Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame matched the Panthers shot for shot, rebound for rebound and defensive stop for defensive stop for almost 40 minutes Saturday at packed and rowdy Lakota West High School. Finally in the final two minutes of the second overtime, Springboro was unmatched.
The Panthers won the defensive-stop battle, made 7 of 8 free throws and emerged with a 54-48 victory, a Division I regional championship and a trip to the state semifinals Friday at UD Arena.
“That was probably our grittiest win, and it showed,” senior co-captain Chloe Downing said.
The Panthers (23-5) will take that grit to state for the second time in school history at 8 p.m. Friday at UD Arena against Pickerington Central, a team the Panthers scrimmaged before the season. The Panthers were state runners-up in 1978.
“I’m incredibly proud and grateful to be able to coach this team because this is a special, special group,” Panthers first-year coach Mike Holweger said. “That’s what competition is all about right there. Instant classic double overtime. Unbelievable atmosphere.”
The Panthers came together under Holweger, won the Greater Western Ohio Conference outright and finally won a district title after three straight losses in that game to Mason. Then they beat Mason in Wednesday’s semifinal.
“It feels amazing,” said junior Bryn Martin. “We’ve been working on this since the offseason, and so this shows hard work pays off. And we’re so close outside and inside of basketball, so it’s been a fun ride.”
But before the Panthers could celebrate the win and continue the ride, they had to save the season with two seconds left in the first overtime. After Martin’s first attempt to tie the score bounced off the rim and out of bounds off MND, Holweger called timeout and drew up a play.
Downing was the inbounder from the baseline. Aniya Trent screened to try to free Martin open in the left corner. Trent rolled off that screen to the basket and Downing passed to her for a tying layup that sent the game to a second overtime tied at 45. It was the Panthers’ only basket and third point of the overtime period.
“That play we’ve never seen before — he’s got stuff up his sleeve,” Downing said of Holweger. “I knew the defenders were going to be attached to Bryn, and they have a good reason to. Bryn is probably one of the best players in the state, and we knew that she’d draw two, three, maybe even four defenders, and we knew the basket was going to be wide open.”
Downing was nervous for a moment that her pass would hit the backboard, but when it didn’t, Trent caught the pass and banked in the shot.
“It was nerve-wracking when I shot it, but it went in,” said Trent, who scored 12 points.
Holweger said it would have been fine if Martin had gotten open for the shot.
“But we kind of felt like the slip might be there, and it was,” he said. “Chloe made a great pass, and Aniya, what a ballgame she played.”
To get to the first overtime, the Panthers had to overcome a 35-30 deficit entering the fourth quarter. They tied the score quickly on Martin’s layup off a turnover and Downing’s 3-pointer. Ava Wade’s 3-pointer put the Panthers up 39-36, but the Cougars (24-4) fought back and tied the score with 55 seconds left to eventually force overtime.
Throughout the game the Panthers had to figure out ways to score because the Cougars’ box-and-one defense on Martin kept her scoreless until she made two free throws with 1:44 left in the third quarter. It wasn’t the kind of scoring game expected from the Southwest District player of the year and Ms. Basketball nominee.
“That’s the best box and we’ve seen all year,” Holweger said
But Martin kept finding other ways to impact the game with good defensive plays, eight rebounds, two blocked shots and seven assists. She made only 3 of 14 shots and missed all six of her 3-point attempts, which were all under duress. But she made 8 of 10 free throws and finished with 14 points.
“You just got to play through it,” she said. “I respect the defense. It was a pretty good box and one, but when two people are on me there’s someone open.”
In the first half the open teammate was mostly Wade, who scored 11 of her game-high 16 points in the half. Wade averages 5.7 points a game.
“I’m not normally a scorer, so I think a lot of people were surprised that it came from me, which is totally fine,” Wade said. “I was surprised honestly. But there were just so many open looks for people, and that’s what happens when you have people like Bryn who can score double figures every game and handle the ball like see does.”
Martin is also a leader in the offseason and extra in-season work. The Panthers went to the pool, went to the track, conditioned every way they could. They get up extra shots outside of practice daily. And now they are going to state.
“It was hard, it was brutal,” Martin said. “But we want it for each other, we want it for ourseleves.”
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