Norwayne girls basketball heads to state

One of the hardest things to do in sports is to beat a team three times in one season.

Norwayne's girls basketball team has now done it in back-to-back seasons after defeating Chippewa 52-33 in a Division V regional final March 6. It also marked the second time in as many years that the two Wayne County Athletic League powers collided in the OHSAA tournament. For the Bobcats, it extended a streak of six in a row over the Chipps, something that even Norwayne coach Jake Shoup had to shake his head at.

“While we wanted to continue some of the things that we had going on the past few games we had against Chippewa, we knew we had to push all those other results out of our head,” he said. “It’s this game that matters, these 32 minutes. Just really focusing on the task at hand, rather than what’s been done in the past. The girls had a lot of confidence going into it, but we knew that they were going to throw some punches, and they did a really nice job. Our girls just rose to the occasion.”

As for punching that ticket back to state?

“I can’t put into words how proud I am of this group,” said Shoup. “The girls have really come together as the season has gone on. We had goals that we established at the beginning of the year, and we knew how difficult those goals were going to be because we set them so high.”

The key to that and the big reason why Norwayne is headed back to state and has another shot at claiming a state title is its ability to rise to the occasion. Over the past two years, the program is 49-6 overall, 11-1 in the OHSAA tournament, won the program's first two regional titles and earned the program’s first WCAL crown since 1986.

“Every day they show up to work,” said Shoup. “It just goes to show how much they love each other and how much they put the team above themselves.”

Leading the way are seniors Madicyn Rupp, Ava Maibach and Allie DeMassimo. Maibach and DeMassimo are two dynamic players who can literally take over a game at any time, and Rupp is pure hustle. Forcing turnovers, getting into transition and knocking down big buckets, that’s Rupp, and it’s what endeared the trio to Shoup.

“I hope we keep winning because I don’t want to play without these three seniors,” he said. “They're amazing, not just the way they get along but also the way they lead. There is a reason they are our three captains. They just make the next right decision every single time. When the game is in crunch time, we look for them to have the ball.

“Their leadership, we hope, gets passed down, but they are doing a phenomenal job.”

Next up for Shoup, his trio of seniors and an overall very talented squad is the Div. V state semifinals against a familiar opponent — Portsmouth.