Legends of the court by Adrian Curry
When two legendary programs meet, you expect a great and intense game. That’s exactly what you got yesterday at the state semifinals at the schottenstein center. Africentric brought into the game not only an undefeated record but were also the 3rd-ranked team in the nation vs Hiland who only had two losses all season to centerville and Westerville south. The game started out with a feeling out process with africentric being able to set the tone early getting out on the break. Africentric was able to go inside early and get out in transition and get fast break layups. At one point africentric had an 18-7 lead in the first quarter. Hiland went on a run and started getting hot from the field and pulled to within 5 at the end of the first quarter. Both teams exchanged blows in the second quarter everytime Hiland would get close africentric had an answer. There was controversy late in the 2nd quarter where there was a hard foul by Zoey Miller which was only called a common foul instead of a intentional foul. After the play Maliyah Johnson got up and there was a fracas that ensured between the two. This lead to a technical foul being called and Hiland getting two shots plus the ball. After all that africentric led 31-26 at the half. The third quarter was intense as it had been all game. Hiland behind the hot three point shooting of Brynn mullet was able to finally tie the game at 35. Then africentric turned up a notch defensively where they went on a 13-1 run keyed by Nyam Thornton and Alexia smith. This decided the game and africentric took over the game on both ends on the floor. Africentric took the game 61-48 with Alexia smith leading africentic with 19 points while Morgan Yoder had 21 points. Africentric’s defense and length decided the game. Limiting a really good shooting Hiland team to only 30% shooting from the field. With the win africentric advances to the championship game in search for their 7th state title and first undefeated season in school history vs waynesville, who won over Chippewa in overtime on a game winning shot.
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