BASKETBALL: No. 1 Columbian tops No. 5 Perkins in district final

ASHLAND — It’s not uncommon in sports for a team to know when it’s met its match.

At some point midway through the fourth quarter of Saturday’s highly-anticipated Division II district championship at Ashland High School, the Perkins girls basketball team had that feeling in a 54-31 loss to Tiffin Columbian.

Columbian, the AP poll champions, improved to 23-0 with the win while Perkins, which finished No. 5 in the AP poll, closes out the season at 22-2.

“Columbian was better than us today,” Perkins coach Ray Neill said. “They were just better. We were blessed to be in this environment and play against the No. 1 team in the state, and they played like the No. 1 team today.

“We struggled getting and making shots and their length gave us trouble. It got everyone all year long, and it got us today.”

The Pirates took a 16-15 lead with 3:58 in the first half on a 3-pointer by freshman Darcy Daniel, but the Tornadoes scored the last five points of the half to take a 20-16 lead at the break. 

Perkins held the ball for the last 90 seconds of the half in hopes for a final shot, but turned it over with four seconds left.

“You don’t get second shots against them,” Neill said. “They went to a 1-3-1 zone in the second half and we practiced and went over it, but today we didn’t have the finishing power we’ve had all year.”

Daniel hit another 3-pointer at the 6:34 mark of the third quarter to pull Perkins within 22-21, but that was the peaking point for the Pirates.

The Tornadoes outscored Perkins 32-10 the rest of the game. After Jordan Fraley hit a free throw with 46.9 seconds left in the third quarter, the Pirates went 3 minutes, 45 seconds without scoring.

Perkins’ first field goal in the fourth quarter came by Fraley, but didn’t come until 3:25 remaining in the game, which made it a 45-28 deficit.

“We got good pressure on the wings, and we thought one of the keys to this game would be rebounding,” Columbian coach Larry Kisabeth said. “Keeping our guards back to avoid penetration was also a key, and in the second half we did those things.”

A concern for Neill and the Pirates entering the game was Columbian post Jill Stein, a Bowling Green recruit who averaged 13.5 points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 4.1 steals and 3.9 blocks per game during the regular season.

Stein proved those concerns true, scoring 18 points and grabbing 19 rebounds on top of three steals and three blocks. Stein out-rebounded the Pirates herself, 19-18. 

“Our fear was that they would get the ball in her hands and make everyone around her better, and that happened,” Neill said. 

Kisabeth said he was fortunate the Tornadoes got the win Saturday, as the young Pirates starting three freshmen and a sophomore  have a bright future.

“They are going to be around for a long time,” Kisabeth said of Perkins. “Ray does an outstanding job and it’s clear his players buy into his teaching. I think in time when you look back at this game, our age and experience may have been the difference today.

“Marching down the stretch, we finished when we got the opportunity.”

Daniel scored more than half of the Pirates points in finishing with 16 while Fraley added eight. Only two other players scored for Perkins as Shannon Ebert had five and Kristen Campbell added a basket. Megan Miller added 16 points and Lexi Rohrbach scored 11 for Columbian.

“I don’t have a negative thing to say about my team,” Neill said. “Our girls deserved to be in this game, and I don’t think the final score was indicative of the difference between the two teams."