By Bill Bray
CAREY–Despite a ‘bomb show’ by the Perrysburg Lady Jackets, Fremont Ross dodged the show and came away with a 65-59 District Championship at Carey Saturday night. Their second in as many seasons.
The Jackets made 33 points from beyond the arc to keep themselves in the game. Of all the 3’s scored; Destiny Robinson nailed the first one to start the Ross scoring. Fremont’s early 9-2 lead was slashed to 9-8 after a pair of Jacket 3’s. But a bucket by Jasmin Heidelburg gave Ross an 11-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Carma and Co. get the job done
The second quarter started just like the first with Robinson hitting another 3. Ross opened their lead up to 23-10 after an 8-0 run that saw baskets by Robinson, Johnson, Wolf and Heidelburg. Perrysburg unleashed two more 3’s to cut the Fremont Lead to eight points. The quarter saw the closest margin in Fremont’s favor at 25-22 after yet another Perrysburg 3. However, the half ended when Wolf was up to her old tricks scoring a 3 for Ross to give her team a 28-22 half time lead.
After a minute of silence to start the third period, Perrysburg’s ‘3 parade’ was back going strong. The Ross lead was suddenly again cut to three points. Enter senior Carma Johnson. The senior was not going to be denied and scored Fremont’s next seven points in a row to open the Fremont lead to 10 points at 35-25. After a Perrysburg basket, Lanae Tucker was assisted by Robinson to give Ross the 10-point advantage once again. After this point, though Perrysburg was trying to maintain contact to the Lady Giants, Lyndi Wolf made three key 3 pointers to open the lead to 45-32. The Jackets answered with a 3, but again it was the junior sharpshooter who ended the quarter with her fourth 3 pointer of the quarter to give Ross a 50-37 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Over the final eight minutes, it was Heidelburg, Johnson and Robinson that fought off the later Perrysburg run. The 13-point lead did shrink to six, but the Little Giants were the ones cutting down the net at the end of the game.
Individually for Ross. It was the “Big Three” that led the way. Johnson finished with 18 to lead Ross. Lyndi Wolf with her ‘hot beyond the arc shooting’ finished with 16 and Robinson came through with 15. Jasmin Heidelburg, stepping up when she needed to, added 11 points. Playing key roles as well were the defensive play of Abby Cahill. The senior also added a bucket for two points and Tucker contributed with 3 points.
The Giants now head back to the ‘scene of the crime’ from last year when they are faced with a rematch in the regional semifinal game. Sandusky will be the place and Olmsted Falls, who made it all the way to the state finals last season, will again be Fremont’s opponent. Game time is set for 6pm.