passes like a free safety in football, leading to a baby jumper and free throw split by Kildoo that pushed the lead to 24-12. The run ballooned from there. Shondel found Caples for a power layup, Gausman came off a high-post curl and finished a Shondel pass, Shondel and Morgan made 4-of-4 free throws and Kildoo split a pair. When the dust finally settled at the quarter break, a seven-point lead had transformed into 19. Rocky River was forced to play fast in the fourth, and Highland, which had a remarkable 17 assists on 20 field goals, only buried the Pirates deeper. "Oh, boy, first half was rough, but we got it done," said Kildoo, who had five steals in the third quarter. "We kept our head up. We knew this team was going to be good coming into it. Overall, we just played as a team and for each other. We didn't want this to be Shon (Shondel) and Kenn's (Kennedy Lawson) last game. We really worked hard. "Our drive and our hustle, we just got every 50/50 ball. We played to win, and that's what brought us here was defense. We knew our defense was going to win us this game." Contact Albert Grindle at (330) 721-4043 or agrindle@medina-gazette.com. Highland 55, Rocky River 27 Division III, Northeast 5 District Final ROCKY RIVER &emsp;&emsp;5 7 2 13 — 27 HIGHLAND &emsp;&emsp;8 11 14 22 — 55 Rocky River — Nora Bruder 5-0-12, Claudia Roche 2-0-5, Elizabeth Lang 2-1-5, Angelina Swallow 0-0-0, Olivia Dewey 1-0-3, Maia Petrulis 0-0-0, Reagan Kane 0-2-2, Jane Frolo 0-0-0, Kylie Dewitt 0-0-0, Taylor Bolas 0-0-0, Cece Roche 0-0-0. TOTALS: 10-3-27. Highland — Rowan Kildoo 4-2-11, Madi Morgan 5-2-14, Emeri Gausman 4-2-10, Jordyn Caples 1-0-2, Grace Shondel 2-4-8, Scarlet Gordon 0-2-2, Sophia Madison 3-0-6, Bridget Cope 0-0-0, Maddie Ricciuti 0-0-0, Claire Hartschuh 0-0-0, Kennedy Lawson 1-0-2. TOTALS: 20-12-55. 3-point goals — Bruder 2, Cl. Roche, Dewey, Morgan 2, Kildoo. Rebounds — Highland 37 (Gausman 11), Rocky River 16 (Lang 6). Assists — Rocky River 5 (Dewey 3), Highland 17 (Shondel 10). Records — Rocky River (20-5), Highland (22-3).