It must be satisfying to wake up in the morning knowing the worst your basketball team can do is tie for the conference championship.
That’s where Oberlin coach Brian Ruggles found himself Thursday after his Phoenix clinched a tie for the Patriot Athletic Conference Stripes Division crown. It happened in a 63-54 defeat of Clearview on Wednesday night.
“We did everything we wanted to do,” Ruggles said. “The girls wanted it. They came out and played hard and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
In the immediate aftermath, considerable praise was lavished on the Phoenix’ Shaqwe Lawson — the scoring leader, Rachel Daniels — who saved the day with an eight-point fourth quarter — and Amari Foster, who turned in a key defensive job on the Clippers’ Ariel Calhoun.
Overlooked at the time was the rebounding of Alex Zimmerman and Angela Daugherty. Zimmerman logged 14 rebounds and Daugherty 11 as the shorter Phoenix controlled the backboards, 41-36.
“Alex, I think, is averaging about 11.5 boards a game and Angela’s averaging just under 10,” Ruggles said. “Alex is 5-10 or 5-11 and I got Angela down as 5-7, but she’s really only about 5-6. She’s a workhorse in there. She battles, she pushes girls around. She gets in position and she’s been tremendous on the boards this year.”

A tight race

The Southwestern Conference is nearing the end of its closest championship race in years.
Going into Wednesday night’s games, there was a four-way tie for first place among North Olmsted, Olmsted Falls, Westlake and Brecksville. But Berea upset Westlake,
67-66, and Olmsted Falls trounced Brecksville, 40-27, while North Olmsted was knocking off Midpark on the road.
That leaves the old Olmsted rivals — North and Falls — tied for first place. One of the SWC’s biggest games of the season to this point happens Saturday afternoon when North Olmsted travels to Westlake with first place on the line.
Several SWC coaches said back in November that this season’s champion would have two or possibly three losses. They got it right.

Who’s counting?

As if the PAC weren’t confusing enough — who’s a Star, who’s a Stripe and why is Brooklyn called the Hurricanes? — there’s the question of who’s a champion in what division and who, if anyone, wins an overall conference title.
In some PAC sports, football for instance, the conference uses a point system to determine an overall champion, as I understand it this morning. That understanding could change by tonight. But at the moment it seems to be that, under this system, a school gets two points for defeating a division opponent and one for defeating a crossover opponent.
Not the case in basketball, it turns out. Not only does the conference not use the point system in basketball, it crowns division champions only. There is no overall champion. Therefore reports last week that Keystone had clinched at least a tie for the overall PAC title were not only premature, but also inaccurate.
What’s it all mean? Even some folks closely associated with the PAC aren’t absolutely certain how it works.

Rematch, anyone?

How’d you like to see a rematch between Admiral King, the No. 1 team in The Chronicle’s weekly top-five poll, and No. 2 Elyria?
It’s possible. The Admirals and Pioneers could meet for the Division I Medina district championship at 1 p.m. Feb. 23, with the winner advancing to the Norwalk regional.
The two clashed in the championship game of the Lorain County Holiday Classic on Nov. 17, with Elyria turning in a 61-53 victory. The Pioneers, who led 19-4 at one point, saw the Admirals close the gap to 47-45 in the fourth quarter.
Elyria and Admiral King are seeded 1-2, respectively, in the Medina sectional-district.
Other seeding notes: Olmsted Falls is seeded third in the Division I tournament at Valley Forge, Bay is the second seed in the Division II tournament at St. Joseph Academy and Oberlin is seeded third in the Division III tourney at Keystone.

Party for one

Keystone staged its annual senior night program last weekend — the usual pregame ceremony at midcourt with flowers and photos. Nicely done.
Except in this case there was just one introduction and career recap to go with the flowers for player and mom. That’s because Aubrie Ridinger is the only senior on this year’s squad. She was in the starting lineup as the Wildcats clinched a tie for the PAC Stars Division title.
Coach Scott Terry took her out late in the fourth quarter so she could enjoy the ovation that sent her off her home court for the last time.
“That was really special,” said Ridinger, who was joined by her parents, Dawn and Greg Ridinger, for the festivities. “I loved it. I don’t know what else could have been better. I’m glad to be moving on, but I’m sad to leave this team.”
Ridinger ranks 13th in her class with a 3.69 gpa. She will attend Defiance College where she’ll play softball and major in history. She’s also a veteran of the Keystone softball and cross country teams. Ridinger is a member of National Honor Society, a long list of school organizations and takes part in various community service activities.

Haldi stars

Avon senior Ali Haldi was at or near the top of her team’s individual statistics categories through 15 games.
The 5-foot-7 Haldi led in scoring with 14 points per game, in assists with 52 and 3-point field goals with 11. She ranked third — behind juniors Katie Maloney and Katie Dent — in rebounds with 6.4 per game. She makes 67 percent of her free throws, which is second to Maloney.
Haldi also has the most steals on the team (20), but her per-game average is just behind Maloney, who has 20 steals in 10 games.
Contact Bob Daniels on 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Shaqwe Lawson, Oberlin

YEAR: Senior
LAST WEEK: The 5-foot-6 Lawson was held to 11 points — nearly three below her average — in a loss to Lutheran West on Saturday night. But she bounced back impressively with a game-high 19 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals in a big win at Clearview on Wednesday. Her performance helped Oberlin clinch at least a tie for the Patriot Athletic Conference Stripes Division title and remain a top-five team in The Chronicle’s weekly poll.
BIO: Lawson and teammate Rachel Daniels make up one of the most potent one-two scoring punches in the area. Lawson is averaging just under 14 points per game to go with 4.8 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 2.6 steals. She’s also a starter on the Phoenix softball team and formerly played volleyball. She’s treasurer of the Student Council and is a member of Youth For Youth and the Foreign Language Club. Lawson wants to play college basketball. She’s been accepted at Wright State.

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