Girls State Basketball: Midview shares tough job of trying to slow down Texas A&M commit Sole Williams

DAYTON — Sole Williams is a handful for any one player, so Midview divided the assignment between two capable defenders. Grace Seymour took on the Texas A&M commit in the first half, and Erica Baldoza switched onto her in the second. The duo did a good job of keeping her contained overall, save for a key stretch in the second half where she shook loose to help Cincinnati Princeton to a 61-57 win in the Division I state semifinals Friday evening. "Hearing she's committed to Texas A&M is really intimidating," Seymour said. "She's a really good player, so I knew I had to contain her as best I could. It's nice having Erica because she's awesome on defense. She gets up in your face, everything. Having her really helped me get a break and do what I need to do on offense." Williams — who was named 2022-23 Gatorade Ohio Girls Basketball Player of the Year — led the Greater Miami Conference with 20.5 points per game, was second in field goal percentage at 52.5 percent and ranked fourth in the league with 3.1 assists. The senior point guard shot 2-of-11 through two quarters with just five points thanks primarily to Seymour, whom Midview trusted to guard her primarily one-on-one. The Middies elected to use Seymour and Baldoza in tandem on Williams in the first half, with Baldoza drawing the assignment only when Seymour was on the bench. "They did everything they could," Midview coach Brittney McNamara said. "They left it all out there on the court and I couldn't be more proud of them. Sole is a huge talent, arguably Ms. Basketball in Ohio, just for them to be able to play toe-to-toe with her was huge for us tonight." Williams, however, opened the second half with a jumper and followed with a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer within the first two minutes of the third quarter — scoring the Vikings' first seven points. "It definitely gave me some encouraging motivation," said Williams, who finished with 19 points, six assists and six rebounds. "Just keep doing what I can do, get my teammates involved and do what I can do to find some rhythm. First half I was taking a lot of shots, once shots started falling, I started getting my rhythm." After Williams' mini-run, Midview switched Baldoza onto her for the duration of the quarter. While Williams only scored two more field goals the rest of the way, Mari Gerton took advantage of the attention as she dropped 15 of her team-high 25 points in the fourth quarter, including seven of her nine free throw attempts. It also didn't help that Midview's 6-foot-5 defensive anchor, Mary Meng, picked up her fourth foul in the final minute of the third quarter, which allowed Princeton to take advantage of her absence in the first minute of the fourth quarter. "You have to stay on your toes and be ready for her to go either way," Baldoza said. "She's very skilled at taking the three far out, so you can't give her space. Guarding a player like her is very physically demanding. My main thing is defense, so when I was put on her full time it was just a rotation so Grace can save her energy for offense. I put all my energy toward her and slowed her down as much as I could." Contact Chris Sweeney at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on Twitter.