MASSILLON – It was an and-1 bucket that nearly blew the roof off the gym at Massillon Perry High School.
Facing Lakeside Danbury in a Division IV regional semifinal Thursday, the Loudonville girls basketball team clung to a five-point lead with less than 90 seconds to play.
After his team had stalled with the ball on offense for nearly two minutes on its previous possession, Redbirds head coach Tyler Bates looked at senior Corri Vermilya and told her to get to the bucket.
The All-Ohioan – one of the most prolific scorers in state history – answered the call, dropping in a layup, drawing a foul and screaming at the top of her lungs alongside teammates in celebration.
She hit the free throw and the Redbirds held on, 46-40.
“I was like, ‘Go get us one,’ ” said Bates of the critical basket. “And she drove through five girls and made an and-1. That’s what she’s capable of doing.”
“(An and-1 bucket is) one of my favorite things,” Vermilya said, “and obviously late in the game when it was close like that, it was really exciting – not only for me, but I know my team was hyped about it, too.
“I was just really happy I made the free throw after that celebration.”
Vermilya, a contender for both Ohio’s Ms. Basketball and Division IV Player of the Year, finished with a game-high 26 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks.
Between the late three-point play and back-to-back 3-pointers in the second quarter that stretched a 17-15 LHS lead to 23-15, the senior oozed clutch plays on a night her team needed them the most.
The outcome ended the best season in program history for Danbury (24-3) and helped the Redbirds (25-2) give Ashland County its first Elite Eight qualifier in girls basketball in over three decades. The Loudonville girls basketball team finished as Division III state runner-up in 1992.
Seventh-ranked Loudonville will return to Perry at 7 p.m. Saturday to face New Middletown Springfield (20-7), a 34-31 winner in the late game Thursday over Richmond Heights (21-5).
“I know that throughout the game we made some silly mistakes, which is normal, but we were not nervous tonight,” Bates said. “The girls were locked in and ready to play.
“They were excited, there weren’t a lot of nerves, and I think that’s from some of the environments that we played in this year.”
It was just the third game the Redbirds have played this season that was decided by single-digit points, and the fewest points they have scored in any game.
The Lakers were riding an 11-game win streak and had broken their 40-year-old program record for wins (previously 22). They knocked off New London 42-27 for their first-ever district title.
After trailing just 26-22 at halftime, second-year Danbury head coach Joe Miller felt his squad was right where it needed to be in the fourth quarter.
“I told the girls, ‘If we hold them under 50, we’ve got a chance,’ ” Miller said, “and I felt like we were right there, we just missed a couple of opportunities.”
Senior post Kelly Uhinck dropped in a layup off an inbounds pass with 1:34 left to cut it to 40-35 and the Lakers seemed to have a glimmer of hope.
But that’s when Vermilya sprinted into the left side of the lane for her bucket heard ’round the building.
To get to that point, seemingly every other Redbird who took the floor made a key play in the second half.
“At points tonight, every kid delivered something that we needed, and that’s what it takes the farther you go,” Bates said.
Junior post Alesha Felix was one of those critical contributors.
After Danbury scored seven of the final eight points in the first half, Felix got to work down low early in the third, securing three rebounds and all four of her points in the first four-plus minutes of the second half.
The spurt pushed the lead out to 33-22 following her putback with 5:07 showing.
“Offensive boards are just extra possessions and that gets us extra points when we need them,” Felix said. “That was definitely a big (moment in the game).”
“She has just been a star in her role this year,” Bates noted of his junior. “For her to stay locked in without really even touching the ball in the first half, then to come out in the second half and give us those key buckets shows you her character and how good of a teammate she is.”
But Uhinck, one of three Danbury seniors, refused to let things get too far away from the Lakers. She scored six points in each of the final three quarters on her way to a career-high 21 in her final game.
Despite Loudonville limiting Danbury senior Maria Maringer to just six points (nearly 10 under her average), the Lakers’ scrappy post play and defensive pressure (16 forced turnovers) was constant.
With the Redbirds hitting all five of their 3-pointers in the first half, the game’s biggest lead was just 13 points.
“There were just a couple of times in the game where I felt like we were about to get it out to 15 (points) and they battled back,” Bates said. “That shows that they’re such an experienced and disciplined team, and that’s why they’re playing in the regionals.
“Give a ton of credit to Danbury, Coach (Miller) and their upperclassmen, because they had an outstanding year and tonight was a battle.”
Loudonville senior guards Sophia Spangler (six points) and Jena Guilliams, who each hit first-half treys. Both said the Redbirds were communicating well and more focused on containing the Lakers than pushing their own offense.
When LHS slowed things down with just under four minutes to play, passing out of pressure and dragging nearly two minutes off the clock with a 40-31 lead, Spangler said it was experience that paid off.
“That’s the first time that we’ve had to (stall while being pressured) this year and I was proud of the girls for how they took care of the ball,” Bates said.
Loudonville freshman guard Mya Vermilya chipped in seven points and all of them helped while the Redbirds hunkered down on the Danbury offense.
The Lakers entered the night having won all four of their tournament games by at least 15 points. But they were eighth in the Sandusky Bay Conference River Division in 3-point shooting, making just 23 percent from downtown.
They hit just two treys Thursday – both in the first half – and Uhinck was the only Laker to notch more than six points.
Maringer, the 11th Danbury player to reach 1,000 career points, was held to just one field goal in each half.
“I do feel like we had them on the ropes,” Miller said of Loudonville. “I think they were bothered by a lot of things that we did on the inside.
“It’s a little tough to take that somebody got the upper hand on us.”
The Lakers had beaten every team on their schedule this year, having split with the only two teams that beat them in conference play – Lakota and fifth-ranked Gibsonburg.
Danbury was only allowing 30 points per game.
“It was a really, really physically demanding game,” Corri Vermilya said. “We haven’t really had a super-tough game in a while that’s been close like this.”
Now the Redbirds get New Middletown Springfield, a team that has won three consecutive district titles and back-to-back Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference Scarlet Division crowns.
“We know that we’re going to be playing a great team and we’re going to have to come out and be ready to go,” Bates said.
A win Saturday would make the Redbirds just the sixth basketball team in Ashland County history to make the Final Four. There have been three boys teams and two girls teams to date.
“We’re hyped, we’re ready,” Felix added. “This was just another stepping stone to get us to where we want to be.”
