Strasburg-Franklin girls advance to first state Final Four

One of the top stories in area sports continued as Strasburg-Franklin’s girls basketball team followed its first district title in nearly 50 years with two regional wins to move within two victories of a state championship.

“Anytime that a team makes a deep tournament run, it is special,” Tigers coach Tyler Bates said. “When you are talking about the first time advancing to the state Final 4 in program history, it means even more for the community and what you are trying to build as a group. Last spring and this fall, prior to us ever practicing, we challenged the players and families to be selfless and put the team first as we try to pursue something special together and they have done just that. As we have enjoyed some success, I am always reminded of their sacrifices and it makes me very happy for them.”

The Tigers improved to 23-5 with a 50-33 win over Reedsville Eastern on March 7 at Jim Myers Gymnasium in Logan. That followed a 51-15 win over Fisher Catholic March 5 in the regional semifinal, also at Logan.

Strasburg-Franklin was set to play Ottoville, 25-4, in a March 13 state semifinal at 11 a.m. at Wright State University’s Nutter Center in Dayton. Ottoville reached the state semifinals last season and is making its eighth appearance in the state semifinals since 2005.

The winner will face the winner of the other semifinal between Attica Seneca East, 18-7, and Russia, 24-3, in the state final March 14 at 11 a.m. at the University of Dayton Arena. Neither of those teams had previously reached the Final Four.

Russia entered the postseason ranked No. 1 by MaxPreps, followed by Ottoville. Strasburg-Franklin was ranked No. 3.

Eastern, ranked No. 4, finished 19-6 one year after a 2-21 season and did so without a senior on the roster.

The Eagles were hindered by foul trouble for 6-foot sophomore post Braelyn Simpson, which began early and continued through the first three periods. She still finished with a team-high 12 points.

Freshman Lydia Thomas led the Tigers against Eastern with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Senior Ally Miller had 7 points and 15 rebounds. Freshman Delanee Herron added 10 points, and senior Olivia Spidell scored 7.

Against Fisher Catholic in the regional semifinal, the Tigers turned in a dominant defensive effort, shutting out the Irish in the first and third quarters. Strasburg-Franklin led 14-0 after the opening quarter.

“We had stretches in a few games against Wadsworth (Div. 1 Final 4 team), Laurel (Final 4 team), Tusky Valley (Elite 8 team) and Shenandoah (Elite 8 team) where it was frustrating to see our lack of defensive execution. With that being said, we saw flashes against teams like Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary (Final 4 team), Federal Hocking (district champs) and West Muskingum (district champs) where it led us to believe that if we are locked in, we could be effective on that end of the floor. I believe that the girls entered the post-season wanting to do something special - leading them to play with urgency on that end of the floor more often than not and we have seen the rewards from that,” Bates said.

The Tigers’ defense was especially effective against Fisher Catholic leading scorer Hadli Gillum. Led by senior guard Sofia Secrest, Gillum, a 6-1 post player, was held scoreless and attempted just one field goal. Gillum had scored 66 points in her team’s previous two games.

The Irish committed more than one turnover per minute and attempted only 23 shots, making five. Much of Fisher Catholic’s offense came in the second quarter, but Strasburg-Franklin still outscored the Irish 17-11 in the period to take a 31-11 halftime lead.

The Tigers shut out Fisher Catholic again in the third quarter and pulled away from there.

Thomas scored 15 points, including the 1,000th of her career, to lead the Tigers. Secrest added 11 points. Miller and Herron scored 10 each.

Strasburg-Franklin’s boys team saw its season end March 3 with a 58-46 loss to Malvern in a Division VII East 1 district semifinal at Dover. Gage Moore led Strasburg-Franklin with 20 points. Malvern went on to defeat Hannibal River 44-32 in the district championship game.