Lady Rockets run to section championship

The opponent’s scoring runs came, as Fayetteville-Perry expected.

But such outbursts, particularly an early spree, came mostly from the Lady Rockets. The result was a convincing 57-36 victory over Middletown Christian in the Southwest District Division IV section final Tuesday, Feb. 21 at Monroe High School.

Middletown Christian’s Whitney Schaurer scored the first points of the game on a short-range shot before Fayetteville-Perry went on a 13-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer by senior guard Anne Murphy, for a 13-2 lead en route to a 15-4 cushion after the first quarter.

The Lady Rockets led 17-4 early in the second quarter before the Eagles scored five consecutive points and trailed 17-9 with 5:50 left in the half. Freshman guard Lilly Carlier hit a 3-pointer with 5:10 left to boost the Lady Rockets’ lead to 20-9, but Olivia Schaurer made her second 3-pointer of the quarter to key another five-point run and draw the Eagles to 20-14 with 3:10 left in the half.

But that’s as close as Middletown Christian would get in the half – and game. Olivia Schaurer added her third 3-pointer of the quarter for a 24-17 Middletown Christian deficit with 1:30 left in the half, but Murphy followed with a three-point play for a 27-17 Lady Rockets’ lead at halftime.

“We knew that they were going to make runs and that we would have to combat that,” said coach Tory Rummel, who also led the Lady Rockets to the sectional championship last year in her first year as the team’s head coach. “Right away they had back-to-back 3s and I told the team we have to shut that down now.”

Fayetteville-Perry followed that strong finish to the second quarter with a 20-point third quarter and a 47-30 lead, and then outscored the Eagles 10-6 in the final quarter for the sizable final margin.

Murphy and Ryley Kleemeyer led the third-seeded Lady Rockets with 17 and 16 points, respectively, followed by Scarlett Crawford with eight points, Ava Baker with six, Faith Rosselot with four, and Carlier and Blake Thiel with three points apiece.

Rummel pointed to 13-for-13 shooting from the free-throw line, as well as that balanced scoring, as keys to the victory.

“And Anne Murphy always gives 110 percent and Ryley Kleemeyer has really come alive in this tournament run,” she said.

Whitney Schaurer and Olivia Schaurer each scored 11 points to lead No. 2 seed Middletown Christian.

Rummel admitted that the team sometimes concentrated too much on the defensive end this season, but that the Lady Rockets were “keyed into both sides” against the Eagles. Still, the defensive effort was evident.

“We knew their post player and (the Schaurers) on the outside … if we could contest them we would be OK,” Rummel said. “I thought it would be closer, but to hold (Hannah Geis) to six points … If you can hold a 6-foot (post player) to that, I’ll take that all day.”

The victory propelled the Lady Rockets into the District championship game Saturday, Feb. 25 at Troy High School. And for the second consecutive year, they were handled by New Madison Tri-Village in the District title game to bring the Lady Rockets’ season to an end.

In the second sectional championship game Tuesday night, sixth-seeded Ripley-Union-Lewis-Huntington fell to top seed Legacy Christian Academy, 66-22. The Blue Jays ended the season at 9-15, according to coach Chris Coleman.

The Blue Jays received a bye into the tournament and defeated Cincinnati College Prep Academy 51-40 in their first game in the tournament, a sectional semifinal on Thursday, Feb. 16 at Mason High School – reportedly the team’s first tournament victory since 2012.

In the win over CCPA, freshman Brooklyn Manning led the Blue Jays with 12 points, followed by junior Kenlee Finn with 11, freshman Callie Fultz with nine and freshman Raquel Hackney with eight points. Kenlee Finn and senior Riley Finn led the way with five points apiece against Legacy Christian, and sophomore Grace Taylor, Hackney and Manning followed with four each.

Southwest District Division IV

Tri-Village 71, Fayetteville-Perry 29

Even in a 42-point loss, the wins were there for the Lady Rockets.

After falling behind by 30 points at the half, “We almost played them even in the third quarter, which was a huge win for us,” Rummel said. “And last year (against Tri-Village in the District championship), we scored 17 points total and got beat by 50 points. So we look at this year as improvement.”

“We knew what we were getting,” she added of the championship matchup with the Patriots.

What they were getting was an undefeated opponent ranked second in the state and with a considerable height advantage and an offense that featured one of the best shooters and scorers in the state, according to Rummel.

The result was a 71-29 Tri-Village victory in the Division IV Southwest District championship Saturday, Feb. 25 at Troy High School.

Early on, it appeared the Lady Rockets might be picking up where they left off after a strong run in the sectional tournament. Kleemeyer hit a jump shot from the free-throw line to tie the score at 2 a minute into the game, and the Lady Rockets were still within two points, 6-4, after a Murphy basket about a minute later. But it was all Tri-Village after that, with the Patriots outscoring the Lady Rockets 21-5 in the last 5:35 of the first quarter.

Senior sharp-shooter Rylee Sagester keyed that run, nailing three 3-pointers – all from well beyond the 3-point arc – and scoring 13 points in the first quarter.

“She (Sagester) is one of the top scorers in the state,” Rummel said of the OPSWA All-Southwest Ohio Division IV Player of the Year. “She’s a pure shooter, and she does it (makes long 3-pointers) even if you do (guard her closely).”

Fayetteville-Perry got off to a nice start in the second quarter, too, cutting the Tri-Village lead to 28-12 after a 3-pointer by Murphy 50 seconds into the stanza. But three players combined for four 3-pointers in the quarter – including one by Sagester – to pull away for a 44-14 lead at halftime.

After struggling with turnovers and allowing a number of second-chance baskets in the first half, the Lady Rockets settled down considerably in the third quarter. Five players scored baskets and Sagester was held scoreless in the quarter, one that saw the Patriots outscore the Lady Rockets by only six points, 17-11. Still, Tri-Village led 61-25 entering the final quarter and a running-clock situation led to a low-scoring final eight minutes. But the team’s effort in the fourth quarter was also a victory of sorts, Rummel said.

“The effort was still 100 percent there,” she said. “Even with 10 seconds left and a running clock, they were still sliding around on the floor and trying to score. I told them that they can’t control their (the Patriots’) talent, but they can control their own effort.”

Murphy ended her stellar career with a team-high nine points, while Kleemeyer followed with six. Carlier and Rosselot added three points each and Crawford, Baker, Cassidy Feldhaus, and Lilee Coffman scored two points apiece. Sagester and Torie Richards led the Patriots with 22 points each.

“She is going to be so missed,” Rummel said of Murphy, one of three seniors on the team this season.

“The effort and can’t-stop-won’t-stop attitude,” she added of what defined this year’s team, which she said finished at 14-13. “They all really wanted to be here.”