Day 2 at the classic in the country by Adrian Curry
What a 2nd day as the action continued to be hot. It all started with Newark playing mason and Newark has a fight early with mason. Then Newark starting hitting from the outside with help from Maddie veisicky going 8-11 scoring 21 points and having help from the usual suspects. The game was close but they opened up in the 2nd half and didn’t look back as Newark won 59-45. Newark will be a force to be reckoned with in the central district in the postseason. Fairmont continued its dominance this week as they beat a good Eastlake north team with Cleveland state commit destiny Leo 60-45 Fairmont was well balanced with scoring from kierra Thornton chipping in with 14 points as well as their two stars of Maddie westbeld and Madison Bartley combined for 30 points and 20 rebounds. Cece Hamilton was a bright spot for Eastlake scoring 8 points. In what was one of the two best games of the day mount notre dame held on to remain undefeated with a 49-48 victory. This game went back and forth with mount notre dame having a 7-point lead only to go cold and Winston Salem making plays to get the lead going into the 4th quarter. The 4th quarter was about defense, shotmaking and making plays late. It was tied late and in mount notre dame’s last possesssion Laila phelia got fouled making one of two free throws. They defended the last possession to perfection and were able to win the game. A fabulous game from makira cook with 22 points and Laila phelia having another great game shooting well from the perimeter and great on the boards. Toledo notre dame made a statement by beating a red-hot Lakota west team and having a great all-around game from grace van slooten with 21 points and 7 rebounds. Also got a great game from Oakland commit Olivia sims with 17 points. Chance gray proved once again why she is one of the best sophomore guards in the area scoring 22 points in a losing effort as Lakota west lost 57-44. Wayne proved why they Are one of the best teams in the state dominating from wire to wire canton glenoak with solid performances from Nyla Hampton and alyssa hall. Also a monster performance from Bree hall who had 15 points in the first quarter and ended up with 26 points. Glenoak was totally outmatched by a bright spot was Lexi Lemire who scored 10 points. The final game of the night was a fantastic game with gahanna and centerville. This game had so many twists and turns. Centerville jumped out early with cotie McMahon scoring 11 early points and led by 1 at the end of the first quarter. Then gahanna continued the momentum from the first quarter and were making shots from the outside and going hard on the offensive boards despite foul trouble with Naomi Johnson and Gabbie Anderson. Gahanna took a 33-27 at the half. The 3rd quarter is where cotie McMahon and centerville took over as they dominated and went in 18-7 run to grab a 45-40 lead with 2 minutes left in the quarter. Then Morgan Darnell scored a key layup which trigged a 10-0 run that carried into the 4th quarter. Centerville countered and the game went back forth tied again at 54 but then edyn battle and Morgan trigged and a late 12-2 run that seemed to close it out but give centerville credit for not giving up. They made it a 2-point game with 5 seconds left before 2 late Morgan Darnell free throws clinched a huge win over a good centerville team. Edyn battle got mvp of the game with 25 points. Cotie McMahon kept centerville in the game at times with her 32 points and got great contributions from Amy velasco and Emma Stanley scoring 15 and 11 points respectively. More great action today.