DON McCORMACK
No matter what happens from here on out, Nancy Barbo already has her Geneva girls basketball program where it’s never gone before.
And in doing so, players such as Ashtabula County Basketball Foundation Hall of Famer Anita Tersigni can now rest easy.
With their thrilling 58-56 overtime victory against Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin last night at Pymatuning Valley, Barbo’s top-seeded Eagles have reached a district championship game for the first time in program history.
And in doing so, the undisputed champions of the Premier Athletic Conference — not to mention back-to-back-to-back league champions for the third straight season after winning the final two titles in the Northeastern Conference — have exorcised the ghosts of district contests past.
Five previous times, Geneva had entered the always-treacherous waters of the district tournament and in all five cases, the Eagles had their wings clipped.
Three of them came generations ago, during the Tersigni, Nadine Cox and Liz Jessup era (1977-78 through 1979-80), when the Eagles were coached by Sally Toukonen.
That, too, was a great era for Geneva girls basketball, one that resulted in four straight NEC crowns (they shared the 1976-77 title with Madison) and three consecutive Class AAA (big-school) sectional championships at the Mentor sectional-district tournament.
However, on March 7, 1978, fourth-seeded Geneva was felled by top-seeded North — ranked No. 2 in the state poll — 54-37.
On March 13, 1979, the Eagles lost a heartbreaker to NEC rival Madison, 28-27. Geneva and Madison had split two regular-season games, though the Eagles wound up NEC champions. However, reserve Lee Ann Ortiz drained a jumper from the right wing with nine seconds to play to give coach Sally Phillips’ Blue Streaks a 29-28 victory.
On March 3, 1980, second-seeded Geneva carried a gaudy 20-2 record into a district semifinal clash with third-seeded Mentor (14-7). With Cox and Tersigni doing the heavy lifting, the Eagles built a pair of 12-point leads and had a 29-17 advantage at halftime. However, things started to go wrong in the third quarter when the Cardinals outscored them, 16-7, and it got worse in the final eight minutes, when Mentor outpointed Geneva, 23-12, to claim a 56-48 win. Cox (24) and Tersigni (19) accounted for 43 of Geneva’s points.
On Feb. 21, 2008, third-seeded Lake Catholic defeated second-seeded Geneva at PV, 42-32.
One year ago today, coach Frank Soria’s Cougars did it again, knocking off the top-seeded Eagles, 44-27.
However, thanks to their courageous triumph last night, Barbo’s Eagles have put all of that to rest.
It’s now history... ancient history, and no longer pertinent.
With their first district tournament victory in program history — not to mention the 200th win for Barbo in a stellar tenure that has reached 14 seasons — the Eagles have nowhere to go but forward.
They’ve earned a rematch with Kenston, which took out Lake Catholic in the nightcap last night at PV. The Bombers overcame a seven-point deficit to knock off the Eagles in the regular-season finale, 40-37, Feb. 20 at Kenston.
By defeating NDCL and Lake Catholic, Geneva (18-4) and Kenston (15-7) have become the first public schools to reach the championship game in Division II since the Haley Kapferer, Kelcie Hellmer, Aleasa Knight Jefferson teams of 2004-05 and 2005-06, when the tournament was still held at Edgewood.
It’s also the first time two public schools will play for the Division II district championship since (champion) Perry and (runner-up) Jefferson did so back in 2001-02, also at Edgewood.
All of which adds up to this — Ashtabula County has not had a district championship team in girls basketball since ACBF Hall of Famer Tom Ritari led Conneaut to the D-II title in the 2000-01 season at Edgewood.
To change that, Geneva will need to take one more step.
But after all the steps the Eagles have already taken this season, what’s one more?
They seem to fill the bill just fine.
McCormack is the sports editor of the Star Beacon. Reach him at donmac@suite224.net.
