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Clippers will clash with Blue Devils for third time

COLUMBIANA–Despite an 18-day gap between the regular season and the start of the tournament, the undefeated Columbiana girls basketball team wasn’t worried about losing its edge.

“We had a nice week off, then we came back and practiced really hard,” Columbiana junior Alexis Cross said. “We scrimmaged the Boardman boys and our freshman boys team, which really helped us. They’re way faster, which makes us play better.”

The top-seeded Clippers, who are ranked third in the state poll, looked sharp most of the way in dismantling 13th-seeded Campbell 85-21 in a Division III sectional final Saturday at Columbiana High School.

The Clippers move to 24-0 overall. They are rewarded with a district semifinal showdown against third-seeded Lisbon — which beat sixth-seeded South Range 65-63 Saturday — at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday at Struthers Fieldhouse.

The last Columbiana-Lisbon meeting produced an epic 98-97 double-overtime victory for the Clippers on January 30. Columbiana also beat Lisbon 68-62 on January 9.

The Clippers weren’t yet aware of the Lisbon-South Range result after their game, but they said they were simply looking forward to playing in the district round regardless of the opponent.

“It doesn’t really matter to us who we play,” Cross said. “Whether it’s Lisbon or South Range, I know we’re going to have to show up and play well either way.”

The Clippers’ defense overwhelmed the Red Devils right from the start, forcing nine turnovers in the first quarter and 17 in the first half.

Columbiana blew the game wide open by outscoring Campbell 30-0 in the second quarter to go into halftime up 47-4.

“We were really off-balance defensively in our sectional opener Wednesday against Liberty,” Columbiana coach Ron Moschella said. “But today we cleaned that up so I was really happy with that.”

Cross (23 points, four steals) and guard Kayla Muslovksi (23 points, five steals) each knocked down three three-pointers to lead the Columbiana attack. Mariah Rovnak added 15 points. The Clippers sank a total of nine three-pointers and came up with 25 steals.

“We can’t let up,” Cross said. “We know people are going to be coming after us because we’re the top seed and undefeated. We just have to keep working hard. It was good to see us lock things down today.”

It appears, however, that the Clippers will have to go the rest of the way without starting forward Kennedy Fullum, who Moschella said is out for the season with a cracked tibia. Fullum is the second Columbiana starter to be lost to injury after Taylor Hall suffered a torn ACL earlier in the season. Moschella said Fullum originally got hurt about a month ago, but the injury got worse since then.

“We’ve had some bad luck, but this team is resilient,” Moschella said. “Kennedy’s been like a coach now and she’s giving everyone a reason to play. I love to see that out of kids that are injured.”

In Fullum’s absence, Moschella said the Clippers will feature more of seniors Brittany Mook and Danielle Yanssens at the forward spot.

“They give us some power underneath the basket They’ve stepped up and given us another dimension,” Moschella said. “Yanssens can score pretty well under there, so we’re looking for a little bit of that. Obviously, our greatest asset is our guard play with Mariah (Rovnak) and (Kayla) Muslovski. They’re two great guards and they’ve come into their own.”

Game notes

• Presale tickets for Wednesday’s Columbiana-Lisbon district semifinal at Struthers Fieldhouse will be on sale during school hours Monday through Wednesday in the Columbiana athletic office. Tickets are $6 for adults and $4 for students. All tickets will be $6 at the gate. A portion of the presale proceeds go to Columbiana High School.

• Second-seeded Youngstown Ursuline will play fourth-seeded Youngstown Cardinal Mooney in the other district semifinal at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

• The 24 wins are a school record for the Columbiana girls basketball program.

“It’s a really special accomplishment for us,” Cross said. “It’s nice to be a part of something like that.”

•Moschella said he would like to find somebody to scrimmage between now and Wednesday, but as of right now didn’t have a specific team lined up.

“I would preferably like to scrimmage somebody on a long floor,” Moschella said.

CAMPBELL: 4-0-5-12–21

COLUMBIANA: 17-30-24-14–85

CAMPBELL SCORING: Jakaya Weaver 0-0-0, Jodie Johnson 2-0-4, Champagne Jones 1-0-2, Selena Lopez 2-0-4, Alana Rodriguez 1-0-3, Janna Jackson 0-0-0, Leila Kamal 0-0-0, Jamaeka Bunn 0-0-0, Beyonce Ogden 1-0-2, Azhalia Gilford 1-2-4, India Armour 1-0-2. TEAM TOTALS: 10, 2-6: 21.

COLUMBIANA SCORING: Kayla Muslovski 8-4-23, Tessa Liggett 2-1-6, Mariah Rovnak 3-8-15, Alexis Cross 6-8-23, Brittany Mook 1-1-3, Grace Hammond 0-1-1, Taylor Logan 0-0-0, Danielle Yanssens 1-3-5, Julia Hum 1-2-4, Karissa Tringhese 2-0-5. TEAM TOTALS: 24, 28-45: 85.

Three-point goals: Campbell 1 (Alana Rodriguez), Columbiana 9 (Muslovski 3, Cross 3, Liggett, Rovnak, Tringhese).

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