Minerva drops Beaver
CALCUTTA — The Minerva girls basketball team knows that if it wants to win a district title and more this season, its defense must step up to the plate every night.
The Lions lost their leading scorer in Bri Gassman in the last regular-season game. Gassman, averaging 14.8 points per game, tore her ACL. Head coach Heather Frigyes feels fortunate that her team had about two weeks off to move forward without her.
“Having two weeks off from that last game to the tournament was very beneficial because it gave the girls a chance to see how we would acclimate to not having her in the lineup,” Frigyes said.
Minerva struggled offensively in its Division II sectional final with Beaver Local Saturday night, but its defense made up for it during the 43-32 victory.
Although the Beavers (16-8) made mini runs in the second half, Minerva (13-10) essentially put the game away in the first. It allowed just 10 points while scoring 22. Beaver’s Jenna Riccardo and Madison Roberts were the only scorers (Riccardo had seven while Roberts scored three). The Lions used 1-3-1 and 2-3 zones to throw the Beavers off guard.
“We know that Beaver is a team that likes to run and score a lot of points in transition,” Frigyes said. “We’ve seen them play about five times this year, and not one of them ran zone. We decided to throw a couple of different zones against them to see how they would handle that. It obviously worked to our advantage tonight.”
The second biggest factor occurred at the foul line. Minerva made 18 free throws on 23 attempts while the Beavers went 9-of-17. The Lions are shooting 72 percent from the charity stripe this season.
The only lead Beaver held all night was when Riccardo made the first basket of the night. It later scored the final bucket of the first quarter, but the Lions went on an 11-0 scoring in the middle. The closest the Beavers came was within six with 54 seconds left in the game. The Lions ended on a 7-2 scoring run with all seven points coming from the foul line.
Although Beaver only allowed 43 points (22 in the first half), head coach Stephanie Coie was not pleased.
“We got lost in transition with our man, which we normally don’t do,” she said. “We got confused whenever we were subbing. We weren’t communicating, and we couldn’t’ hit the ocean if it was right in front of us offensively.”
Coie knew from the beginning Saturday would be a challenge. Junior point guard Kierra Taylor did not play due to a sprained right ankle she sustained against St. Clairsville on Wednesday. What Coie and the Beavers missed the most was her confidence in handling the ball.
Nelle Yankovich led the Lions with 11 points and six rebounds. Kayla Kinsey had six points and eight rebounds. Lauren Frigyes recorded eight points, while Madison Pearson added six (all from the free throw line) and six rebounds.
For the Beavers, Riccardo tallied 11 points and 12 boards. Roberts had 10 points and seven rebounds. The rest of the squad combined for 11 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
Minerva won its second straight sectional title Saturday and hopes to be back in the district final after falling last year. First, the eighth-seeded Lions will face fourth-seeded Maysville on Wednesday in a district semifinal. Maysville defeated Meadowbrook 74-27 Saturday.
Frigyes credits playing in the Northeastern Buckeye Conference for getting her team prepared for another postseason run.
“The NBC is a very competitive league,” she said. “You have teams like state-ranked West Branch and a Division I school in Louisville to contend with. On any given night any team can beat another, so it definitely helps prepare us for the postseason.”
MINERVA: 11-11-8-13–43
BEAVER: 4-6-9-13–32
MINERVA SCORING: Nelle Yankovich 2-7-11, Madison Pearson 0-6-6, Kayla Kinsey 3-0-6, Alivia Bates 2-1-6, Lauren Frigyes 2-4-8, Reiley Cowart 0-0-0, Nora Yankovich 3-0-6, Renee Hartong 0-0-0. TEAM TOTALS: 12, 18-23: 43.
BEAVER LOCAL SCORING: Madison Ours 2-2-7, Madison Roberts 3-4-10, Jenna Riccardo 5-1-11, Emily Beck 0-0-0, Lexi Merriman 0-2-2, Lexie Hilliard 0-0-0, Emily Monte 0-0-0, Madison Cline 1-0-2. TEAM TOTALS: 11, 9-17: 32.
Three-point goals: Minerva 1 (Bates), Beaver 1 (Ours).