North girls basketball coach Paul Force knows his team understands the importance of free throws.
Every time Force is trying to watch a game on television at home, one of his girls texts him when a player on TV missed a clutch free throw down the stretch.
Missing clutch free throws wasn’t a problem for the Rangers on Feb. 3, though.
North made all 11 of its free throws in overtime, paving the way for a 67-59 win over host Kenston.
North (16-3, 12-0) clinched at least a share of the Western Reserve Conference title.
If the Rangers defeat either South or Riverside — their remaining two WRC games, the title is theirs alone.
“We know this does it,” Force said. “But at the same time, we have seven seniors in there, and I don’t think they want to share it with anyone.”
North’s free throw shooting was the difference in the game, as the Rangers cashed in on 21 of 26 free throws. The final eight points of overtime all came from the charity stripe.
Sophomore Destiny Leo, who 11 of her game-high 26 points from the free throw line, said the team shoots 100 free throws per day in practice.
The way the Rangers shot them against Kenston, that was evident.
“Incredible,” Force said. “Every day in practice, we literally talk about fourth quarter free throws, the daggers down the stretch and how they can win or lose games.”
North looked extremely dangerous of losing the game in regulation. When Corenna Maynard made two free throws late in the first half, Kenston held a 36-21 halftime advantage. The Bombers had a double-figure lead from the 6-minute, 13-second mark of the first quarter until Samantha Pirosko hit layup at the buzzer of the third quarter that cut Kenston’s lead to 45-37.
North needed an 8-0 run to end regulation just to get to overtime. Anaunda Lyons recorded a putback, then split two free throws. Leo hit a shot, then Taylor Valaitis drained a 3 to turn a 52-44 deficit into a tie game.
When Kenston’s Kate Taylor hit two free throws with 1:40 left in overtime, it was a 59-59 game. But Kenston never scored again.
Twice Leo hit two free throws, sandwiched around a pair of charity shots by Lyons.
Val Arnold then added a pair of exclamation points from the line with 6.4 ticks left.
“We work on free throws every day,” said Lyons, whose two free throws made North’s lead insurmountable. “When I go to the line, al I think about is winning the game for my girls.”
A dejected Kenston coach John Misenko sat quietly on his team’s bench after the gym and cleared out. The loss to North — Kenston’s first home loss of the season — pretty much took any chance his team had of winning a league title out of play.
“I don’t want to give an honest answer because I don’t want to get in trouble,” Misenko said of the 15 second-half fouls his team was whistled for, compared to four against North.
“They’re really good. They were in first place and have been battle-tested all year. They found a way to come back. We had a 15-point lead? 17 points?”
Kenston was led by Corenna Maynard’s 17 points. Julie Hajdu was next with 12.
“I think we played really hard,” said Misenko, who played without forward Rayonna Patterson (knee injury). “We gave North everything they wanted. They found a way to win. Congratulations to them. They’ll win the WRC.”
Aside from Leo’s 26, North got 19 from Leo and nine each from Valaitis and Lyons.
“This felt great,” Leo said. “We knew they never lost here (this year) and it would be a tough battle.
“We want to get the next one on Senior Night against South so we don’t have to share the conference with anyone else.”
Don’t miss
>> Video: Interview with North’s Destiny Leo
>> Video: North’s Anaunda Lyons discusses free throws