Lady Leopards Fall to GlenOak in District Semifinal, Finish 15-8 – Girls Basketball
#2 GlenOak 50, #6 Louisville 34
The #6 Seed Louisville Leopards Girls Basketball Team fell to the #2 Seed GlenOak Golden Eagles 50-34 Tuesday Night in the DI Massillon District Semifinals held at Perry High School. With the loss, Louisville finishes the 2019-20 campaign with a record of 15-8 in their first year under the direction of Head Coach Chris Esterak.
Paige Cole made 3 three-pointers and scored a game-high 15 points to lead the Lady Leopards. Kendal Loy also scored 8 and Sherilynn Mullett scored all of her 7 points from the free thrown line.
Donate to Leopard Nation
Louisville trailed 7-0 at the outset and didn’t score until Loy drove to the hole over GlenOak 6’5 Sophomore Jordan Weir at the 2:50 mark of the first quarter. LHS trailed 9-4 at the end of one and found themselves behind 14-6 less than a minute into the second quarter. It looked as if the favored Golden Eagles were going to roll their way into the District Title game.
But the Leopards had other plans as they put together a stunning 10-0 run to take the lead. Cole drew a foul and hit a pair of free throws from the line. Both teams failed to score on their next two possessions and Louisville was called for a tick-tack foul following a GlenOak rebound. The Lady Leopards put on the press and it wreaked havoc on the Eagles for the remainder of the second quarter.
In an electrifying 12 second sequence, Cole hit a pair of three-pointers to erase Louisville’s 6-point deficit and tie the game at 14-14 with 3:21 to go before halftime. Loy stole an inbound, willed her way through a double team, and kicked the ball out to Cole who was wide open on the right wing. She buried the three and Loy again stole the ensuing inbound pass from the baseline. The ball popped loose toward the GlenOak bench, but was saved by Maddie Dyer who batted the ball back into the hands of Loy. She picked up the loose ball, dribbled once in retreat, and threw a chest pass to Cole on the left wing. She drained it to tie the game at 14-14.
The Lady Leopards cashed in on a pair of trips to the line by Cole and Mullett in the remaining minutes of the first half. The Louisville full-court press combined with their quick hands on defense continued to give the Golden Eagles fits as the Leopards took a stunning 18-16 lead into the locker room.
The two teams exchanged baskets to open up the third quarter and it looked like it was going to be a back-and-forth fight to the end. Lone Louisville Senior Kayla Gibson fed Kelsey Adelman who hit a long two-pointer from the left corner to knot the game at 20-20. Gibson then batted away a pass in the key on the defensive end into the hands of Loy. On the ensuing possession, Gibson brought the ball down the court and fed it to Cole who was wide open in the left corner. She hit again for her 43rd three-pointer of the season and 3rd of the game to put the Lady Leopards in front 23-20 with 4:41 left in the third quarter. Cole remained the game’s leading scoring throughout, but wouldn’t score again for the remainder of the game.
The momentum shifted and GlenOak closed the third quarter on a 10-2 run to pull ahead 32-25. The Golden Eagles erupted in the fourth quarter by hitting 3 three-pointers en rout to posting 18 points for the period. Lexi Lemire hit a pair of triples and scored 8 of her team-high 14 points to lead GHS in the final quarter. Makenzie Green made the other three-pointer from the left corner to cap off an 8-0 GlenOak run that gave them their biggest advantage of the game at 48-31. The clock had struck midnight for the girls in blue.
With the loss, the Leopards have now lost their last 5 meetings against the Golden Eagles. Louisville now trails the all-time series 23-29 with this being their first ever meeting both on a neutral court or in the tournament during the series. The Lady Leopards last beat GlenOak in a 59-57 road overtime thriller to open the 2012-13 season. The Golden Eagles defeated them in the next 4 seasons that followed.
Louisville is now 45-44 all-time in the tournament since their first postseason game against Canton South in 1977, which was also played at Perry. The Lady Leopards are now 6-13 since entering Division I in 2008 and 14-24 overall in either Division I or the old equivalent AAA division. This was Louisville’s fourth trip to the district tournament while playing in the top division (2 in AAA, 2 in DI).
Pictures
Cover Photo By Jim & Laura Photography
View & Purchase Louisville Leopards Pictures on the Jim & Laura Photography Website
Varsity Statistics
GOLDEN EAGLES 50, LEOPARDS 34
Team 1-2-3-4–TOTAL
Louisville 4-14-7-11—34
GlenOak 9-7-16-18–50
LEOPARDS: Cole 4 4-4 15, Loy 4 0-3 8, Mullett 0 7-8 7, Adelman 1 0-0 2, Gibson 1 0-2 2. TOTAL 10 11-17 34.
3-Pointers (3): Cole 3
Team FT: 11-17 64%
GOLDEN EAGLES: Lemire 5 2-2 14, Weir 5 1-2 11, Williams 4 1-2 9, Green 3 0-0 7, Vance 3 0-1 7, Klepteck 1 0-0 2. TOTAL 21 4- 7 50.
3-Pointers (4): Lemire 2, Green, Vance
Team FT: 4-7 57%
Fouls: 14-7 GlenOak
Records: Louisville 15-8
