Findlay’s Katie Thomas (14) drives to the basket against Toledo Notre Dame’s Olivia Sims during Monday’s Three Rivers Athletic Conference girls basketball game at Findlay High School. (Photo by Michael Burwell)
By DAVE HANNEMAN
STAFF WRITER
Findlay High School put a new name in the girls basketball record book on Monday.
But the name on the Three Rivers Athletic Conference trophy never changes.
Findlay’s Katie Thomas set a FHS single-season record for 3-point baskets in a season, finishing with five during a 19-point night. But Toledo Notre Dame withstood the barrage, blew the game wide open with a 34-9 run spanning the first, second and third quarters, and claimed at least a share of its eighth straight TRAC title with a 55-31 win over the Trojans.
“Something we talk about — a lot — is that we’re going to get every other team’s best shot,” said Travis Galloway, Notre Dame’s 10th-year head coach who achieved his 200th career win two games ago. “Everybody wants to be that team that knocks us off, but I think that helps us dial in a little bit, especially on the road.”
Notre Dame, which has made five state Final Four appearances in the last seven years, improved to 12-0 in league play and ran its TRAC winning streak to 29 straight. With two league games left, the Eagles, 16-4 overall, have a two-game lead on Toledo Central Catholic (16-3, 10-2 TRAC) which beat Toledo Whitmer in overtime on Monday.
Findlay, beaten 55-18 by Notre Dame in an earlier legaue matchup in Toledo, started well and finished strong. But Notre Dame owned the middle two periods. Olivia Sims ended the first quarter with a 3-pointer and Jala Johnson opened the second quarter with another, igniting a game-turning spree by the Eagles.
Findlay trailed just 8-7 after Brittney Haas converted an offensive rebound, but Notre Dame used explosive runs of 12-0 and 14-2 to break it open. With Findlay playing a 2-1-2 zone to keep Ariel Cummings, a 6-foot-3 University of Toledo signee, from dominating inside, Johnson connected on three 3-pointers and Ashley Barron (7-8 from the line) drew fouls with her drives to the basket to ignite the offense.
“I thought our possessions, for the most part, had a great rhythm and flow,” Galloway said. “I thought our ball movement was very good, we did a good job of sharing the ball and because of that we got good looks.”
Johnson led Notre Dame with 15 points. Barron added 11 points and Krystin Hibbert came off the bench top score nine. Cummings was held to eight points, but did grab 12 rebounds and was a menacing force defensively as the point of Notre Dame’s three-quarter court press.
“Putting her out front in our press, that’s something we haven’t done before,” Galloway said. “Sometimes she’s like a baby giraffe out there, but she’s definitely a presence. At 6-3, she’s pretty athletic and active.”
Notre Dame did much of its damage, though, when Cummings was on the bench and Galloway went to a smaller, quicker lineup in an effort to speed up the game. In many ways it worked, with Findlay committing 15 of its 22 total turnovers in the second and third quarters. Notre Dame outscored Findlay 25-9 in those two periods to offset a slow start against Findlay’s defense.
“In the first half, I thought we frustrated them on the defensive end,” said Findlay High coach Chris Ireland. “They didn’t do what they wanted to do. They were missing shots. They had a hard time scoring against us in the half-court.
“But we couldn’t get anything going offensively to get close enough to make them worry a little bit. We had some opportunities, but we just did not make many shots (4-16 the first half). We need to slow down a little bit, assess things and be more efficient on the offensive end.”
Thomas entered the game with 47 3-pointers, the same number Danielle Salisbury knocked down during the 2010-11 season. Thomas broke that record with her first basket of the night, then pumped in four more 3’s before the nigh was over.
“I was always in the gym, at least five times a week, to shoot and work on my range” said Thomas, a 5-10 junior. “Getting the record feels pretty good. I think it shows that hard work in the summer does pay off.”
Thomas hit three 3-pointers, Emily Heiman nailed another and freshman Kaylee Brodine scored a basket and grabbed four of her team-high six rebounds in the fourth quarter, when Findlay and Notre Dame battled to a 15-15 draw.
Despite the loss to one of Ohio’s premier teams, it was a promising finish in Ireland’s eyes.
“The girls have been playing hard. We’re making steps in the right direction,” Ireland said.
“We have to figure some things out on the offensive end, become more efficient on that end of the floor. I think if we can do that we will be a hard out for teams to beat.”
TOLEDO NOTRE DAME (16-4, 12-0 TRAC)
Kizer 1-3 0-0 2, Barron 2-4 7-8 11, West 1-4 0-0 2, J. Johnson 6-15 0-1 15, Cummings 4-8 0-0 8, Sims 2-4 1-2 6, Hibbert 4-8 0-0 9, Bennett 0-1 0-0 0, Dzotsi 0-0 0-0 0, Spackey 1-1 0-1 2, Miller 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 21-47 8-12–55.
FINDLAY (8-11, 5-7 TRAC)
Thomas 6-14 2-2 19, Heiman 1-4 0-0 3, Haas 2-7 0-0 4, Holliday 0-4 0-0 0, Laube 1-2 0-0 2, Puchta 0-5 0-0 0, Hemderson 0-1 1-2 1, Brodine 1-2 0-0 2. TOTALS: 11-39 3-4–31.
Toledo Notre Dame 15 13 12 15 — 55
Findlay 7 4 5 15 — 31
3-Point GOALS: Toledo Notre Dame 5-17 (Sims 1-1, Hibbert 1-4, Bennett 0-1, Barron 0-2, West 0-1, Johnson 3-7, Miller 0-1); Findlay 6-18 (Thomas 5-8, Heiman 1-2, Haas 0-3, Holliday 0-2, Puchta 0-3).
rebounds: Toledo Notre Dame 35 (Cummings 12, Kizer 7); Findlay 25 (Brodine 6, Haas 5).
turnovers: Toledo Notre Dame 15, Findlay 22.
junior varsity: Toledo Notre Dame, 75-30.
Hanneman, 419-427-8408
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