ELYRIA — Same story, different year, different score. But basically the same headline: Elyria defeats Admiral King and wins its own invitational basketball tournament for the 10th year in a row.
Last year the score was 61-53. On Saturday night, the Pioneers pulled away from the Admirals in the second half to win the 10th annual Lorain County Holiday Classic, 57-45.
It was Elyria’s 20th straight victory without a loss since the tournament began.
And who was that masked woman who came seemingly out of nowhere to light it up for a game-high 21 points in her second varsity game? None other than Pioneers sophomore guard Cynthia Woodard, who scored nine points Friday night and was named to the all-tournament team.
Forget the points for a minute. The Pioneers did it with defense, holding the Admirals’ Derekia Mahone to four points the first half and five the second. Woodard figured in that subplot as well, after Mahone scored a game-high 20 in Admiral King’s Friday night win over Keystone.
“We had Tess (Sito) on her and Tess got in foul trouble,” Pioneers coach Mike Walsh said. “Then Woodard took her, and (Ashlee) Stolarski took her a little bit off the bench. Kourtney (Schweitzer) pretty much had her the whole second half, and I thought she did a great job.”
The Admirals’ Dominique Higginbotham picked up the scoring slack and finished with a team-high 16 points. Her basket and foul shot in the first two minutes put Admiral King in front, 5-2. But back-to-back 3-point field goals by Woodard and Sito put the Pioneers in charge, 8-5, and they trailed again only once, 9-8.
With Woodard scoring 11 points, including the first of her two 3-point field goals, Elyria (2-0) took a 30-25 lead at the break. Sito and Woodard contributed five points each in the third quarter, after which the Pioneers seemed to be in control, 42-31.
Not quite. Admiral King opened the fourth with a 6-1 run that cut Elyria’s lead to 43-37.
But Sito, who finished with 14 points, went coast-to-coast to score after a steal and Woodard drove the baseline for a basket that stretched the Pioneers’ lead to 47-37. Admiral King (1-1) cut the margin to 49-42, but the 5-foot-7 Woodard dashed any hope of an Admirals’ rally when she drained her second three of the night with 1:56 to play.
“I was excited and I was nervous because I knew this was an important game,” Woodard said. “So I just went out and played my best.”
It was a tough, physical night under the backboards for both teams and the Admirals won that statistical battle, 33-30. In the thick of it was Pioneers forward Brigette Jones, who was also selected for the all-tournament team.
“They have height and we have height, so basically we just had to box out under the basket and rebound,” said Jones, a 6-0 junior. “It was very physical, but we just had to be calm.”
Admirals coach Cheryl Bansek was philosophical about the loss.
“It’s disappointing but it’s not devastating,” she said. “Every coach wants to go into a game wanting to win, but sometimes a loss could give us a nice taste in our mouth, just like it did last year.”
That’s another element to the recurring Elyria-Admiral King story. After their meeting in the Holiday Classic final last November, the teams met again on Feb. 23 in the Division I district final at Medina. The Admirals turned the tables in that one with a 54-51 victory. It was only the second district title in the history of the Admiral King girls program.
All-tourney team
Holiday Classic officials named six players to the all-tournament team. They are: Chloe Irish, Keystone, senior; Anne Hamilton, Vermilion, junior; Dominique Higginbotham and Derekia Mahone, seniors, Admiral King, and Brigette Jones, junior, and Cynthia Woodard, sophomore, Elyria.

Elyria 57, Admiral King 45

Admiral King (45): Derekia Mahone 3-1-9, Sharde Little 2-0-4, Dominique Higginbotham 5-6-16, Shalanda Harvey 6-1-14, Jade Blair 0-0-0, Sheral Robinson 1-0-2, I’esha Holley 0-0-0, Taj McCall 0-0-0. Totals: 17-8-45.
Elyria (57): Ashlee Stolarski 0-0-0, Kourtney Schweitzer 2-3-7, Ashley Nemes 0-0-0, Brigette Jones 2-3-7, Jasmine Fluker 0-0-0, Tai Dotson 2-3-7, Nais Williams 0-1-1, Tess Sito 5-2-14, Alesha Mahone 0-0-0. Totals: 20-13-57.
Admiral King    14   11   6  14 – 45
Elyria    16   14  12  15 – 57
3-point goals: Admiral King 3-9 (Mahone 2, Harvey); Elyria 4-12 (Woodard 2, Sito 2). Field goals: Admiral King 17-52 (33 percent); Elyria 20-59 (34 percent). Free throws: Admiral King 8-15; Elyria 13-20. Rebounds: Admiral King 33; Elyria 30. Turnovers: Admiral King 16; Elyria 22. Fouled out: None.

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