Girls basketball: Keystone shuts down Firelands in fourth quarter to force Falcons to share Lorain County League title

HENRIETTA TWP. — Keystone walked into Firelands High School on Thursday night with the attitude that it had nothing to lose. It walked out with a share of the Lorain County League championship. Delaney Peters scored a game-high 21 points and the Keystone defense held Firelands to four fourth-quarter points in 51-41 win. "Before the game we told the girls they're playing with house money tonight," Wildcats coach Rocky Houston said. "No one expected us to be in this game. Everyone had Firelands and Columbia playing for the conference championship. We knew we were young but we knew we could play the game." The teams spent the first three quarters exchanging the lead. The game was tied at 37 after three quarters just like it was tied after the first and second quarters. When the game was on the line, Keystone (16-4, 12-2 LCL) found another gear on defense and held the Falcons to two free throws for the first 7:38 of the final period until Riyley Etherton scored a basket with 22 second left in the game. "We talked at halftime about how the game was going to come down to which team did their job the best in the fourth quarter," Houston said. Jessica Forthofer scored a basket with six minutes remaining to give the Wildcats a 39-37 lead. Midway through the fourth quarter, Keystone had its first two-possession lead of the night after a 3-pointer from Helayna Houston made it 42-38. The Wildcats pulled away from there."We weren't even expected to be here so it feels amazing to come out on top," Peters said. "The fourth quarter was very stressful for all of us. As the start of the season we were at the bottom and no one even thought of us but we worked hard. We were in the gym every day, even most Sundays, and it paid off." Peters had five 3-pointers to give her 58 this season. Three of those threes came in a two-minute span late in the second quarter. The win earned Keystone a league title for the first time since 2017 when the Wildcats won the Patriot Athletic Conference Stars Division with a team led by Delaney's sister McKenah, who went on to win Miss Basketball that year. Firelands (16-6, 12-2) had already clinched a share of the LCL title, its third in a row, Saturday at Black River. Abbey Schmitz and Bella Simmons led the Falcons with 11 points each. Schmitz scored her points despite spending most of the night in foul trouble after picking up her third foul early in the second quarter. "It was a very good game," Falcons coach Dave Kudela said. "It was a game of runs and give them credit, they made some shots and got some rebounds in the fourth quarter and we didn't. That was the big difference in the last five or six minutes." It was a career night for Keystone freshman Brooklyn Barber, who had 16 points, including three 3-pointers. She also went 5-for-6 from the free throw line. She came into the game averaging only 7.3 points per game. "I'm pretty proud. It's really cool to have your biggest game of the year in a game like this," Barber said. "I was really nervous, I think we all were. We wanted this so much and we went and got it. We got going in the fourth quarter and we just wanted to make sure we didn't fall apart."The best news for the Wildcats and their fans is all 51 points in Thursday's game were scored by underclassmen, so Keystone should be a force in the LCL for years to come.Contact Todd Shapiro at 329-7135 or ctpsorts@chroniclet.com. Keystone 51, Firelands 41 KEYSTONE (51): Delaney Peters 6-4-21, Helayna Houston 1-0-3, Brooklyn Barber 4-5-16, Lily Cassell 0-0-0, Jessica Forthofer 2-1-5, Vivian Cassell 3-0-6. Totals 16-10-51. FIRELANDS (41): Bella Simmons 5-1-11, Adrianna Buchanan 0-0-0, Hailey Urban 0-0-0, Abbey Schmitz 4-1-11, Riyley Etherton 2-0-4, Larren Rounds 4-0-8, Lauren Valerius 3-1-7. Totals 18-3-41. Keystone&emsp;&emsp;10&emsp;&emsp;11&emsp;&emsp;16&emsp;&emsp;14&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;51Firelands&emsp;&emsp;10&emsp;&emsp;11&emsp;&emsp;16&emsp;&emsp; 4&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;41 Three-point goals: Keystone (Peters 5, Barber 3, Hosuton), Firelands (Schmitz 2). Field goals: Keystone 16-48 (33 percent), Firelands 18-49 (44 percent). Free throws: Keystone 10-17 (60 percent), Firelands 3-5 (60 percent). Rebounds: Keystone 37, Firelands 29. Turnovers: Keystone 14, Firelands 19. Total fouls: Keystone 4, Firelands 16. Fouled out: Schmitz.