Louisville Leopards Vs. Massillon Tigers Girls Basketball Tournament Highlights 2012
Massillon 53, Louisville 43
Massillon used a 14-4 run to open the fourth quarter before sinking the Lady Leopards 53-43 in the Girls Basketball Division I Sectional Semifinals at Walsh University Saturday afternoon. Brianna Libertore led the Leopards with 19 points & 12 rebounds and Molly Brown also scored 12 to the Lady Leps who finish the season 16-5.
The Massillon Tigers ripped open the game in the fourth quarter by scoring the first seven points to take a 38-30 lead. After Massillon took a 45-34 lead, the two teams traded baskets for the rest of the contest and The Tigers took the game by 10. Bre Peterson scored 10 of her 17 points in the fourth for the Lady Tigers.
The Lady Leps controlled the game early on when Angela Risaliti hit a three-pointer to give the Leps a 14-7 near the start of the second quarter. Libertore went to work down low, and scored 9 points mostly earned at the free throw stride.
The Tigers roared back to close to within two points at the break at 18-16. Nae Nae McElroy poured in 11 of her game-high 19 points in the first half to lead Massillon.
After Louisville took a 24-21 lead about three minutes into the third period, the Tigers ripped open a 10-0 run to pull out to a 31-24 advantage. But the Lady Leopards weren’t dead yet. They scored three quick buckets, two from Libertore and one from Risaliti, in the final 45 seconds of the third quarter to cut the deficit to 31-30.
After that, the game snowballed for our girls in blue and Massillon took a double digit advantage that Louisville never recovered from. The Lady Leopards finish the 2011-12 campaign with a 16-5 record and though only one team is truly happy at the end of the season (the state champions) these Lady Leopards are still champions in our hearts.
STATISTICS
LEOPARDS: Libertore 5 9-10 19, Brown 5 1-5 12, Risaliti 3 0-0 7, Storlie 1 1-2 3, C. Lemmon 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 15 11-17 43.
TEAM FG: 15-51 29%
TEAM 3PT: 2-11 18% | Brown (1), Risaliti (1)
TEAM FT: 11-17 65%
TIGERS: McElroy 7 4-6 19, Peterson 6 4-5 17, Thomas 2 3-4 7, Clark 2 0-0 4, Stokes 2 0-1 4, Stinson 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 20 11-16 53.
TEAM FG: 20-55 36%
TEAM 3PT: 2-18 11% | McElroy (1), Peterson (1)
TEAM FT: 11-16 69%
Team 1-2-3-4-Total
Louisville 11-7-12-13–43
Massillon 7-9-15-22–53
Rebounds: Louisville 42 (Libertore 12), Massillon 34 (Thomas 12)
Fouls: 13-13
Records: Louisville 16-5, Massillon 15-6
Turnovers: Louisville 20-13
PICTURES