Lady Leopards Make Quick Work of Cleveland Heights in Opening Round – Girls Basketball
#16 Louisville 61, #58 Cleveland Heights 29
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The #16 seed Louisville Leopards Girls Varsity Basketball Team crushed the #58 seed Cleveland Heights Tigers 61-29 in the DI Northeast 4 Sectional Semifinals Saturday Afternoon at Louisville High School. With their second straight victory, Louisville improves to 15-8 on the season. They also advance to the sectional finals and will host the #44 seed Youngstown Chaney Cowgirls on Thursday, February 22 at 7:00 PM.
Haren Pours in Game High 22
Senior Brooke Haren made 2 three-pointers and finished with a game high 22 points to lead the Leopards. She scored 13 points in the first half as Louisville put the game away by halftime leading 32-11.
Haren’s performance produced the fourth highest known point total in a tournament game in team history. Alicia Knouff holds the Lady Leopards single game postseason scoring record with 26 in a 50-33 win over Akron East on February 16, 2002. Leah Seaman also scored 24 in a 2006 sectional against St. Vincent-St. Mary and Paige Cole scored 23 points during Louisville’s 77-63 win over Massillon in the 2020 DI sectional semifinals. Haren is tied for fourth with Sherilynn Mullett who scored 22 points in that same 2020 Massillon game.
Barwick Registers 13 Points & 8 Assists
Junior Courtney Barwick hit a pair of three-pointers and finished in double figures with 13. She also dished out a game high 8 assists as the Leopards registered 18 assists as a team.
Louisville Uses Two 11-0 Runs to Take Command
Louisville used an 11-0 first quarter run to take a double digit 13-2 advantage. Haren hit a three-ball to get the string started and Barwick canned a pair of free throws after that. Haren then intercepted an errant pass in the backcourt and drove all the way to the basket to extend the Leopard lead to 9-2.
Sophomore Sammi Beatty came off the bench soon after and provided a jolt of energy. She scored under the hoop off an inbound pass from Barwick to make it 11-2. Beatty then stole a pass in the backcourt and then hustled to snag an offensive board. Her putback bounced around and into the hole to put Louisville ahead 13-2 forcing Cleveland Heights to burn a timeout.
A few possessions after the timeout, senior point guard Jaiya Gaston buried a three-pointer to end the Leopards run and cut the deficit to 13-5. However, before the first quarter buzzer sounded junior Riley Walters would respond with a three-pointer for Louisville to put them back ahead by double figures.
Louisville would stay comfortably ahead by double digits for the remainder of the game as Walters three-pointer began a second 11-0 LHS string. Senior Lexi Wasara added a basket and Barwick hit home a three-pointer during the run as the Leopards built a 24-5 lead.
Leopards Roll to the Next Round
The Tigers ended the run with a basket, but Haren answered on the other end off an assist from Beatty. About a minute later, Beatty hit a three-pointer from the top of the key via a pass from fellow sophomore Maggie Baker to put Louisville up 29-7. Beatty would finish the evening with 9 points.
The Leopards took a 32-11 advantage into the second half. Cleveland Heights would fail to reach Louisville’s halftime total throughout the remainder of the contest. The Tigers would outscore the Leopards 10-9 in the third quarter, but Louisville made up for it by winning the fourth quarter 20-8.
Eight different Lady Leopards would register points in the scorebook. Other scorers included Walters with 6, Baker with 3, junior Chay Cline with 4, and Lilli Lab and Wasara who added 2 each.
Caldwell Leads Cleveland Heights with 17
Junior forward Robbie Caldwell scored 11 of her team high 17 points in the second half to lead the Tigers. Caldwell accounted for more than half of Cleveland Heights’ points and every Tiger two-point field goal.
Senior guard Skylar McCull also scored 4 points for Cleveland Heights, all from the free throw line. Gaston and senior guard Brooklyn Pace rounded out the Tigers’ top scorers adding a three-pointer each.
Cleveland Heights won 3 of their last 4 regular season games prior to Saturday’s contest. The Tigers finish the season 7-16 overall.
This was the first ever meeting between the two schools. Cleveland Heights is the 80th unique opponent that Louisville Girls Basketball has faced all-time and the 40th unique opponent they have matched up against in the postseason.
Louisville Snaps 3-Game Tournament Skid
The postseason win is the Lady Leopards first since defeating Boardman 67-51 at home in the 2021 DI sectional semifinals. Louisville had lost their last three tournament matchups to Canton McKinley in 2021 and then against Hudson the past two seasons.
The Lady Leopards are now an even 47-47 in the tournament all-time dating back to their first postseason appearance in 1977. This includes 7-5 record when playing at home and an 8-16 record since moving to Division I in 2008.
<<< 2023 Vs. Hudson | Girls Basketball Tournament History
UP NEXT: The #16 seed Lady Leopards will next host the #44 seed Youngstown Chaney Cowgirls on Thursday, February 22 in the DI Northeast 4 Sectional Finals. Game time will begin at 7:00 PM from Louisville High School.
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Cleveland Heights at Louisville Girls Basketball Statistics
LEOPARDS 61, TIGERS 29
Team 1-2-3-4–TOTAL
Cleveland Heights 5-6-10-8–29
Louisville 16-16-9-20–61
Cleveland Heights Tigers Girls Basketball Stats
| Player | 2PT | 3PT | FG | FTM | FTA | Points |
| Robbie Caldwell | 8 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 6 | 17 |
| Skylar McCall | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 4 |
| Jaiya Gaston | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Brooklyn Pace | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Dayvon Evans | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Navach Whitaker | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| TOTAL | 8 | 2 | 10 | 7 | 18 | 29 |
Louisville Leopards Girls Basketball Stats
| Player | 2PT | 3PT | FG | FTM | FTA | Points |
| Brooke Haren | 7 | 2 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 22 |
| Courtney Barwick | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 13 |
| Sammi Beatty | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Riley Walters | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Chay Cline | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Maggie Baker | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Lilli Lab | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Lexi Wasara | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| TOTAL | 15 | 7 | 22 | 10 | 12 | 61 |
Fouls: 18-13 Louisville
Records: Louisville 15-8, Cleveland Heights 7-16
