STEVE GOLDMAN
BARBERTON — Especially in big games, it is often more difficult to lose a close decision than a one-sided one. Unfortunately for Nancy Barbo and her staff and players, that’s how the Geneva girls finish the 2009-10 season.
Fueled basically by two stretches in the contest, the Struthers Wildcats built a double-digit lead and then were able to hold off the Eagles’ late charge to win Tuesday’s regional semifinal contest at Barberton, 50-46.
Dana Mathews exploded for 27 points and added five assists to lead Struthers (20-5), which advances to meet defending state champion Hathaway Brown in the regional championship game Friday night. The Blazers defeated Canton South, 49-37, the second semifinal Tuesday night.
In the meantime, contrary to its usual persona, Geneva, which made its first-ever trip to the regional tournament, missed a lot of makeable shots from close range.
“That’s our bread and butter, so when we don’t have that…,” Barbo said without finishing the sentence, though her meaning was clear.
“I felt all game we were struggling in that area.”
Barbo discussed the fact that Struthers was very beatable from Geneva’s standpoint on Tuesday.
“That’s what makes it hurt even more,” she said. “It’s just going to be one of those games that you always remember. And unfortunately, it’s not going to be for good reasons.”
For one thing, the Eagles (19-5) started slowly, with seven turnovers before they had taken two shots. The Wildcats scored nine points before Audra Puckrin first put the Eagles on the board with a 3-pointer inside the four-minute mark of the first period.
“We didn‘t come ready to play starting out,” Barbo said.
“I think our team is on an emotional high,” Struthers coach John Grandy said. “They came off a district upset (over Salem in the final). They were on that high and I think that high lasted a little bit. Then it kind of went down.”
With Taylor Webb (19 points, 11 rebounds, 4 blocked shots) scoring seven, Geneva bounced back to put in the next 11 points, as it shut the Wildcats out for more than eight minutes.
But then Mathews caught fire. After registering just two points over the first 12:54 of play, she poured in 18 more, including all three of her treys, over a span comprising about six minutes. Behind her, Struthers ran off 14 unanswered points in an interval surrounding halftime, to turn a 15-13 deficit into a 27-15 advantage in the first two minutes of the second half.
The stint was kept alive when Jillian Nazor’s long 3-pointer came just after the halftime buzzer.
“It’s just so frustrating because we knew (Mathews) was their go-to girl,” Barbo said. “We knew what she was going to do. (But) she’s a quick girl; we weren’t able to stop it.
“There were long stretches where we contained her very well. But man... you don’t do something one time and she capitalizes on it.”
Struthers built the lead as high as 14 at 31-17 before the Eagles stormed back. Geneva ran off five points including a 3-pointer by Courtney Thompson, to make it 31-22, and then the lead varied between eight and 11 until Mathews fed Katelyn Ardale (14 points) for a layup to make it 41-29 with 6:39 to play.
But Geneva, which was relentless on the offensive boards in the fourth quarter while forcing 10 turnovers, ran off the next 10 points to cut it to 41-39 with 3:42 left, with Nazor banking in a triple to finish that run.
Mathews responded with three of four free throws, but Natalie Stanley (7 points, 9 rebounds) scored on a putback to make it 44-41. Then, following a pair of missed free throws by a teammate and a wild scramble, Mathews retrieved the ball and scored to make it 46-41.
Moments later, Puckrin stole the ball and fed Nazor for a layup to make it a one-possession game again. Another Puckrin theft gave the Eagles their first of four possessions while down by a 46-43 count, but they couldn’t capitalize despite getting offensive rebounds on two of them and having an open look at a 3-point shot.
Eventually, Ardale hit two free throws at the 31.3 second mark. Webb and Ardale took turns splitting pairs of foul shots to make it 49-44. Stanley hit a pair as Mathews fouled out with 7.3 seconds remaining. But Ardale split another pair to seal it.
“We had our opportunities,” Barbo said. “We make that great drive and we were right there. And that’s why this is going to be one of those games that… ”
Again, Barbo didn’t finish the sentence, but she didn’t need to.
“Struthers is a great team; I’m not taking anything away from them,“ she said. “But I know it was a winnable game for us.”
“I thought we gutted it out at the end,” Grandy said. “I think Geneva’s a good team. They’re not going to quit and they’re well-coached. They did everything they had to do to try to win this ballgame. The whole game you figured, ‘Just hold on. Just hold on.’ The clock couldn’t go fast enough at the end.”
Geneva got off a whopping 24 shots in the final frame, but converted only six of them. For the game, it went 14 of 54 (25.9 percent). The Eagles finished with 29 turnovers after amassing 17 at halftime. The Wildcats coughed it up 26 times.
“It was a bad night in a lot of areas,” Barbo said.
“It was a hard-fought game,” Grandy said. “It wasn’t a game of skill, but a lot of heart — of pounding and pushing, balls are rolling down and people are laying on the ground.”
Grandy related that starter Ashley Baron played sick, but refused to use that as an excuse.
Helen-Marie Hird had 11 boards and Kaitlyn Opritza three blocks for the Wildcats, who saw just four players hit the scoring column, one less than the Eagles.
Geneva led, 47-37, on the glass, and had eight blocked shots, one less than Struthers.
Goldman is a freelance writer from South Euclid.
