STEVE GOLDMAN
PERRY — It was late in the second quarter when things began to fall apart for the Madison girls in Thursday’s Division I district semifinal contest.
With less than three minutes to go before halftime, Mentor was clinging to a one-point edge. But at that point the top-seeded Cardinals ran off 19 points in a row, lasting until less than two minutes remained in the third period. Mentor, which is trying to win the Perry district for the seventh time in eight seasons, went on to a 59-40 triumph.
Kali Deighan led the Cardinals with 17 points, while Kristy Kolschetzky had a 13-point, 11-rebound, four-block performance for the Cardinals.
The eighth-seeded Blue Streaks (13-9) had led for a time in the first period. When the Cardinals ran off seven straight points for a 19-12 lead, they countered with an 8-1 run to knot it at 20. But after Ashley DiLillo (11 points) scored a layup moments later to cut a Mentor lead to 23-22, the Cardinals answered with the final eight points of the half, and picked up right where they left off after the break with 11 more for a 42-22 bulge. Mentor limited Madison to two points in the third period, marking the third time in four games it has limited an opponent to two points in a quarter.
“Having a 10-day layoff, essentially (because Shaw forfeited the sectional title contest), basically it took us a little while to get the rust off and to get things moving a little bit,” Mentor coach Steve Thompson, who credited his bench for its first-half play, said. “In the third quarter, holding them to two points just really opened it up.”
Mentor (21-2) hit four 3-point baskets in an interval spanning the last seven minutes of the first half and Kari Trivisonno’s trifecta that opened the second-half scoring. Of the four, one of which was scored by Deighan and the other two by Melyssa Kaprosy (10 points), two came before the 19-point run. However, Madison coach Mike Smith thought that all of the treys had much to do with his team’s turn for the worse — not only because of the points scored directly by them, but also the residual effects.
“The four threes, I think, really just decimated us emotionally,” he said.
Mentor’s proficiency from the outside did seem to help open up the inside, as it was able to penetrate. The Cardinals’ advantage reached as high as 25 at 59-34 before Madison ran off the final six points of the contest.
Mentor didn’t hit any triples outside of the four key ones, but it didn’t need to.
“In the second half, they got layups, but at that point I think we were just mentally shot,” Smith said.
Mackenzie Clark put in all eight of her points in the first half and added six rebounds and four assists for the Cardinals.
Madison’s Kelsey Koskinen tallied all nine of her points before the intermission. Kate Oberstar added four assists and Abby Trivisonno six boards for the Streaks. Brittany George was not available to play on Thursday.
Mentor hit five-of-six shots in the third period and seven of 13 in the fourth to finish at 24 of 49 (49.0 percent). Meanwhile, the Blue Streaks were going in the other direction, as six-of-29 shooting after the break led to a 16-of-51 finish (31.4 percent). Madison also converted just five of its 15 attempts from the foul line and was outrebounded, 38-29.
“I thought we may have played one of our best games against South defensively (in a 45-41 sectional championship win last Thursday),” Smith said. “And for whatever reason, our defense today wasn’t nearly as aggressive as it was.
“They did a great job of spreading the floor and using their quicks. For whatever reason, our legs just didn’t seem there today with our normal intensity and pressure.”
“We had to make a few adjustments at halftime defensively,” Thompson said. “We had a few rotations that we weren’t making in the first half.”
“Their zone D — we saw it, we saw it on film,” Smith said. “But tonight, their matchup zone was just…
“We got the ball to the middle of the floor, but just couldn’t get shots to fall and seemed a little timid. They did a real nice job defensively.”
Goldman is a freelance writer from South Euclid.
