By: Nate Calvin
MANSFIELD – The Bryan Lady Bears added another chapter to their magical season on Tuesday night at Mansfield Senior High School in the Division II regional semifinals.
Marah Smith hit a short jumper along the baseline with 18 seconds remaining to put Bryan ahead 44-43 and then three shots from less than 15 feet wouldn’t fall for the Fighting Irish in the final 11 seconds to send Bryan to their first regional final in program history.
A Bryan lead that was 14 points (27-13) early in the third quarter had been trimmed to 36-29 starting the final stanza.
Bryan sixth-man Blayze Langenderfer made two trips to the foul line where she went 3/4 to give Bryan a 40-32 advantage early in the final frame.
The Fighting Irish would begin to chip away at the Bryan lead as leading scorer Jazmin Torres buried a corner triple and Kamiah Pryor scored off a steal to cut the Golden Bear lead to 40-37 with 2:54 remaining.
Reese Grothaus would hit two free throws to make it 42-38 before five straight points from Akron SVSM, ending with a driving layup by Torres, gave the Irish a 43-42 lead with under a minute to play.
Following a Bryan timeout, the Bears would work the ball to Smith who slipped along the baseline for the bucket, Bryan’s only field goal of the fourth, to put Bryan back on top at 44-43.
After an Irish timeout with 11 seconds to go, Adrena Gordon drove the lane, but her shot would roll off the rim, Erica King’s foul line jumper was off the mark, and Torres offensive rebound putback from the low square fell short as the final buzzer sounded.
“What a monster shot by Marah”, commented coach Todd Grosjean immediately after the win.
“We talked about we wanted to switch all screens and they slipped one and fortunately Kailee (Thiel) was there to bother her (Gordon) shot enough that she missed it”, said Grosjean when commenting on the game’s final 11 seconds.
“I thought in the first half we guarded them really well, I don’t know if they’ve been defended that way this year.” “Just couldn’t be more proud of these kids”, added Grosjean.
Bryan showed from the start they were not intimidated by the Irish, who came into the game with 10 wins over Division I schools and a pair of victories over California prep schools.
Bryan would get first quarter triples from Ella Rau and Smith and held the Fighting Irish to just 2/9 from the floor to take an 11-5 lead entering the second.
Langenderfer opened the frame with a bucket before later adding a baseline jumper and an offensive rebound basket as the Golden Bears ended the first half with an 8-0 run to take a 25-13 lead into the locker room.
A Kailee Thiel hoop started the second half for Bryan to give the Bears their largest lead of the night at 27-13.
The Irish would put together an 11-3 scoring run led by seven points from King to close the gap to 30-24.
Bryan answered with a bucket by Grothaus and a three-point play from Ella Voigt to push the lead back to double digits at 35-24 with 1:52 left in the third.
The Fighting Irish put together a 5-1 spurt to end the quarter with King adding another bucket and Kendal Batchik drained a trey to make it 36-29 after three quarters.
Langenderfer fronted a balanced scoring effort by Bryan (24-2) with 11, while Voigt and Rau had nine points each.
Torres ended with a game-high 13 points for Akron SVSM (20-5) and King added a dozen.
Bryan will now the face the Norwalk Truckers (23-2) in the Division II regional finals back in Mansfield on Friday night at 7pm.
AKRON SVSM (43) – Gordon 2; Torres 13; Pryor 4; Batchik 9; King 12; Metcalf 0; Wallace 1; Banta 0; Moss 0; Smith 2; Totals: 14-3-6 – 43
BRYAN (44) – Thiel 3; Voigt 9; Grothaus 7; Rau 9; Smith 5; Langenderfer 11; Alspaugh 0; Totals: 10-3-15 – 44
GAME STATISTICS – AKRON SVSM: FG – 17/47 (36%); FT – 6/11 (55%); Rebounds – 28 (13 offensive); Turnovers – 11; BRYAN: FG – 13/38 (34%); FT – 15/19 (79%); Rebounds – 26 (7 offensive); Turnovers – 11
AKRON SVSM 5 8 16 14 – 43
BRYAN 11 14 11 8 – 44
Nate can be reached at sports@thevillagereporter.com
