Dribbling around the area basketball scene
- col-aaron-dorksen
- March 2, 2022
- 906
A few thoughts from the week in sports …
High school basketball tournament time is here, and it’s one of the most exciting stretches of the year.
Congrats to two area girls teams who advanced to the regionals: Waynedale (26-0) and Dalton (16-10).
The Golden Bears stayed perfect after a 52-40 win over Trinity in the Div. III Wooster District final. Alyssa Geiser led the way with 15 points and Mckenna Baney netted 11 to lead a balanced effort.
Waynedale advanced to the Cuyahoga Falls Regional, where it will take on Youngstown Liberty on March 2. The title game is March 5 at 1:30 p.m.
The Bulldogs defeated Loudonville 63-43 in the Div. IV Norwayne District title game on Feb. 26. Adessa Miller’s 19 points and nine rebounds led the way, followed by Kylee Johnson (13 points), Ella Lunsford (13) and Mia Weaver (9).
Dalton moved on to the Massillon Perry Regional, where it will face Bristolville Bristol on March 3. The regional final will be March 5 at 7 p.m.
Coach Rick Geiser’s Bears and Katie Miller’s Bulldogs have proven once again how strong the quality of play is in the Wayne County Athletic League.
Congrats also go out to the local boys teams that advanced to district action: Norwayne, Smithville and Waynedale in Div. III, along with Dalton and Hiland in Div. IV.
Generals conclude 12-win seasons
The Wooster girls and boys both won 12 games apiece before falling in the Div. I sectional finals, with the girls finishing 12-11 and the boys 12-10.
The Generals girls lost 60-55 against Brunswick to end an impressive rookie season for Alex Kacere as a head coach. The Generals won four more games than they did the previous season and made the most 3-point shots in program history.
“We essentially put in an entirely new offensive and defensive system,” said Kacere, a 2010 WHS graduate. “I thought they did a really good job of learning something new and playing hard.”
Wooster’s 186 made 3-pointers rank 26th on the OHSAA all-time single-season list. The Generals shot a respectable 33% on those attempts.
Kacere didn’t tell his girls to “chuck up 3s whenever possible.” Rather, he told them “eliminate bad 2s.”
“The analytics show that if you shoot 30% on 3s, you need to shoot 45% on 2s to score the same number of points,” Kacere said. “The girls bought into that and did a really good job. Late in the season we actually had a higher shooting percentage on 3-pointers (40%) than on 2 (39%) before we hit a cold streak.”
Kacere taught his girls to take the ball to the basket and look for layups or 6-foot shots or take 3-pointers.
Junior point guard Nora Levy earned Ohio Cardinal Conference Player of the Year honors after averaging 17.3 points a game, 5.1 assists and 1.7 steals. She made 38 three-pointers.
Junior Eily Badertscher (13.8 ppg) and sophomore Tori Pettorini (11.2) earned first-team All-OCC, sophomore Grace Kostohryz (5.0) was second-team, and honorable mention honors went to Haylee Braden and Grace Grey.
Marcie Alberts, who starred for Wooster and Ohio State in the 1990s, has the top-four single-season 3-point seasons for the Generals. She made 77, 77, 63 and 62.
Badertscher connected on 60 trifectas while Pettorini nailed 56 to claim the fifth and sixth best long-distance seasons.
With Wooster’s top-six players all returning, the sky’s the limit in 2022-23.
“We’re very optimistic about what we can do next year if the girls put in the work,” Kacere said.
Coach Michael Snowbarger’s boys team overcame a 1-6 start to finish on an 11-4 run. The No. 24-seeded Generals came up just short of an impressive tournament upset when they lost an 80-73 game at No. 8 Medina.
Wooster had led by eight points with just under four minutes left in regulation.
Unlike the girls team, the Wooster boys will have a lot of rebuilding to do next year.
Five seniors will graduate who all saw regular action: Drew Dossi, Micah McKee, Jack Williams, Javar Simpson and Zach Harpster.
Dossi, who’s committed to play for Baldwin-Wallace, and McKee, a Shippensburg football signee, had 30 points and 14, respectively, to lead Wooster in its finale.
Dossi (17.7 ppg, 3.6 rebounds, 5.0 assists) and McKee (16.3 ppg, 11.1 rpg) were one of the area’s best duos this season. They will be fun to follow in their college careers.
Parting shots
Congrats to West Holmes senior Channer Wells on an outstanding career.
The Knights were knocked out of the tournament after a 67-50 loss to host Dresden Tri-Valley in a Div. II sectional final. Wells led the Knights (12-10) with 19 points.
The 6-foot-1 guard, who played his first three seasons at Triway, surpassed 1,000 career points in a sectional semifinal win over Beaver Local. He joined his brother Chance (1,382 points combined for West Holmes and Triway) in the exclusive 1,000-point club. The brothers teamed up when Chance was a senior on the Titans’ 2020 regional team, which didn’t get to play in the Sweet 16 due to the COVID shutdown.
“It’s a very big accomplishment to score 1,000 points and extra special to share it with Chance,” Channer said. “We tease our oldest brother, Chase, because he came close but didn’t get it. All the hard work playing basketball with my brothers and even my sister is paying off. It’s a goal my dad had for us before he passed away.”
Curt Wells died after battling leukemia in 2017 at age 48. Since then the Wells boys have vowed to excel on and off the court in honor of their dad. Their mom, Chrystal Wells, is their biggest supporter.
Channer is planning to play college basketball but is still undecided. Chance played for Hiram College this winter.
“I thank my family, teammates and coaches for their support,” Channer said. “I learned a lot playing at Triway for coach (Ben) Holt. He taught me a tremendous amount about basketball. The practices were a lot harder than the games, and I really appreciate the three years I played for him.
“I really want to thank the West Holmes community for welcoming me to come back. Coach (Don) Hall is a great coach and person. He’s someone who I really look up to.”
Despite a valiant effort, The College of Wooster men’s basketball team lost 85-84 in overtime against Wabash in the NCAC title game in Crawfordsville, Indiana on Feb. 26.
The Fighting Scots (19-9) saw two incredible streaks come to an end: 24 straight 20-win seasons and a Div. III record 18 straight NCAA Div. III Tournament appearances.
Senior Najee Hardaway capped a strong career by leading Wooster with 18 points in the NCAC title game while sophomore Elijah Meredith added 17.
It was a tough ending to the season, but I fully expect coach Doug Cline and the Scots to reload and get back to the NCAA Tournament next year.
Aaron Dorksen can be emailed at aarondorksen24@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AaronDorksen.