Girls Sectional Basketball: Grace Kingery helps North Ridgeville knock off Amherst

NORTH RIDGEVILLE — When Amherst made its run, North Ridgeville turned to its go-to player. Grace Kingery drained back-to-back threes, one of which was well behind the 3-point line, to push the Rangers' lead back to 11 points and the Rangers never let the Comets get close again in a 43-24 win in a Division I sectional final Thursday evening. "We needed to close the game," said Kingery, who led North Ridgeville with 19 points, six rebounds and one block. "My teammates got me involved and that's what I needed to do. Once we got all our nerves out, we really focused in and then we hit our shots." The Rangers (17-6) — seeded fourth — will have to wait a few days to find out whom they'll be facing in the Elyria Catholic district semifinal Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. The game between No. 2 seed Highland and No. 25 Avon Lake was postponed until Saturday at 1 p.m. No. 23 Amherst finished its season at 6-16. The Rangers are making their third straight trip to the district semifinals after ending a 38-year drought in 2020. "It means a lot, but we have bigger goals," coach Amy Esser said. "This is a great win for us, but it's not as exciting as it's been in the past because we have such bigger goals for our program. They've put forth the effort throughout the season and the offseason for some bigger things." Despite the lopsided margin, Amherst played solid defense against the Rangers, particularly in the first half when it led three times, including 9-8 with 5:22 left in the second quarter. But offense was hard to come by for the Comets, and North Ridgeville's Daylan Baker was a big reason. She forced six steals and helped the Rangers hold Amherst to 20 percent shooting, including just 3-of-20 on 3-pointers. Kingery and Baker combined for 10 unanswered points to close the second quarter up 18-10. "With defense comes great offense," said Baker, who finished with 13 points and four rebounds. "As long as we keep the defensive side up, we get those steals, we get the momentum, we get those transition points. That's really how we play, we play up-in-your-face defense. We're really quick and if we can get those steals it's like another two points for us." The Rangers kept an eight-point lead until the 2:35 mark of the third when Amherst got a 3-pointer from Natalie Pleban and then three unanswered from Kristen Kelley to cut the North Ridgeville lead to 24-19. Once again, the Rangers turned to Kingery, who drained a three from the right wing and on the next possession fired one from the volleyball lines. Baker immediately came up with a steal and took it halfway down the court for a layup, capping the quarter on an 8-0 run. North Ridgeville allowed only five points the rest of the way. "You hold Ridgeville to 40 and you've got a good chance to win," Amherst coach John Rositano said. "It's been our struggle all year, we go on these stretches like in the second quarter where we don't score. They go on a run and popped the score open before halftime. We just have a hard time scoring. I thought we had a great game plan and our girls followed it, but we put too much stress on other parts of our game because we just don't score enough." Contact Chris Sweeney at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on Twitter. North Ridgeville 43, Amherst 24 AMHERST (24): Kayla Ferancy 1-0-2, Natalie Pleban 2-0-6, Ava Darmos 0-2-2, Kristen Kelley 3-3-9, Jayla Cruz 1-0-3, Peyton Roberts 0-0-0, Bradyn Silvasy 1-0-2, Roxy Trunzo 0-0-0, Kylie Kimmich 0-0-0, Abigail Bertke 0-0-0. Totals 8-5-24. NORTH RIDGEVILLE (43): Daylan Baker 5-3-13, Kat Crevda 4-0-8, Grace Kingery 7-1-19, Laney Rumancik 1-0-3, Payton Palcisko 0-0-0, Brooke Lime 0-0-0, Brynnley Kerr 0-0-0, Taylor Traut 0-0-0, Abby Viancourt 0-0-0, Maddie Eldridge 0-0-0, Kailey Schulz 0-0-0. Totals 17-4-43. Amherst&emsp;&emsp;5&emsp;&emsp;5&emsp;&emsp;9&emsp;&emsp;5&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;24North Ridgeville&emsp;&emsp;6&emsp;&emsp;12&emsp;&emsp;14&emsp;&emsp;11&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;43 Three-point goals: Amherst 3-20 (Pleban 2, Cruz), North Ridgeville 5-14 (Kingery 4, Rumancik). Field goals: Amherst 8-41 (20 percent), North Ridgeville 17-42 (41 percent). Free throws: Amherst 5-10 (50 percent), North Ridgeville 4-8 (50 percent). Rebounds: Amherst 25 (Kelley 8), North Ridgeville 23 (Kingery 6). Total fouls: Amherst 12, North Ridgeville 10. Fouled out: Cruz. Turnovers: Amherst 15, North Ridgeville 8.