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On this date in area sports history …
Thirteen years ago on this date, March 9, 1996, the Southeastern girls basketball team beat Fayetteville to advance to the final four. The Trojans would win the state title. Complete story on the jump.
Southeastern is back in the regional this week. It plays Convoy Crestview on Thursday.
TROJANS ON ROAD TO FINALS
SOUTHEASTERN EARNS TRIP TO ST. JOHN ARENA
By Cindy Horner, News-Sun Sports Writer
VANDALIA — You could see the tension.
They would smile, but it was a tight smile. They’d try to make a joke, but it was a nervous joke.
Southeastern Coach Kirk Martin, his team and all their fans had been there before and, therefore, they had a reason to be nervous. The Trojan girls had been to the regionals the past eight of nine years and they hadn’t made it past that stage of the game since 1989.
The Trojans had a good reason to worry in the first quarter after falling behind 12-2. They still had a reason when it seemed that Fayetteville would never miss.
But wait one minute, this is the Southeastern girls you’re talking about. The ones that only lost one regular season game and have played with no fear throughout the year. They weren’t going to pass up a trip to the state tournament in Columbus this season.
Southeastern mounted a big second-half comeback and held on for a 66-61 Division IV regional final victory over Fayetteville Saturday in front of about 2,000 fans at Vandalia-Butler’s Student Activity Center.
The Trojans, 25-1, are headed to the Division IV state tournament at the Ohio State University’s St. John Arena. They will play Ottoville, 24-1, which defeated Minster, 49-32, in the Elida Regional final at 7 p.m., Thursday, March 14.
“It just feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders,” Martin said. “My assistant Bodie Lightle is a big Cleveland Browns fan and I thought that maybe we had that Browns jinx.
“We scouted them, but they seemed much quicker than what we thought,” Martin continued. “We had to go to a zone in the second half because of their quickness. We don’t play a whole lot of zone.”
The Trojans pulled within six points at the half, talked things over a bit and realized that Fayetteville could only be human. The Rockets had to miss a few times — and they did. More than a few times going 13 of 28 from the field in the second half. The Rockets had more problems just couldn’t get through the Trojans’ zone defense.
“This is a relief for us,” said junior Stephanie Stewart, who tossed in 14 points on the night. “We were getting sick of not making it all those other years. We just started out slow, we weren’t getting any kind of roll. Then Natalie (Cassell) sparked us. We knew we could do it then.”
Southeastern got down by 10 with less than five minutes to go in the third quarter before they made their big comeback. The Trojans went on a 20-6 run behind three three-pointers by Cassell, nine points from freshman Stephanie Campbell and six points from sophomore Amy Martin.
By the end of the quarter, the Trojans turned a six-point deficit into a 49-45 lead. The Trojans would never trail again.
“All I know is that I ran out there on the court after halftime and said this is my last year, I have to do something,” said Cassell, who missed two times from three-point land in the first quarter. She finished with 11 points on the night. “I just didn’t want it to end yet. We were sort of down at the half, but we knew that we could come back.”
The Trojans led by 10 with 4:27 remaining, allowed Fayetteville to cut the lead to four at 60-56 with 50 seconds on the clock, but Cassell, Campbell and Stewart nailed two free throws each to send the Trojans statebound.
“I’ve been waiting for this all my life,” said Campbell, who led Southeastern with 17 points. Martin and Donaldson each scored 12 apiece to round out the Trojan scoring. “It’s like throwing pennies in a wishing well. I always wanted one of my wishes to be a state tournament berth. We’ve worked so hard for this. We deserve it. When Natalie hit those threes, we just all felt relieved. We knew we were back.”
Donaldson led the Trojans in rebounding with 10 boards and Martin added eight.
Chandra Holden led Fayetteville with 20 points, Becky Holden had 16, Diana Holded tossed in 11 and Monica Samuell added 10.
FAYETTEVILLE (61) — B. Holden 7-11 1-2 16, Lingrosso 0-1 0-0 0, R. Holden 2-6 0-0 4, C. Holden 9-12 1-2 20, Adkins 0-1 0-0 0, D. Holden 5-9 1-3 11, Samuell 5-10 0-1 10. Totals: 28-51 3-8 61.
SOUTHEASTERN — S. Stewart 5-11 4-4 14, Campbell 7-10 3-3 17, Cassell 3-7 2-2 11, Hines 0-1 0-0 0, Martin 6-12 0-1 12, T. Stewart 0-1 0-0 0, Donaldson 5-11 2-4 12. Totals: 26-53 11-14 66.
Fayetteville 18 31 45 61
Southeastern 15 25 49 66
Three-point goals: Fayetteville 1-3 (B. Holden 1-2, Samuell 0-1); Southeastern 3-9 (Cassell 3-5, Campbell 0-2, Martin 0-1, Donaldson 0-1). Total Fouls: Fayetteville 13; Southeastern 15. Turnovers: Fayetteville 13; Southeastern 9. Rebounds: Fayetteville 21 (D. Holden 11); Southeastern 28 (Donaldson 10). Records: Fayetteville: 24-2; Southeastern 25-1.
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