SHELBY, Ohio — Nobody at the scorer’s table knew exactly how many points Seina Adachi scored Thursday night, but everybody in the building was certain of one thing.
Seneca East’s speedy senior had a game for the ages.
Adachi scored 35 points and the fifth-seeded Tigers upset No. 1 seed Crestview 73-65 in the Division III district semifinals at Shelby High School.
Seneca East (17-8) will play second-seeded Willard for a district title at 2 p.m. Saturday in Shelby. Willard knocked off third-seeded Riverdale 58-48 in Thursday’s early game.
Crestview, which won the Division III Associated Press poll championship, finished the season 24-1.
Adachi was scoring at such a rapid rate in the third quarter that the official scorer and the scorekeepers for each team were having a hard time keeping up. She had 19 points in the period as the Tigers erased a 36-23 halftime deficit in less than three minutes.
“We knew she was good,” Crestview coach Aaron Goon said. “We got careless with the basketball and didn’t play good defense to start the third quarter. They got on a roll and we didn’t stop it.”
Seneca East opened the third quarter on an 18-2 run to take a 41-38 lead on an Adachi 3-pointer with 5:21 to play in the period. The Tigers took a 48-43 lead on another Adachi triple with 3:15 remaining, before Crestview closed the quarter on a 10-3 run to take a 53-51 advantage to the fourth.
The lead was short-lived, however, as Adachi scored the first four points of the fourth to give the Tigers a 55-53 lead. Seneca East wouldn’t trail again.
“I can’t tell you for sure if 35 points is a career high for her, but I can tell you that was probably her best quarter ever,” Seneca East coach Dave Stallings’ said of Adachi’s third-quarter outburst. “Seina is our career leader in steals, assists and points. She knows how to get in passing lanes. She got a couple steals and that got us going in the second half.”
Hot Start: Crestview could do no wrong in the early going, racing out to a 13-0 lead. All-Ohio candidate Renee Stimpert scored seven points during the stretch.
“That is the kind of start we’ve been having,” Goon said. “The problem was in the second half they did it to us and we didn’t react.”
After the sluggish start, the Tigers played even with the Cougars for the rest of the half. Seneca East trailed 25-12 after the first quarter and 36-23 at intermission.
“We’ve been in that position before,” Stallings said. “Last year in this gym we were down to South Central by 13 and came back and beat them (in the Division IV district semifinals). The girls have been there before.
“I told them at halftime to relax and stay the course and we’ll be OK.”
All in the Family: Adachi’s younger sister, Marina, scored eight of her 10 points in the second half. The freshman drew the unenviable assignment of guarding Stimpert.
“I haven’t seen Crestview play much, but I don’t think Renee has seen a defender like Marina, who is that quick,” Stallings said. “Renee is the best player Marina has guarded all year.”
Stimpert capped her sensational career with 29 points. Macie Restyle and Jackie Baith each had 11, but were limited in the second half. Restyle scored eight of her 11 in the first half, while Baith had nine in the opening two quarters.
“That second half was definitely the worst half of basketball we have played this year. That is disappointing,” Goon said. “We got careless and stopped playing. We started only looking for Renee and you can’t have that.
“We shied away from the moment. We relied on Renee so much for the last four years that when the going got tough, everybody looked to her. We needed some other people to step up.”
Silver Lining: Crestview set records for wins in a season and points in a season. The Cougars won a Firelands Conference championship for the first time since 2008 and claimed a sectional title for the first time since 2009.
“I told the girls that this one moment doesn’t define us,” Goon said. “We didn’t want it to end this way, but these girls have a lot to be proud of.”
