Still, free throws had to be made. Holding a two-point lead, Wayne senior Alyssa Hargrove-Hall made two with 23 seconds left. She made two more with eight seconds left for a six-point lead and Hall’s smile held nothing back.
A final bucket by Mason meant nothing and Wayne celebrated a 55-51 victory Wednesday night at Princeton High School in a Division I regional semifinal.
“It feels amazing,” Wayne coach Travis Trice said. “No frustrations or regrets – that was one heck of a high school basketball game. I give Mason a ton of credit – super well-coached, no quit in them. I was so excited about how our girls fought through, hit some free throws down the stretch, and we deserved to win.”
The Warriors (18-3) ended an unbeaten season for Mason (20-1). Next up is top-ranked Mount Notre Dame (25-0) and its 69-game winning streak at noon Saturday in the regional final at Princeton. Wayne (18-3) played MND early in the 2019-20 season and lost 51-47.
“It’s a rematch,” Hall said. “Mason was 20-0, so going out there and shattering their record was one of the big things for us. So now we have a big opportunity to shatter their [Mount Notre Dame’s] record. Our goal is to go to the state final four.”
Hall led Wayne with 25 points and made 9 of 12 free throws. Hargrove-Hall scored 19 and made 7 of 8 free throws. Saharra Murphy’s defense on Mason’s guards disrupted the Comets’ offense throughout the game.
Those free throws mattered because the Comets came back from an early 18-2 deficit after Hall led a hot start. The Warriors led 26-18 at halftime and 36-34 after three quarters. Wayne’s lead shrunk to two three times and to one once in the fourth quarter.
“Those last couple timeouts those girls were looking each other in the eye, clapping their hands and saying this is the adversity we were talking about,” Trice said. “We knew we were going to face it.”
The biggest adversity was 6-foot-6 Mason center Kyla Oldacre. She scored 29 points on 10-of-15 shooting with a number of nimble moves and made 9 of 10 free throws.
“We’ve seen her take those shots, and she hasn’t been finishing them the way that she did tonight,” Trice said. “To her credit, she was amazing.”
Hall came out of the locker room after the game still smiling and thinking about what had just happened.
“It was quite an experience,” she said. “It was something that you would never imagine it was happening. It was just surreal. It was so exciting – a lot of energy.”
Mount Notre Dame 56, Centerville 25: Centerville’s struggle against MND was the same that every opponent has faced against the Cougars: the 2-3 zone. The Cougars are long and athletic, and when a team gets in the lane it better score because the opportunities are defended and limited.
“Length can give any team fits – it gave us some fits,” Elks coach Adam Priefer said. “I felt like we prepared for it, but we didn’t adjust well when we had some shots that didn’t go in.”
Cotie McMahon got the most touches inside, but it was never easy. McMahon, a 5-foot-11 junior who has committed to Ohio State, scored 16 points on 7 of 16 shooing to lead the Elks. But as a team the Elks shot 18.8 % (nine of 48) and made only two of 25 3-point attempts.
“That’s not usually us, but today it was,” Priefer said. “Credit to their defense. They’re long, they’re lanky. And I think we lost confidence in our shots.”
MND came in averaging 75.4 points a game. The Cougars shot 54.8 % and were led by KK Bransford with 20 points and Laila Phelia with 18.
“I think if we held them to 56 in a normal game, we like our chances with how we shoot the ball,” Priefer said.
The Elks entered the game on a 15-game winning streak that included two wins over Wayne and a share of the Greater Western Ohio Conference title.
“It’s hard to look at it right now, but when you sit back and reflect, the kids should be proud of the season we had,” Priefer said. “We had two shutdowns and we were able to navigate that successfully, and that’s a credit to the three seniors we have on our team. Amy [Velasco], Kenzie [Smith] and Ashley [Ballard] – I know this is a hard time for them – they’ve meant a lot and did a great job being leaders.”
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