FINAL FOUR BOUND | Anthony Wayne victorious in OHSAA regional championship game
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| (Chuck Cordes - Ohsfbmedia.com) |
By Gene Simmons | X.COM
BARBERTON, Ohio--Anthony Wayne makes its way to the OHSAA Division 2 Final Four in defeating Hudson 48-32 after a slow start in the first half of the game.
Early in the contest for both teams, it seemed neither was focused, as turnovers and missed shots and layups would be the story, although Wayne went on a 6-0 run before Hudson would score a point with just 1:03 left to play in the opening quarter from Corinne Stearns.
Quarter would end 8-4, Wayne with the lead, heading into the second things would pick up as Hudson would hit some big shots, an opening three point shot from Erin McCormick to close in on lead trailing 8-7, then a 3-point shot from Elora Beh tying the score 10-10, going ahead to lead after an Ashli Pearson 3-pointer 17-14 to close out the half.
After halftime Wayne would reenergize to take a sizable lead led by junior Leah Pike who would help push a 15-0 run and solid bench play by Lauren Brenneman who provided a spark.
Elise Bender would come on after not having a strong first half would score key buckets with sister Brooke playing solid defense getting steals and scoring to take a 12 point lead into the 4th quarter leading 32-20.
🏀 FINAL FOUR BOUND 🏀
— AW Women’s Basketball (@AW_LadyGenerals) March 1, 2025
The Generals take home the regional championship with a 48-32 win in Barberton. The Generals are heading to the Final Four! pic.twitter.com/OI6g5T1P6b
"We went into the locker room and talked about having confidence and then we came out and had confidence and we played better defense that led to our strong offense," said Pike.
The final quarter would only get worse for Hudson, just going cold trailing 26-41 with 4:09 left to play it would be all Wayne as they advance to play in the state semifinals to be announced at a later time.
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| (Anthony Wayne accepts OHSAA Regional Championship trophy. Gene Simmons - Ohsfbmedia.com) |
"Yeah we were definitely out of sink the first half, Hudson did a really good job of taking us out of our game, we talked and made some adjustments at halftime and the second half was ours," said Carter.
Anthony Wayne improves to 23-2 and is coming back to make a state final four appearance since 2022, Hudson will end their season at 21-5 after a story book season.