CANTON, Ohio — Four quarters a basketball game makes. Never was that more apparent than Tuesday in the Division I regional semifinal at the Canton Civic Center between Solon and Eastlake North.
Solon jumped to a 17-2 lead midway through the first period and the Rangers trailed by as many as 20 in the second quarter. Yet somehow North came back to take a thrilling 64-63 victory. Making its first regional appearance since 1999, Eastlake North will face Canton GlenOak in Friday’s final at 7:30. GlenOak dominated Aurora in the other semifinal, 61-32.
“We kept the energy up the whole game,” said North sophomore Abby Carter, who had a brilliant all-around game with 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists. “There were no rollercoasters. When we were down, we knew we had more fire in us. We knew the first quarter wasn’t the end of the game and we had to keep fighting.”
In an interesting coaching move, North coach Paul Force called a timeout when the Rangers were down, 14-2, and rather than upbraid his team or try to make corrections, he talked about the moment.
“When I called that timeout,” he said, “I told the girls, ‘Hey, listen, I love this. That’s why we’re here, to play against this.’ We embrace that kind of a challenge. It’s four quarters for a reason.”
If ever a game appeared headed to a blowout it was this one. Solon sophomore Hailey Weaver scored 11 points in the game’s first three minutes and before much of the crowd had settled into their seats, the Comets were up 11-0 and 14-2. Eventually the period ended with Solon holding a 29-14 lead. Weaver scored 14 points and Solon hit seven of 10 3-pointers. Making their eight consecutive regional appearance, the Comets looked unstoppable.
“They were ready to go,” Force said. “They came out with guns blazing. They’ve been here a long time, and I think they weren’t intimidated by the atmosphere.”
On the other hand, after the hot start, perhaps the Comets thought they could cruise to a victory.
“It might have (come too easily),” Solon coach Trish Kruse said. “And then I think we were just a little bit too happy with the 3. We forgot to attack the basket.”
Solon still led by 15 at the half, 38-23. Enter North’s Taylor Valaitis, who scored just two points in the first half but exploded for 11 in the third period, including three 3-pointers. The senior hit long bombs on North’s first two possessions of the half, and suddenly the margin was cut to 38-29.
“Coming out of the locker room we were hoping to get it to single digits in the third quarter, and Taylor took care of that in the first 60 seconds,” Force said. “That’s a senior point guard who has won 46 of the 51 games she has started. She’s a winner.”
The surge continued throughout the period, as Valaitis and Carter hit consecutive 3s and Carter finished with an old-fashioned 3-point play, cutting it to 49-44 entering the final period.
Sophomore Avril Drew got into the act for North, helping the Rangers get within one, 52-51. However, the Comets hit an 8-0 run of their own, opening a 60-51 lead with 4:22 to play. But Solon would only manage three points for the rest of the game.
“We went on that little run there in the fourth quarter to go up by nine,” Kruse said. “But then we gave up some layups and some and-ones and things just didn’t go our way in the fourth quarter. We didn’t play a very good defensive half. They played harder than us in the second half. It doesn’t matter on what end of the floor, they played harder than us.”
The Rangers didn’t take their first lead until just 60 seconds remained when Leo hit a driving layup and was fouled. The three-point play put North up, 62-60. Leo entered the game averaging better than 29 points per game. She ended with 19, 15 in the first half. Valaitis added 13 points and Drew had eight, all in the fourth quarter.
“We figured they would key on Destiny, as everybody kind of does,” Force said. “When that happens, it opens things up for the other girls.”
But Solon wasn’t done yet. With 42 seconds left, Riyah Ali hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key, giving the Comets a 63-62 lead. Carter was then fouled on a drive to the basket, with her two free throws putting the Rangers back on top, 64-63, with 16.6 seconds to play.
Weaver had an open 3-pointer with four seconds remaining, but the shot hit the back iron. The rebound resulted in a tied possession, with the ball going back to the Comets with 1.8 seconds to play. Kruse called a timeout and diagrammed a play that had Weaver wide open under the basket, but the inbounder didn’t see her and the resulting turnover came as the buzzer sounded.
“It was pretty wide open,” Kruse said. “We just didn’t execute what we drew up. That happens. But we had a chance.”
Weaver led the way for Solon with 23 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. She was backed by Riyah Ali with 12 points, Minah Ali with 11 and Sami Rinicella with 9.
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