ELYRIA, Ohio – Avon Lake had just watched a 13-point second-quarter lead wither away under a hail of Clare Kelly 3-pointers during a furious third-quarter barrage.
Trailing by four with 4:56 remaining, the Shoregals -- who had been swept by Olmsted Falls during the regular season in two close contests -- shook off the run and stormed back with one of their own. Outscoring the Bulldogs 15-7 down the stretch, including 8-for-8 from the free-throw line in the final 1:36, the Shoregals held on for a 52-48 victory to win the Division I district title Thursday night at Elyria Catholic High School.
Avon Lake (22-3) advances to the Division I regional semis next Tuesday at Norwalk High School at 8 p.m. against either Canton McKinley or Wadsworth. Olmsted Falls’ season ends at 21-4.
“Today, the girls came out with a lot of energy at the beginning of the game,” said Avon Lake coach Dave Zvara, who was named Division I Northeast District Coach of the Year Thursday. “In those two games we lost, the first game we were a little timid and the second game we felt we should have won. And I knew, even up by 13, they have Kelly and they were gonna come back. We overcame adversity and we made some huge foul shots down the stretch.
“As a coach, this is my first district championship. I came close when I was coaching boys, but this was the first time I ever cut down a net. Winning a (Southwestern Conference) championship or (Lorain) County championship is nice, but to win a district championship, people remember you for that.”
Back-to-back Kelly 3-pointers – her seventh and eighth from long distance – put Olmsted Falls ahead 41-37 and capped a 28-11 spurt that started with her team trailing 26-13 in the first half's final minute. Kelly’s back-to-back 3-pointers ended the first half and gave her Bulldogs a big shot of momentum.
Following a timeout, the Shoregals began to swing that pendulum back. Junior Arianna Negron – who led Avon Lake with 17 points and nine rebounds – sank a long jumper, followed by a layup from sophomore reserve Emma Knick and 3-pointer from Negron with 2:07 remaining. That trey, Negron’s only one of the night, put Avon Lake ahead, 44-41.
“It feels amazing,” said Negron, who shot 7-of-14 from the floor and 2-of-2 from the line. “It’s hard to beat a team three times, and we just showed them what we came here to do. We meant business and we beat them and now we’re district champs going on to regionals.
“We had to keep our intensity up. Coach (Zvara) told us they would come back in the second half but we’re gonna have to keep our heads in the game. We did endure a bit of a slump, but we kept our heads in the game and it paid off in the end.”
A big 3-pointer from senior Kaitlyn Hradek from a nice assist from Kelly tied the game at 44 with 1:41 left. But Knick drew a foul, and the underclassmen calmly drained both tosses to give her team the lead, 46-44. After a turnover, the Bulldogs resorted to fouling to put Avon Lake back on the line. This time, it was senior Elizabeth Murdock with 32.2 seconds left. Murdock, who scored 11 points Thursday, rattled both in to put her team up by four.
Falls quickly answered with a layup from Danielle Stevens and fouled Negron, who drained both free throws with 21.1 seconds left to put Avon Lake back up by four, 50-46. A quick layup from Lauren Galaska with 10 seconds left made it a 2-point game again. But senior point guard Amber Achladis – who finished with 12 points – cemented the win with a pair of free throws.
“I’m just so proud of every one of these girls,” Achladis said. “In our school history, we’ve never won a district championship at Division I, so we knew we wanted to make history. We knew we had been working hard all year for this. This was just redemption after our last game against Falls – we were really hurt about the outcome and we really took it to them tonight.”
The smaller Shoregals outrebounded the Bulldogs, 37-33. They used a lot of second-chance points to jump out to a 14-8 first quarter lead and extend that lead to 13 late in the first half.
“Credit to the girls, they were aggressive and they were active,” Zvara said. “We’re very quick and we don’t stand around and watch shots. I think Ari missed a 3-pointer but wound up grabbing her own offensive rebound and put it back in. And when we didn’t get the board, we would get a nice turnover on defense. Whenever these girls make a mistake, they immediately try to make up for it. Tonight, we made up for our mistakes.”
The loss overshadowed another great performance from Kelly. The Kent State recruit led all scorers with 26 points, shooting 9-of-14 from the floor (8-of-11 from 3-point range) and grabbing 10 rebounds. Stevens added 10, but it wasn’t enough for the Bulldogs to pull off the sweep and win the district crown.
“We had so much fun, honestly,” said Kelly, who shot 7-for-7 from beyond the arc in the final three quarters. “This team is so together and this year was really something to remember. I honestly couldn’t have done it without my teammates. They kept passing me the ball and we all worked together on defense to get those opportunities on the offensive end.”
Senior Allie Heschel chipped in with eight points and eight boards for Avon Lake.
“I told the girls to be really proud of themselves,” Falls coach Jordan Eaton said. “We had a slow start to the game. Avon Lake made it difficult for us to make simple decisions by playing hard defense. I can take a lot of the blame because I think Coach Zvara had his girls a little bit more prepared than I did. We’re gonna be thinking about this for a long time.”
Dan Gilles is a freelance sportswriter from Lorain.
Ad Choices