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Blue Dons makes late push to beat Toronto

TORONTO — Every position mattered.

The Madonna girls’ basketball team trailed Toronto by five points a couple of minutes into the fourth quarter, however, the Blue Dons ended the game on a 14-3 en route to a 43-37 victory in a varsity-only game Thursday night inside the George J. Kunzler Memorial Gymnasium.

“I have to give all of the credit to the coaches on the bench,” Madonna (6-8) head coach Cory Wingett said. “We struggled with our offense, but we were able to break through with plays drawn up by my coaching staff. They draw up the offense, and I handle the defense. We work together.”

Toronto took a 34-29 lead, but the Red Knights struggled offensively the rest of the way enabling the visitors from Hancock County to come back and win the game.

“I don’t think anything changed,” Toronto (8-9) head coach Rusty Hodgkiss said. “I thought it was the same game throughout. They outworked us, outhustled us, outcoached us, they out-everythinged us. We were not ready to play tonight.”

After falling behind by five in the fourth, the Blue Dons rallied the next five points to knot the score at 34 with 4:40 left to play. The Red Knights regained the lead with a basket with 2:52 left on the clock, however, Addy Welsh converted a three-point play to regain the lead for the Blue Dons 27 seconds later. A foul shot by Toronto’s Lily Sapp tied the score at 37, however, the Red-and-White did not score again.

“We left a lot of layups out there tonight,” Hodgkiss said. “That has been the story of the last week. We have left a lot of layups out there.”

Madonna regained the lead with 1:21 on the clock, and the Blue Dons hit five of six foul shots down the stretch to ice the game.

“One of the most important things was our free throws,” Wingett said. “We missed one. We are not the best foul shooting team, but we are coming around. We made 3-of-4. Making free throws in the first quarter and the second quarter are important, but if you make them with two minutes left, one minute left or 30 seconds left, that’s golden. We made them, and we were able to put the game away.”

All told, the Blue Dons outscored the girls in white, 16-6, in the fourth to rally for the victory.

Three players produced double digits in points to lead the way for Madonna. Madi Owens delivered a team-high 13 points, Welsh scored 11 and Rylee Birkhimer recorded 10.

Tatum Derrington tallied a game-high 15 points to lead the way offensively for Toronto, while Jayna Reeves contributed seven.

The win enabled Madonna to split the season series with Toronto. The Red Knights defeated the Blue Dons, 56-52, Dec. 9 on the road.

“They opened in a triangle-and-2 in the beginning, and we had an idea of what to do,” Wingett said. “We did a good job. Toronto is quick and athletic. Rusty does a good job. You have to be ready because Rusty throws a lot of things at you defensively. You have to adjust, and we were able to adjust.

“I am super proud of these girls. You have followed us for a while, and we have struggled. That was our sixth win. This is a win over a program larger than us and that is in the top four of the OVAC. This is a win you can build program on.

“I cannot be more proud of those eight girls in there. They deserve every ounce of credit. This win is a credit to the seniors of our last of our last three teams. They kept this program alive. We didn’t know if we were going to have a team. We struggled for a couple of years. We’re not there yet, but we will get there.”

Madonna led early in the first quarter before Toronto came back and took a 13-8 lead.

“Our first quarters have been abysmal,” Hodgkiss said. “Our first quarter was OK. We did not get the ball rim.”

The Red Knights led 13-10 going into the second.

A 3-pointer from the corner gave the Blue Dons a 15-13 lead in the second. The visitors led 19-17 at halftime.

“Not really,” Hodgkiss said asked if either team did anything differently Thursday night as compared to the one back in December. “We tried a different defense, but they were ready for it. They scored baskets on their first four possessions, so we got out of it. We ended up playing man, and we did OK. We did not help drives. We got pinned. We did not look back. That is all on me. I have to do a better job in practice on that.

“We played four games in six days. We didn’t practice. Tuesday was the only day we could have practiced, but they canceled everything that day. I’m sure they were in the same boat. I did not have us ready to play.”

Madonna and Toronto each entered play this week in fifth place in their respective classes in the OVAC. The top four in each class qualify for the annual conference tournament.

Wood County Christian entered play this week in fifth place in the Class 1A standings, while Madonna is in fifth place.

“It’s all about the math,” Wingett said. “We will see what happens. Anything can happen. We are just taking things game by game. We are working on our team chemistry. We want to be prepared for the long run. We have won six games. That matches our win total from last year.I am really happy for the girls. They are working hard. That’s all you can ask.”

Wellsville entered this week in fourth place in Class 2A. The Red Knights defeated the Tigers, 36-30, Wednesday night at home.

“We are going to have to wait and see what happens with Wellsville,” Hodgkiss said. “If we don’t play better, smarter or be more present, the OVACs are not going to matter.”

Madonna is scheduled to play Cameron at 6:30 p.m. Monday at home inside the Bill Barrett Gymnasium.

Toronto is slated to play Heartland Christian at 6 p.m. Thursday on the road.

Madonna 43, Toronto 37

Madonna 10 9 6 16 – 43

Toronto 13 7 14 6 – 37

MADONNA (6-8): Bartley 2 2-2 7, R. Birkhimer 3 3-3 10, Owens 5 3-6 13, Welsh 4 3-7 11, G. Birkhimer 1 0-0 2, Littleton 0 0-0 0, Ryan 0 0-0 0, Brady 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 15 11-18 43.

TORONTO (8-9): Derrington 6 3-4 15, Sapp 1 2-6 5, Reeves 3 1-2 7, Rebich 1 0-0 2, Owings 0 0-0 0, Yost 1 0-0 2, Dickinson 2 2-4 6. TOTALS: 14 8-16 37.

3-POINTERS: Madonna 2 (Bartley, R. Birkhimer), Toronto 1 (Sapp)

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