In the other is Bellevue, a first-time participant in the state final four from northwest Ohio aiming to make more history when the teams play at 4:15 p.m. Friday at UD Arena.
But it turns out if there is a scrappy underdog in this matchup, it just might be the Knights.
Christina Hart, who serves as co-head coach of the Knights along with Kendal Peck, did not frame it that way during a teleconference to preview the game, but the case can be made when comparing the teams on paper.
Bellevue brings a 26-1 record into the game while Alter is 19-8.
The Lady Red returned all five starters from last season while the Knights brought back only four letter-winners.
Credit: Marcus Hartman
Credit: Marcus Hartman
While Bellevue had a March trip to Dayton on its mind when the season began last fall, Alter was more immediately focused on progress.
“Our record may not be as as pretty as some other teams that make it to the state championship game in all the different divisions, and part of that is because we had a learning curve,” Hart said. “We talked about that from the start of the of the season, that we were going to take some lumps and that we needed to be prepared for that, learn from those, and get better every day. And our kids have done that.”
The Knights started two freshman most of the season but lost one, point guard Sarah Brand, to a season-ending knee injury two weeks ago in the district finals.
They still relied on three first-year players while beating Lancaster Fairfield Union in a state semifinal game Saturday but dominated the second half to win 46-33.
“It’s testament really to their work ethic, to their buy-in,” said Hart, whose team was 13-8 in the regular season, including 4-6 in the Greater Catholic League Co-Ed. “It’s easy when you lose a couple of games in a row to start to question yourselves, your teammates, everything, but they really have maintained a focus and determination.”
Meanwhile, Bellevue coach Kory Santoro made no effort to hide the fact his team is far from happy just to have made it this far.
“We’re excited for this challenge and that’s been a goal from day one,” Santoro said on the teleconference. “It will be different playing in that arena as far as the depth perception and the openness of it, but I think we’re making adjustments.
“They have a lot of history at the state tournament. I think they’ve won five titles and they’re going for the sixth, so they’ve got a lot of experience in these situations. They’ve got a lot of nice players, but, you know, they have they have to prepare for us, too.”
As far as how the teams match up, Alter revolves around senior star Maddie Moody, the only Knight to have played on this stage before.
A 6-foot-1 senior, she leads the GCL-C in scoring at 19 points and 1.8 blocks per game while also snaring 8.4 rebounds.
Moody, a three-time All-Southwest District first teamer, was on a mission all season to make it back to UD Arena, where she was a freshman starter on a state championship team in 2022.
“It’s just amazing knowing that I get to go back to my hometown, Dayton, and play a state final game again,” she said of the feeling after scoring 22 points in the state semifinal at Ohio Dominican in Columbus. “We’ve worked so hard for this, and I’ve missed it since three years ago, and I wanted to be back, so I’m excited.”
Hart credited her with not only leading the youngsters all season but taking on even more responsibility after Brand’s injury.
“Whatever we have asked her to do, she’s just done it,” Hart said of the program’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder. “Because of the way Maddie approaches the game, it’s easy to follow her, I think. And I think the young kids have all done that. She works her tail off every day, not just in practice but after practice every single day, and that rubs off. The other kids all started to do that early in the season. They stay until the next team is coming on the floor, whether that’s an extra ten minutes or an extra half an hour.
“So she’s left a legacy, not just in terms of stats or what she’s accomplished or what our teams have accomplished while she’s here, she’s left an enduring legacy with the example that she sets.”
Bellevue counters with a pair of double-figure scorers: Hailey Rees, a 5-9 senior guard, made the All-Northwest District first team and averages 15.5 points per game while Kaitlyn Turinsky, a 6-3 junior forward, made the second team while averaging 11.9 points and 10.2 rebounds per game.
“You don’t get to this game unless you’re really good, and Bellevue is very good,” Hart said. “As coach mentioned, they’ve been knocking on the door, so they’ve been good for a long time and they have a nice mix of length and athleticism.
“They’re able to shoot the 3. They’re able to pound the ball inside. They do a lot of different things defensively so that they’ll come get you man to man full court. They’ll play some matchup zone. They do a lot of different things, and and they wait. I think they kind of wait and see how a team reacts and then they try and find something that might work for them that night. So that makes it a little bit more difficult to prepare, and and the fact that they have a lot of different pieces that can hurt you on any given night.”
FRIDAY’S GAME
Alter (19-8) vs. Bellevue (26-1), 4:15 p.m., UD Arena
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