CONNEAUT —
The Grand Valley Mustangs sprinted to a thrilling finish in a 54-47 victory over Conneaut on Thursday in the Conneaut Holiday Classic on Thursday at Garcia Gymnasium.
Grand Valley outscored the Spartans, 10-1, over the final 5:22 of the contest to earn the win.
“The girls did what they needed to do down the stretch,” Grand Valley coach Kim Triskett said. “We made our free throws at the end and played good defense. Conneaut is a good team, in no way the same team they were when we played them before, and they gave us a battle all the way.
“We talk all the time and stress and stress defense, especially in the fourth quarter, and our girls really did a nice job.”
Down, 46-44, to the Spartans after the third of three Lexi Zapitelli 3-pointers, with 5:22 to play, Kelly Preske put home a missed shot to tie the count at 46-46. After a Spartan timeout with 4:23 to play, Jess Vormelker untied the score with a bucket after taking a pass from Abby Paskey.
Combining five turnovers with no baskets equaled no points again for the Spartans until Brooke Bennett hit the front end of a one-and-one with 21.3 seconds left to play.
Extending the score to its final tally for GV (7-2, 1-2 in Northeastern Athletic Conference) was a 6 of 10 effort from the foul line, and the game was decided.
“Conneaut really has done a nice job since early in the season,” Triskett said. “They played good position defense. They also showed a bit more confidence playing in their own gym tonight. I could see when they were warming up that they were ready to play and I told the girls that.”
Chris Futty led the scoring for a balanced Mustang offense with 17 points, Vormelker added 15 despite being hounded all night by Lydia Coccitto and Bennett, and Preske added nine, all in the second half.
“After our last game, we had a couple tough practices,” Conneaut coach Tony Pasanen said. “The girls really responded great. I am just so excited and proud of how we played tonight.
“We wanted to take Vormelker out of the game as much as we could, and Brooke and Lydia really made her work for every thing she got. She’s just a great player that you can’t stop all the way, but we did a great job. Grand Valley is a great team this year, though, and they have a lot of weapons to use.”
After losing by 40 points at Pymatuning Valley, it looked like the Spartans (3-6) were on the ropes, but their effort in this game showed more fire and life than they had all season.
“We worked up and down the court the whole way,” Pasanen said. “I think we did a fantastic job for the full 32 minutes and that is what we missed earlier in the season. Shae (Brink) did a great job and it was a total team effort for us. I’m so proud of how the girls played tonight.”
Zappitelli led the way for Conneaut with 19 points and Bennett and Brink each added seven.
Kelly is a freelance writer from Jefferson.
Sports
Related Photos
-
DANI HEINONEN (4) of Conneaut brings the ball up court with defenders Abby Paskey (15) and Kelly Preske of Grand Valley in pursuit Thursday night during the Conneaut Holiday Tournament. WARREN DILLAWAY
Discussion
Grand Valley gets it done
Mustangs sprint past Spartans with late run
- Sports
-
-
Jefferson comes up a run short vs. Chagrin Falls
Whether it was the mistakes of a largely youthful team or just a case of bad timing, the Jefferson Falcons struggled to get hits with runners in scoring position during a Division II district semifinal final against Chagrin Falls.
-
Edgewood can’t hold off charge of NDCL
Not many people expected a much out of the Edgewood Warrior baseball team this year.
With a young team featuring only two seniors, Edgewood advanced all the way to the district semifinal contest Monday night before losing an early lead and succumbing to a talented second-seeded Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin team, 8-5. -
A Don McCormack column: Home fires burn for Fitch
Paying another visit to the variety store...
Homecoming
It didn’t take long for Ryan Fitch to find a new “home” as a basketball coach. -
PAC-ing a familiar punch
The Madison and Riverside softball teams are quite familiar with each other at this point in the season after having played each other twice during the regular season.
-
High School Baseball Statistics:
DIVISION II
DISTRICT SEMIFINAL
Chargin Falls 3, Jefferson 2
at Cotton Field, Havens Complex -
Scholastic Statistics:
TUESDAY, MAY 21
Baseball
Division II
at Havens Complex, Jefferson
District championship
(1) Chagrin Falls vs. (2) NDCL -
CLEVELAND MARATHON:
Ashtabula County Finishers
Chris Sopko, Roaming Shores, Male, 34, 2:59:14
Jesse Sharp, Ashtabula, Male, 56, 3:23:26
Erik van't Veer, Ashtabula, Male, 44, 3:28:22
Daniel Loose, Ashtabula, Male, 50, 3:44:05
Benjamin Hawes, Dorset, Male, 27, 3:58:47
Shawn Van Buren, Ashtabula, Male, 28, 4:04:58
Sebastian Ornelas, Ashtabula, Male, 34, 4:10:18
Robert Sapatka, Jefferson, Male, 46, 4:21:26
Samual Spain, Geneva, Male, 44, 4:22:34 -
The next level
In a perfect world, Jefferson and Edgewood would prevail in their respective Division II district semifinal baseball contests tonight and square off Tuesday with a district championship on the line.
-
On their own
While Jefferson and Edgewood will be keeping an eye on each other as they enter the district-tournament waters tonight in Division II contests at Havens Complex, the area’s other two sectional-championship squads won’t have to worry about distractions.
-
A Don McCormack column: Tributes continue to roll in
Paying a visit to the variety store...
Man of honor
I’ve been flooded with messages, emails and telephone calls about the passing of Paul Demshar last Thursday in Jacksonville, Fla. - More Sports Headlines
-
