MEDINA — It was the rematch fans had hoped for since November and it was worth the wait, right down to the last few tenths of a second.
With a big fourth quarter, the Admiral King girls came from four points down to nip Elyria, 54-51, on Saturday and win a Division I district championship for the first time in 25 years.
It was the thriller everyone thought it would be.
With 47 seconds left, the Admirals got a layup from Shalanda Harvey and it became the eventual winner. They also got two huge offensive rebounds from Sharde Little in the last 15 seconds and two foul shots by Derekia Mahone that gave them a three-point lead with eight-tenths of a second to play.
Even then, the Pioneers could have tied with a long desperation shot — and a miracle. Instead, they committed their 26th turnover of the afternoon and the buzzer sounded with the Admirals in possession.
Coach Cheryl Bansek jumped in the air with excitement and two of her players turned acrobatic flips onto the court in celebration. It was the 19th straight victory for the Admirals (21-2) and avenged a 52-45 loss to the Pioneers on Nov. 17.
In addition to a championship, the game produced several interesting coincidences for Admiral King.
The fourth-quarter rally was ignited by senior star Kinesia Thorpe. Her mother, Jackie Lewis, played on the Admirals’ 1983 squad, which won the only other district title in the history of the program. And Bansek was her teammate.
“Somebody told me that as a coach, it’s so much better to win a championship than it is as a player,” Bansek said. “I was like, ‘No way. I was a player, I was on the court.’ But you know, this is 10 times better.”
Pioneers coach Mike Walsh was disappointed but philosophical.
“Admiral King played well and both teams played extremely hard,” said Walsh, whose team ends the season 16-7. “It was what a district championship game is supposed to be. It came down to the last 30 seconds and you can’t ask for much more than that.”
Admiral King took a 13-3 lead in the first three minutes, but Elyria fought back to lead 25-24 at the half. With Brigette Jones scoring six points, the Pioneers led 40-36 after three quarters.
Thorpe and the Admirals came out blazing to open the fourth. Thorpe hit a shot from the foul line, then seconds later scored off a steal. Elyria’s Jones answered with a layup, but Thorpe drilled a 3-pointer two minutes into the period that gave King its first lead since late in the first half.
The lead changed hands four times from then to the end. Jones’ layup put Elyria ahead 44-43. Thorpe’s foul shot and a drive to the hoop by Mahone gave the Admirals a 46-44 lead, and Kassandra Messenger’s long 3-pointer gave the Pioneers their final lead with 4:11 to play.
Little collared the first of her two huge rebounds after Thorpe missed two foul shots, then moments later came up with the other when Dominique Higginbotham missed a pair. Elyria, trailing 52-51, still had 7.5 seconds to win, but turned the ball over with two seconds to go. Mahone’s foul shots created the final score.
“I just knew I had to get (the rebounds),” Little said. “We had to come out hard because it seems like we always lose to this team. We wanted to get this for the seniors so they could go out happy.”
The Admirals defense hounded Honesty King, Elyria’s leading scorer, all afternoon. Playing with two defenders crowding her most of the time, King scored eight points in the first half. But the Admirals held her to two foul shots in the second half. Jones, a sophomore, made up for it with a team-high 15 points.
Elyria junior Tai Dotson again worked hard on the backboards before she fouled out on a charging call in the last minute. The call also nullified a basket that would have pulled the Pioneers within a point, 50-49. She finished with nine points. The Admirals’ Thorpe scored a game-high 20 points, 10 in each half, nine in the fourth quarter.
“It was time to take over,” said Thorpe. “I knew my team wanted me to do it, so I just did what I had to do.”
The Admirals move on to the Norwalk regional where they’ll take on ninth-ranked Toledo Central Catholic on Tuesday at 8 p.m. Central Catholic scored a one-point, come-from-behind victory over Toledo Waite in the Perrysburg district final on Saturday.

Admiral King 54, Elyria 51

ADMIRAL KING (54): Derekia Mahone 2-2-6, Jillian Van Wagnen 0-1-1, Sharde Little 2-1-5, Shalanda Harvey 6-0-12, Sheral Robinson 0-0-0, Kinesia Thorpe 7-3-20, I’esha Holley 0-0-0, Ivory Smith 3-0-8, Dominique Higginbotham 1-0-2. Totals: 21-7-54.
ELYRIA (51): Kassandra Messenger 2-2-8, Charnele Oliver 2-1-5, Honesty King 3-4-10, Brigette Jones 7-1-15, Burgandy Jones 0-0-0, Tai Dotson 4-1-9, Tess Sito 2-0-4. Totals: 20-9-51.
Admiral King    17    7  12  18 – 54
Elyria    11  14  15  11 – 51
3-point goals: Admiral King 5-11 (Thorpe 3, Smith 2); Elyria 2-9 (Messenger 2). Field goals: Admiral King 21-55 (38 percent); Elyria 20-66 (30 percent). Free throws: Admiral King 7-20; Elyria 9-19. Rebounds: Admiral King 30; Elyria 26. Turnovers: Admiral King 41; Elyria 37. Fouled out: Dotson, Messenger. 

In order to comment, you must agree to our user agreement and discussion guidelines.
You must be registered and logged in to post a comment. If you aren't already registered, click here.
If you are registered, click here to log in.
Need help? Email Us.