BY BROOKE BAUGHMAN
The Wadsworth Lady Grizzlies won 56-48 against Shaker Heights on Thursday, February 17th, to win the sectional finals of the OHSAA State Tournament.
The Lady Grizzlies went into the State tournament as the ninth seed in their district, therefore getting home court for their first two games of the tournament. On February 12 the Lady Grizzlies won their first home game in overtime against Barberton to advance onto the sectional finals against Shaker Heights.
The Lady Grizzlies had a solid lead throughout the beginning of the game until Shaker Heights(13-8) cut the lead to within five in the fourth quarter. Between making all of the right plays and making clutch free throws, the Lady Grizzlies pulled away.
Celia Lambert, senior post for the Grizzlies, was happy about how the last home game of the season turned out and appreciated all of the support that the fans and student section brought to help the Lady Grizzlies pull out the win.
“It is a good feeling knowing that we get the opportunity to play again because for the seniors, we only ideally have a couple of weeks left of our entire career,” Lambert said.
Ciena Matheny, senior wing/post, was the leading scorer for the Lady Grizzlies, contributing 14 points.
“I was proud of the way we kept fighting and how well we executed our offense against their zone,” Matheny said. “Being sectional champs is a small goal towards our bigger goal.”
Matheny said the team’s bigger goal is to win districts. On February 22nd the Lady Grizzlies will have to play Medina, a team they lost to earlier in the season, to advance to the district final.
“After we lost to them during the regular season, we all had a lot of regret about our play and the way that we lost,” Lambert said. “Now being a better team than we were earlier in the season, we have a really good shot at getting revenge when it counts.”
The Lady Grizzlies are going into Districts as the underdogs, with two of the three other teams seeded higher than them. The Lady Grizzlies know that winning districts will be tough, but it is accomplishable.
“We just need to go out and play like we know how to,” Matheny said. “I feel we have just as good of a chance at winning a district title as any of the teams left.”
The girls will continue their tournament run on February 22nd against Medina at Elyria Catholic High School.
