BOB ETTINGER
With the Geneva and Struthers girls basketball team playing in different district tournaments, there are very few common opponents on the two teams’ schedules.
In fact, there’s one.
That would be Lakeview. The Bulldogs played Struthers (18-5) twice in the All-American Conference and also played the Eagles (19-4) in a Division II sectional championship game at Pymatuning Valley High School.
Having seen both teams up close and personal, Lakeview coach Adam Lewis has a unique perspective on the Eagles-Wildcats matchup heading into a Division II regional semifinal at Barberton High School tonight at 6:15. Hathaway Brown and Canton South will play in the other semifinal tonight at 8.
“It will be a great game,” Lewis said. “Both are good programs. Either way, they’re polar opposites. If Struthers can push the tempo, they should win. But if Geneva can make them slow up, they could give them a lot of problems inside and should win.
“Struthers will try and make it a full-court game. They’ll pressure the guards in the backcourt. They don’t want to go against Geneva’s posts.”
The Wildcats could very come out do the same kinds of the things to Geneva defensively that Lewis’ own team tried to do in a 43-32 loss to the Eagles.
“Struthers will come out of the gates and trap and pressure the crap out of the Geneva guards,” Lewis said. “I don’t know that Geneva has played anybody like them.”
Each team will have an advantage over the other when it comes to matchups.
“Struthers has the upper hand in the matchup of the guards,” Lewis said. “(The Struthers guards) are quick and are definitely offensive threats, especially outside. They have three guards that can shoot it up.”
But the advantage inside goes to the Eagles.
“Geneva will control the boards,” Lewis said.
“If Geneva can slow it down, they’ll give (Struthers) a lot of trouble in the halfcourt with their two posts (Natalie Stanley and Taylor Webb).”
To beat the Wildcats, the Eagles will have to stop 5-foot-5 point guard Dana Mathews, who scored 38 points in the Wildcats’ district championship upset of Salem.
“Dana Mathews is a phenomenal athlete,” Lewis said. “Both times against us we used a special defense to stop her and she still scored 25 and 28 points. If I were Geneva, I’d worry more about her assists than her scoring.
“She’s scored more than 1,300 points and has about 400 assists. The Struthers guards can get hot from the outside. They’re tough to defend. They can definitely knock down some big shots.”
