Derrick Webb, Managing Editor
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
CHILLICOTHE — Waterford’s Ava Hurley scored four points on Tuesday night.
She wasn’t the game’s leading scorer. Heck, she wasn’t even her team’s leading scorer.
But what she did in the final minute, on multiple occasions, sealed a season-saving victory.
With the Wildcats leading Ripley by a slim 26-24 margin in a Division VI district semifinal at Southeastern High School, the Blue Jays were forced to foul.
The problem for Waterford, however, was exactly that.
The Wildcats were just 4-of-10 from the free throw line and it glaringly showed in the final minutes.
But that’s where Hurley comes in.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
With 33.4 seconds remaining, and after Waterford missed a pair at the stripe, Hurley boxed out her opponent and grabbed an offensive rebound. She then repeated that process with 24.8 seconds to go before being fouled herself.
And then, she sank both of her tries to push the contest to a two-possession game. It was the final nail in Ripley’s proverbial coffin as the Wildcats survived and advanced with a 28-24 win.
“I wasn’t making many lay-ups so I knew I needed to get the rebounds, at least on my missed lay-ups,” Hurley said. “So I knew running in, like if you came in from the 3-point line and ran in, the offensive rebound was there. So I just went in with full force and went for the ball. I put my mind right to get it and that’s always the goal, to get that ball.”
Hurley finished the night with a team-high 10 rebounds in a game where points were hard to come by.
In total, the Wildcats (13-10) out-rebounded Ripley by a 30-25 margin while forcing the Blue Jays into 16 turnovers and holding them to just 8-of-33 shooting.
“That’s been the goal. We’re not big and we’re not overly athletic, so we have to try to do things right,” Waterford coach Jerry Close said. “In the games that we’ve boxed out and done things right, we’ve been pretty successful. But that’s been the problem that we’ve had throughout the year, is not staying consistent with those things.”
Waterford’s Brynnlee Pottmeyer got the night’s scoring started with 6:39 left in the first quarter with a runner before Ripley’s Sophia Miller nailed a 3 with 5:29 to go, putting the Blue Jays ahead 3-2.
Raquel Hackney scored to make it a 5-2 score before Brooklyn Manning dialed long distance to force Waterford into a timeout with Ripley leading 8-2 at the 3:59 mark.
And then the tides turned significantly.
Waterford’s Gracie Hartline got a jumper to fall just before the end of the frame and it sparked a game-changing run.
Pottmeyer began the second with a bucket and the Wildcats took a 9-8 lead with 4:14 to go before halftime with a lay-in from Shaeli Hayes. That made way for Pottmeyer to score again and for Elsie Malec to hit a 3 for a 14-8 lead.
When Pottmeyer followed Malec’s lead with a 3 of her own at the 1:16 mark, it ended a 15-0 run and capped a quarter in which Ripley failed to score a single point.
PHOTOS: Images from Waterford’s district semifinal win over Ripley
“We got off to a really slow start and then got rolling in the second quarter,” Close said. “I think the kids kind of just tightened up a little bit. We had a lead and I think we were trying to play keepaway instead of actually trying to score. That was a lot of it. But this is a young team and this is their first tournament game, a lot of them. So hopefully we learn from it and apply it [in the district final].”
That run stretched to 18-0 early in the third when Hayes tallied an old-fashioned three-point play to make it 20-8.
But that’s when Ripley began to finally provide a counter-punch.
Hackney scored for a 20-10 count with 4:18 to play in the third — the Blue Jays’ first score since 3:59 left in the first quarter —and Manning cut the deficit to 22-13 going into the final eight minutes.
Manning began the fourth with a 3 before Waterford answered with a bucket from Cira Ponchak for a 24-16 count. Hackney then scored three the hard way, cutting the deficit to 24-19, before Manning followed with a lay-in for a 24-21 count.
Later, with 4:33 remaining, Hackney scored to keep the Blue Jays within three at 26-23, which was followed by Manning splitting a pair of free throws for a 26-24 score at the 2:22 mark.
But despite the momentum that Ripley had gained, throughout the next two minutes, Waterford simply out-worked the Blue Jays in the paint — specifically Hurley, who collected her two game-saving offensive rebounds before eventually putting the win on ice.
Pottmeyer ended the night with nine points and eight rebounds while Shaeli Hayes added six points and four boards. Hurley chipped in with four points and 10 rebounds.
Ripley (10-14) was led by Manning, who finished with 13 points and seven rebounds while Hackney added six points and five boards.
“We did a nice job defensively for the most part,” Close said. “I just think that in that fourth quarter, we just thought, ‘Well we have a lead, so we’re going to protect it.’ We were forcing some stuff inside and we were just a little bit out of sorts. But, for the most part, defensively, we did a good job. [Ripley] had two 1,000-point scorers and we knew they’d shoot. So I’m proud of the way we responded.”
While the Blue Jays’ season comes to a close, Waterford advances to a Division VI district championship game at 3:30 p.m., Saturday at Southeastern High School.
The Wildcats will meet with Belpre, whom they’ve already beaten twice this season.
But beating the Golden Eagles — who ousted 17-win Coal Grove on Tuesday — a third time will indeed be a tall task.
“You have to stop [Belpre’s] Gracie Bills to beat them,” Close said. “That’s your main focus and if someone else beats you, then it is what it is. That kid has a motor that doesn’t stop. You have to keep her off the glass and try to contain her and that isn’t easy to do. So we’ve got our work cut out for us.”
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