Assistant Cecilia Grosselin inherited the Patriots position. It would be on her, a reshuffled coaching staff and determined returning players to keep Carroll girls hoop at a high standard.
“Cecilia’s done an awesome job with the program and Rob (Berry) did a tremendous job prior to that,” Alter girls coach Chris Hart said admiringly. “She took over in a really tough position and she’s done a tremendous job. We really respect what she and her whole staff has done. Those kids, wow. We know it’s going to be a war on Friday night.”
Alter (25-2) and Carroll (23-4) will play in what should be an epic Division II regional final at Springfield High School at 7:30 p.m. Friday. They were the area’s two best D-II girls teams and it’s fitting the rivals should determine the Southwest District rep in next week’s state final four.
Alter, the two-time defending D-II state champ, swept Carroll in regular-season Greater Catholic League Co-Ed North play, but just 32-31 at Carroll. Alter defeated Tippecanoe and Carroll eliminated Columbus Independence in Tuesday’s regional semis.
“We’re so proud of our girls just to be able to move on and get to the regional final, it’s a great accomplishment,” Grosselin said. “This season was so different and so new. I knew this was a great group of girls. I was familiar with them and what they were capable of doing. I’m ecstatic but I don’t want to say I’m really surprised because I knew they were a great group of kids.”
2. Dunbar unloaded a 9-0 game-ending run to overtake Wyoming 66-56 in a boys D-II district final at UD Arena late Wednesday in the last of three games. Caleb McConnell accounted for five points and Devon Baker converted four free throws to secure Dunbar’s 10th district title.
McConnell hit 8 of 9 shots and had a game-high 19 points to go with seven rebounds and four steals. That’s the kind of output that has led to Ohio, Toledo, West Virginia and Wichita State to make offers to the 6-3 junior. Baker added 17 points and Storm Cook 13.
“This is probably one of our best shooting teams,” Dunbar coach Pete Pullen said. “When they really share the ball we’re hard to beat. It can any person on any given night.”
Dunbar (23-3) joins Trotwood-Madison (24-2) and Taft (21-4) in the D-II regional semis at Fairmont’s Trent Arena on Thursday. Dunbar will play the winner of Friday’s Heath/Bloom-Carroll district final at Worthington Kilbourne.
3. Trotwood and Dunbar must win their respective D-II boys regional semis to fulfill a greatly anticipated rematch, and that’s the problem. As of now, the D-II regional final is scheduled for 3 p.m. March 18 at Trent. The potential crowd for a showdown of that magnitude would far exceed what Trent can hold, which is about 3,500 spectators.
Both UD Arena and WSU’s Nutter Center are open that date. We’re just saying. Trotwood defeated visiting Dunbar 98-89 a month ago.
4. The Greater Western Ohio Conference has the most teams in Saturday’s boys D-I district finals at UD. Centerville (17-8), Northmont (20-4) and Springfield (22-3) all will take their best shots in a loaded four-game field.
Unbeaten D-I state poll champ Moeller (24-0) is up first, playing Walnut Hills (18-6) at 1 p.m. Centerville is paired against Mason (20-2) of the Greater Miami Conference at 3 p.m. Northmont, which won its first outright league title since 1975, gets LaSalle (22-3) at 7 p.m. and Oak Hills, also of the GMC, awaits Springfield at 9 p.m.
All those winners advance to Wednesday’s D-I regional semifinals at Wright State’s Nutter Center. Previously, the D-I regional was anchored at Xavier’s Cintas Center in Cincinnati. All the Division II, III and IV boys regionals will be played at Trent.
5. Fort Loramie (20-5) has a new opponent in Lockland (11-13) for Friday’s 5:30 p.m. D-IV boys district final at UD. Lockland was reinserted into the field after the Ohio High School Athletic Association required Cincinnati College Prep Academy to forfeit a 93-62 defeat of Lockland for using an academically ineligible player.
Loramie defeated Shelby County League champ Russia in a sectional final. Jackson Center (18-6) of the SCL also is in Friday’s D-IV field, playing Tri-Village (18-7) at 7:30 p.m.
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