Happy birthday, N.J.!
Nichele Johnson, the area’s leading scorer and shot blocker in girls basketball celebrated her 18th birthday in fine fashion Friday night.
She, and her Conneaut teammates, disposed of visiting Fairport, 53-40, in a non-conference clash at Garcia Gymnasium. With an eye toward today’s 1 p.m. clash with visiting General McClane, Pa., Spartans coach Tony Pasanen limited the minutes of his stalwarts.
That didn’t faze Johnson, though, who blew out 18 candles on her birthday cake and toasted her teammates with 28 points, 13 rebounds, 3 blocked shots and 3 steals.
Oh, and just for good measure, the 6-foot senior center buried the first 3-pointer of her career.
But she had plenty of help, though. Junior guard Marissa Olmstead had 7 points, 4 assists and 5 steals and senior forward Sarah Campbell had 6 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals.
Up 25 midway through the third, Pasanen, now in his fifth season at the helm, pulled the plug and emptied his bench.
“We were trying to save some of our legs,” he said. “We have to come right back and play at 1 (today).”
The victory improves Conneaut’s record to 13-4 on the season, the most wins by a Spartans girls squad since coach Tom Ritari led them to a 15-7 mark — and a Division II sectional championship — in the 2001-02 season.
The boxscore does not appear in today’s edition because of technical difficulties on our end. It will appear in Sunday’s edition.
