MEDINA — Coaching the Amherst girls basketball team hasn’t just been a job this season, it’s been an adventure.
That theme continued Wednesday night in the Division I tournament at Medina High school where the Comets claimed the sectional crown with a 56-48 upset win over fourth-seeded North Olmsted.
Amherst appears to be playing its best ball of the season at just the right time. In its last three games, all wins, the Comets have defeated two teams (Rocky River and North Olmsted) with a combined 37-3 record entering the games.
The win advances the Comets to a district semifinal matchup with Elyria on Thursday, Feb. 21 at 6 p.m.
“Come tournament time, it’s half-court basketball, rebound and defend,” Amherst coach John Rositano said. “And we did all three tonight. And the way we played defense tonight, it was tough on them (North Olmsted).
“We played differently tonight than we had all year. We fell back into a half-court man and made them go through the heart of our defense on every possession.
“When we needed a big shot, a rebound or a defensive stop, we got it.”
Amherst (11-11) got a lot of everything in the first half as it jumped on the Eagles from the opening tip. A pair of 3-pointers from Brittany Cruz and another from Ashley Aponte helped the Comets to a 19-12 lead entering the second quarter.
And that’s when Cruz and her teammates made their mark.
Cruz opened the quarter with her third 3-pointer of the game and sparked a 14-0 Comets run. Of the 14 points, Cruz accounted for nine of them on a trio of threes as Amherst sprinted out to a 33-14 halftime lead.
“My teammates did a good job of getting the ball to me when I was open,” said Cruz, who finished with a team-high 17 points. “Everything just felt good. I was just getting the ball and letting it go without thinking about it.”
The 19-point advantage proved crucial in the second half as the Eagles made a charge in the fourth quarter. Trailing 42-25 entering the final period, North Olmsted found its footing behind the play of Kori Wiedt.
Wiedt, after being held in check the first three quarters, shook things loose in the fourth. The 5-foot-7 senior scored 10 of the Eagles’ first 15 points of the quarter to cut the Amherst lead to 47-40.
A Bridget Beury basket stopped the North Olmsted momentum and started a 5-0 Amherst run to push its lead to 52-40 with less than two minutes remaining. Once again, North Olmsted answered as Christina Fesz hit three straight free throws and Wiedt followed with a putback and a 3-pointer to pull within 54-48.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, time wasn’t on their side as only 14 seconds remained and the Comets’ Miranda Szucs hit a pair of free throws to seal the win.
“It got a little hairy in the second half,” Rositano said. “But these girls played with a lot of heart and a lot of pride tonight. They were determined to come out and give it all they had.”
The loss ends a successful year for the Eagles, who finished 18-4 and tied for the Southwestern Conference title.
“Obviously this wasn’t the way we wanted the season to end,” Eagles coach Maggie Steadley said. “Give Amherst credit though, they did what they needed to do to get the win.”
Courtney Jarvis and Beury joined Cruz in double figures with 15 and 12 points, respectively. Cruz also grabbed a game-high 11 boards.
Wiedt led North Olmsted with 19 points, while Fesz chipped in 12.

Elyria 59, Southview 29

With coach Mike Walsh in the stands serving the second game of a two-game suspension and starting guard Kassandra Messenger on the bench with the a sprained ankle, some might have thought Elyria was ripe for an upset.
Think again.
The Pioneers (15-6) routed Southview to claim a Division I sectional title.
Honesty King, who made a name for herself at last year’s tournament in Medina, continued her strong play by scoring a game-high 25 points.
“I have to step it up now that its tournament time,” King said. “They were playing a box-and-one so I knew if I kept moving around my shots would come. I was a little nervous coming into tonight because we’ve struggled in first games of the tournament.
“So it was nice to come out and get the win.”
Elyria controlled the tempo and the boards, racing to a 12-5 lead after the opening quarter and 28-13 at the break. King, who has just eight points in the first two quarters, came alive in the final two, scoring 17 of the Pioneers’ final 31 points.
“We played pretty well for the first game of the tournament,” said Elyria assistant coach Kris Piedmonte, who filled in for Walsh. “We wanted to move the ball at our pace and to control the boards. We did that for the most part and it’s good to get this one under our belt.”
With Elyria controlling the tempo and the boards (37-25), Southview had little opportunity to get anything going.
“It was rough to say the least,” said Saints coach Scott Pizak, whose team finished 11-11. “They could pretty much do what they wanted to do when they wanted to do it. We tried a variety of things but nothing seemed to click for us tonight.”
Tai Dotson joined King in double figures with 10 boards, while Brigette Jones finished with nine points and 10 boards.

Amherst 56, North Olmsted 48

AMHERST (56): Brittany Cruz 6-0-17, Courtney Jarvis 6-3-15, Bridget Beury 5-2-12, Ashley Aponte 1-2-5, Miranda Szcucs 1-2-4, Olivia Sliman 0-3-3, Lizzie Soto 0-0-0. Totals 18-12-56.
NORTH OLMSTED (48): Kori Weidt 8-2-19, Christina Fesz 3-5-12, Susan Tomko 3-5-11, Ann Tomko 2-1-5, Kara Heitmann 0-1-1, Emily Lasko 0-0-0, Catherine Hohmann 0-0-0, Erica Hagen 0-0-0, Alyssa Balasko 0-0-0, Amanda Taylor 0-0-0. Totals 16-14-48.
Amherst     19       14       9       14    —    56
North Olmsted     12      2       11       23      —    48
Three-point goals: Amherst 6 (Cruz 5, Aponte), North Olmsted 2 (Fesz, Weidt). Fields goals: Amherst 18 of 41 (44 percent), North Olmsted 16 of 50 (32 percent). Free Throws: Amherst 12 of 25 (48 percent), North Olmsted 13 of 20 (65 percent). Rebounds: Amherst 35 (Jarvis 11), North Olmsted 25 (S. Tomko 6). Turnovers: Amherst 20, North Olmsted 12. Fouls: Amherst 16, North Olmsted 21. Technical fouls: North Olmsted 1 (Coach Steadley). Fouled out: Amherst 1 (Aponte), North Olmsted 1 (Heitmann). 

Elyria 59, Southview 29

SOUTHVIEW (29): Ashley Evans 1-4-6, Shanique Ogle 3-0-6, Tiondra Smith 2-0-5, Jasmine Barnett 1-2-5, Tierra Whitfield 1-2-4, Maria Nazario 1-1-3, Marisol Torres 0-0-0, Celeste Adkinson 0-0-0, Tanitra Smith 0-0-0. Totals 9-9-27.
ELYRIA (59): Honesty King 12-0-25, Tai Dotson 3-4-10, Brigette Jones 4-1-9, Tess Sito 4-1-9, Charnele Oliver 2-0-4, Kristen Burrey 0-0-0, Darcy Warden 0-0-0, Stephanie Littlejohn 0-0-0, Jessica Mandula 0-0-0, Kortney Schweitzer 0-0-0. Totals 26-6-59.
Southview    5       8       12       4    —    29
Elyria    12      16  13       18      —    59
Three-point goals: Southview 2 (Barnett, Smith), Elyria 1 (King). Fields goals: Southview 9 of 50 (18 percent), Elyria 26 of 56 (46 percent). Free throws: Southview 9 of 12 (75 percent), Elyria 6 of 13 (46 percent). Rebounds: Southview 25 (Ogle 11), Elyria 37 (Jones 10). Turnovers: Southview 17, Elyria 8. Fouls: Southview 11, Elyria 11.

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