BOB ETTINGER
Onward and upward.
Having reached a pair of program milestones with a district semifinal victory over Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin, the Geneva girls basketball team now has its sights set on a loftier goal.
The Eagles’ 58-56 overtime victory over the Lions was the first district-tournament win in program history. It was also coach Nancy Barbo’s 200th victory in 14 seasons at the helm.
Today, the top-seeded Eagles (18-4) will be playing for their first berth in a regional tournament when they battle Kenston in the Division II district championship game at Pymatuning Valley High School at 2 p.m. The fifth-seeded Bombers (15-7) downed sixth-seeded Lake Catholic in the second semifinal Thursday night, 40-38. Kenston will be making its first district final appearance since the 1996-97 season.
The winner of today’s matchup will play the Austintown Fitch district champion — either top-seeded Salem (18-5) or second-seeded Struthers (18-5) — in a regional semifinal Tuesday at 6:15 p.m. at Barberton High School. The regional final will be played Friday at 7:30 p.m.
“I know the seniors are hungry,” Barbo said. “The whole team is hungry. The six seniors have made history already, but knowing them, they want a little more. They want to leave this place (and play on a bigger stage).
“I told them that when they print stuff in the newspaper, only one year is going to show up. It will be under district finals 2009-10.”
The toughest aspect of playing Kenston on Saturday afternoon is the short time to prepare between contests.
“You have one practice and go again during the day on Saturday,” Barbo said. “You don’t have a lot of time to regroup or do anything.
“In a way, (the NDCL game) prepares us to move on. At this stage in the game, you have to be ready to go. You have to get out and play the game and not add anything new.”
The teams are already familiar with one another. They closed out the regular season with a non-conference battle at Kenston on Feb. 20. The Bombers came out ahead, 40-37, after Geneva led by seven in the final two minutes.
“Naturally, we’ll use it as motivation,” Barbo said. “We were right there. We have another shot at them, at least.”
Geneva will attack the game the same way it has every other game this season. It will try to use the inside tandem of seniors Taylor Webb and Natalie Stanley to score points in its offense.
“We play it no different than we played any other game,” Barbo said. “What we do is no surprise. How we played them just didn’t work out in the last few minutes.”
Webb is averaging 16.2 points, 15.6 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 2.8 steals and is shooting 65.6 percent from the free throw line. Stanley is averaging 11.8 points and 8.7 rebounds and is shooting 61.9 percent from the line.
“I don’t know that you can ever really stop their inside game,” Kenston coach Kevin Hinkle said. “You put a body on them, do the best you can and hope they don’t hit too many jumpers.
“We need to pressure them. We definitely have to put pressure on them. Even if we don’t force them to make mistakes, we have to force them to work to get the ball up the court.”
Joining Webb and Stanley in the starting lineup for Geneva will be guards Courtney Thompson (8.5 points, 2.4 steals per game, 60.0 FT pct. 23 3-pointers), Jillian Nazor (2.5 assist, 2.3.4 steals, 9 3-pointers) and Carly Cash (3.2 assists, 18 3-pointers). Off the bench for the Eagles will be Audra Puckrin, Ashley Meaney, Suelen Gutierrez, Courtney Johnson, Natalie Thomas, Ashli Per Due and Becky Depp.
Kenston uses a zone defense and gives up about only about 34 points per game, so the Eagles will have to work to score points.
“(The guards) have to knock down shots,” Barbo said. “We have to be patient, move the ball and get open looks.
“I think we have to be patient, move the ball and wait for the best shot like we would against any zone.”
The Bombers are a very patient team and will make the defense work extremely hard for long periods of time in trying to score points. Kenston scores just about 40 points a game, part of that a by-product of holding the ball for long stretches at a time.
“They’re the most disciplined team we’ve played,” Barbo said. “(Hinkle) does a nice job. They’re patient on offense. They wait for their best shot. They do a good job of that.
“We have to stay focused as long as possible and not give up any easy looks by falling asleep or losing a girl. That’s what their offense tries to do.”
Starting for the Bombers will be Stephanie Deuley (6 points, 2.8 assists per game), Megan Cardaman (6 points, 3.4 assists), Katie Ross (4.5 rebounds), Megan Waldorff (8 points, 7 rebounds) and Ali Read (10.2 points, 2.8 assists). Coming off the bench will Catherine Rachek, Alex Deuley, Tess Ferguson and Julia Weilemann.
“We have five or six girls that can lead us in scoring on any given night,” Hinkle said. “It’s whoever is on that night. We like that we have balanced scoring like that.”
The Eagles have been known for the way they play defense, both in the full-court press and in the half-court. Kenston will have to display some of that offensive patience in order to put points on the board.
“What it comes down to is being patient,” Hinkle said. “They’re a very good defensive team. They make you work. We can’t pass up an open look, but we can always work for a good one.”
