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Saturday, March 7, 2009
Tipp trips Oakwood in D-II district final
MASON — Seventeen years passed since Oakwood High School’s last trip to the Division II district finals in girls basketball. After getting a taste of it on Friday, March 6, the Jills might not wait so long again.
“I hope it doesn’t take 17 more next time,” Oakwood coach Aaron Oakes said. “For our underclassmen, their goal should be to get back here next year and give it another shot.”
Oakwood gave Tippecanoe a run on Friday at Mason High School, but the Red Devils pulled away for a 50-33 win in the third game of the night. Alter and Carroll won D-II titles in the early games.
Tipp (24-0) jumped out to a 19-5 lead in the first half. But Oakwood (17-6) rallied to make it 19-16 after two quarters and tied the game on Molly Breidenbach’s 3-pointer to start the third. The lead never went above six until late in the third quarter.
Oakwood’s Hannah French scored to pull the Jills to 29-25 with a minute left in the third. There was still time for Tipp’s Abby Dowd to score on a drive and for teammate Leah Schiller put back her own miss at the buzzer. The Red Devils added the next four points to start the fourth quarter for a 12-point advantage that never dropped below nine points again.
“We talked about making hustle plays and that was a big one,” Tipp coach Todd Varvel said. “That propelled us into the fourth quarter.”
Tipp’s lead never fell below nine in the fourth quarter.
“They’re swarming defensively and we knew that coming in,” said Oakes, whose team committed 26 turnovers. “We knew you gotta have your head up at all times. You’re never going to get to the basket cleanly, most of the time. It’s chaotic offensively.”
Alex Miller led Oakwood with 16 points. Tipp clamped down on senior post Cathryn Hardy, who finished with four. Hardy did have 10 rebounds.
Tipp’s Cassie Berning, meanwhile, worked inside for 14 points and was a physical presence. Abby Dowd added 12.
“When (Berning) wants to she can be as fierce of a post and basketball player as they come,” Varvel said. “She can be a dominant force.”
Oakwood graduates three seniors in Hardy, Breidenbach and Ali Botello.
“(When I took over four years ago) I wanted to get to this point where we could start thinking about regional semis and regional finals,” Oakes said. “Cathryn has been a big, big part of that. All three of the seniors have been a big part of it.”
Tipp plays Carroll in the regional semifinals 6:15 p.m. Tuesday, March 10, at Vandalia Butler’s Student Activity Center. Tipp will sell tickets at Clark’s Pharmacy starting Monday and through 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
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