Sarah O’Neil of Marysville tries to muscle up a shot at Canal Winchester Saturday afternoon. Also pictured for MHS is Cassie Francisco (42). The Lady Monarchs lost to the Indians during the first round of the Divison I tournament.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
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With its point guard sitting on the sidelines in a sling, the Marysville High School girls basketball team had trouble mounting any type of offense on Saturday afternoon.
Sophomore guard Sydney Lee has basically missed the last half of the season after hurting her shoulder, which required surgery.
She remained on the bench when MHS fell at Canal Winchester, 74-39, during the opening round of the Division I sectional tournament.
“We couldn’t run any offense and we couldn’t get very many shots to fall,” said Lady Monarch coach Mindy Eisnaugle.
Marysville stayed within striking distance of the Indians during the game’s early minutes.
Haley Cook scored the first six points for the Lady Monarchs, narrowing their gap to 7-6 with a stickback.
Canal Winchester began flexing its three-point muscles as Bruelyn Buchier and Markyia McCormick buried shots that later gave the Indians a 17-9 advantage
Cook tallied all eight of her points during the first stanza and Ally Rioch, nursing a bursa sac problem in her knee, hit a basket on the low block.
Despite their efforts, the Lady Monarchs trailed 21-11 by the end of the quarter.
The Indians kept up their defensive pressure throughout the second period.
Still, Eisnaugle did not feel that hampered her team very much.
“We were just too impatient with our offense,” she said. “In our last few games, we showed more patience than we did today.”
Cassie Francisco came off the bench and scored on the low block.
Sarah O’Neil, who was stymied a bit with a bone bruise in her hand, narrowed Marysville’s deficit to 23-15 with a basket.
“We thought Sarah might have broken a bone (earlier in the week),” said Eisnaugle.
A three-pointer by Amanda Rarick, one of eight on the day for the Indians, upped the score to 26-15.
From that point on, Canal Winchester’s advantage never dipped to less than double digits.
The Indians hit a couple more three-balls en route to a 42-23 half-time lead.
O’Neil scored two of her team-high 12 points as MHS’ deficit stood at 44-25 early in the third period.
A bucket by Buchier gave the Indians their first 20-plus point advantage of 46-25.
The home team’s lead climbed to 59-30 by the end of the third period.
The Lady Indians’ margin continued to sky-rocket until a new rule was invoked.
Beginning with tournament games this year, the Ohio High School Athletic Association has deemed that any time one team’s lead reaches 35 points, the clock continues to run.
That is like football’s second-half running clock once a team gains a similar type of lead.
Saturday’s timer continued to run for the final minute-plus as the Indians cruised to victory.
“I thought we would match up with them, but we couldn’t control their big girl (Shalea Byrd) inside,” said Eisnaugle.
Byrd let all scorers with 14 points.
The Lady Monarchs’ season ended with a 9-14 record.
Canal Winchester will advance in the post-season with a 17-6 mark.
Canal Winchester
Byrd 6-2-14, Buchier 5-0-13, A. Rarick 4-2-12, McCormick 4-2-12, N. Rarick 3-1-7, Edwards 2-0-5, Welch 2-0-4, Hamilton 2-0-4, Coleman 1-0-2, Stiles 0-1-1, Hawkins 0-0-0. Totals 29-8-74.
Three-point goals: Buchier 3, A. Rarick 2, McCormick 2, Edwards 1.
Marysville
O’Neil 4-4-12, Cook 2-4-8, K. Hazelbaker 2-2-7, Francisco 2-0-4, Sutter 1-1-3, A. Rioch 1-0-2, K. Lee 0-1-1, Welsh 0-1-1, Graves 0-1-1, Daniel 0-0-0, Colopy 0-0-0, M. Hazelbaker 0-0-0. Totals 12-14-39.
Three-point goal: K. Hazelbaker 1.