ONTARIO – It will go down as one of the strangest defeats in the long and storied history of Mansfield St. Peter’s girls basketball.
The fact the 48-40 loss to Colonel Crawford on Wednesday night came in the Division IV sectional semifinals made it even more painful for the Spartans.
Consider these facts:
— The heavily favored Spartans (11-11) scored one point in the first quarter, trailing the Eagles (6-17) after eight minutes. St. Peter’s went zero for nine from the field in the period.
— Colonel Crawford did all it could to give the game away in the second quarter, turning the ball over 12 times against a suddenly ferocious St. Peter’s press, allowing the Spartans many fast-break layups and a 22-18 halftime lead.
— The third quarter was the only “normal” period as the Eagles reduced the turnovers and outscored the Spartans 14-13 to close the gap to 35-32 entering the fourth quarter.
— In the fourth quarter, St. Peter’s nearly matched the meager offensive output of the first period, missing 16 of 18 shots and managing just five points as the Eagles pulled away for the win, despite committing 25 turnovers in the game.
— Take away the second quarter and St. Peter’s shot just 19 percent from the field (eight of 41) and finished the game missing 44 of its 60 shots (27 percent).
Afterward. St. Peter’s coach Shani Rush was at a loss to explain what went wrong in quarters one and four.
“We were settling for outside shots,” she said. “We were not taking high percentage shots. We were not penetrating and taking the gaps.”
“We weren’t making as many steals (other than the second quarter) and we weren’t converting when we did,” Rush said.
Making matters worse for St. Peter’s was Colonel Crawford’s domination of the boards. The Eagles had a 47-23 edge in rebounding, earning numerous second and third tries on their end and limiting the Spartans on the other end.
St. Peter’s senior post Della Hall didn’t start the game and her minutes were limited by almost immediate foul trouble. Afterwards, Rush declined to say why Hall didn’t start.
“She is our leading rebounder. (Without her) we didn’t crash the boards at all. It was all one and done for us on the offensive end,” Rush said.
Senior guard Tiza Jones scored 24 points in her final game for the Spartans. She was the only St. Peter’s player in double figures. Freshman Emily Yeager added five.
Junior guard Cassie Sager led Colonel Crawford with 14 points. Junior post Katie Siegel added 11 and sophomore guard Jada Klingenberger had 10.
The Eagles advance to meet Buckeye Central on Saturday at 8 p.m. at Ontario. BC knocked off Plymouth in the first game on Wednesday night.
