SPRINGFIELD — The East Clinton girls basketball team reached the school’s first Sweet 16 (boys or girls) with a 48-46 victory over Camden Preble Shawnee Saturday in a Division III district title tilt at Springfield High School.
“They’ve made East Clinton history. That’s a great feeling. They’re the first bunch that can call themselves district champions,” EC head coach Bill Bean said. “I was speechless, more so than last week (after advancing to just the fourth district title game in girls program history). These girls deserve it. They are such a hard working bunch of girls. I’m tickled for them.”
After East Clinton missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 8.6 seconds left, and Preble Shawnee grabbed the rebound and called timeout, the Arrows drove the length of the court, but the game-tying attempt missed the mark at the buzzer.
“They did what exactly what we thought they were going to do,” Bean said. “(Campbell Jewell) had fouled out, so we knew they were going to go to (Liv) Thompson. We wanted to try to stay in front of her. We told our two wing people they need to cheat over where they can help but not get split. She beat us and got a decent look. Just missed the shot.”
Kami Whiteaker’s third three of the afternoon, with 20.7 seconds to go in the contest, proved to be the game-winner.
The Arrows tried to tie the game with 11.9 seconds left. Both teams grabbed the rebound, with the possession arrow to the Arrows.
Three seconds later, there was another tie up, this time going to the Astros.
East Clinton scored the game’s first six points, but Preble Shawnee responded with seven straight. EC scored the first quarter’s final eight points to lead 16-10.
Preble Shawnee (18-7) scored nine of the next 12 to knot the game at 19. After the teams traded buckets, the Arrows took the lead for the final 3:20 of the half. Thompson, who led all scorers with 20, including 16 in the first half, had eight of those on drives to the hoop in the final 2:14 of the half.
“All week, we preached ‘3 (Thompson) and 20 (Jewell), 3 and 20.’ Those are the ones we need to shut down,” Bean said. “We talked about that at halftime. We made a couple adjustments. They tried to screen for (Thompson) a lot, and we got caught up in it, so we started switching stuff. We played a little more of our zone to try to cut down on the drive. We said, ‘Let’s take away the drive, and if they start hitting threes, we’ll adjust to that.’”
The Arrows held the lead the entire third quarter, including its largest lead of the afternoon, 38-31 at the 2:53 mark, after a 7-1 spurt.
East Clinton (20-4) finally caught and passed the Arrows, 40-38, on one of Jayden Murphy’s three threes with 7:05 left in the game.
There were three ties and two lead changes after that, with the final one being the Whiteaker game-winner.
Whiteaker finished with 10 points. Libby Evanshine led the Astros with 15 points.
East Clinton advances to play Marion Pleasant (17-8) at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 2, back at Springfield High School.
“Marion Pleasant is very comparable to Preble Shawnee,” Bean said. “They’ve got one guard who is very similar to Thompson. They don’t have one (like Jewell) to go with her. They’re going to be a tough opponent.”
The Spartans, out of the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference, whose champion, Shelby, is the Division II Associated Press poll champion, was a seven-seed in the Columbus sectional/district. They beat four-seed Richwood North Union 55-43, six-seed Amanda Clearcreek 40-36 and 10-seed Johnstown 45-29. In the regular season, Pleasant lost to Shelby 47-31 at home and 61-18 at Shelby.
The other regional semifinal will feature Cincinnati Purcell-Marian, which finished second in the final Associated Press Division III state girls basketball poll, versus Waynesville at 8 p.m. Wednesday.
SUMMARY
February 26, 2022
Div III District Title Game
@Springfield High School
East Clinton 48, Preble Shawnee 46
EC – 16 10 9 13 – 48
PS – 10 21 7 8 – 46
EC (48) – Collom 1-0-2, Evanshine 4-6-15, Whiteaker 3-1-10, Runyon 2-0-4, Lilly 2-0-4, Tong 0-0-0, Jones 0-0-0, Murphy 4-2-13. Total 16-9-48. 3-point goals: 7 (Whiteaker 3, Murphy 3, Evanshine). FTM-FTA 9-15, 60 percent.
PS (46) – Woodard 1-2-4, Thompson 9-0-20, Lovely 0-0-0, Jewell 5-4-15, Howard 1-0-2, Kulms 2-1-5. Total 18-7-46. 3-point goals: 3 (Thompson 2, Jewell). FTM-FTA 7-11, 64 percent.
