Girls Basketball: Midview can't keep up with Olmsted Falls

EATON TWP. — High school conference rivalries can be a fantastic thing. They can be just as difficult when a team is consistently on the wrong end of the matchup. Olmsted Falls continued its dominance of Midview on Wednesday night with a 59-24 victory. It was the Bulldogs' 20th straight over the Middies since Midview joined the Southwestern Conference in 2015. Olmsted Falls is 2-0, 1-0 in the SWC. The Bulldogs have won 20 straight in the SWC dating to the 2023-24 season. Midview is 1-1, 0-1. The problem for Midview is that Olmsted Falls is very talented year-in, year-out. The Bulldogs have won outright or shared conference titles for the last seven years. Olmsted Falls was the 2024 Division II state champion and a 2025 Division II state semifinalist. Senior guard Hunter Crum led Midview with eight points. The rest of the Middies combined for 16. Midview didn't score until 7:35 left in the second quarter on Crum's basket after Olmsted Falls jumped out to a 15-0 lead. It was 31-9 at halftime. It was that kind of night. "It's a growing experience for sure," said Crum. "We know we can do better, especially on the offensive end. Defense we did OK. We need to find Leah (DiFranco). She's such a key part of our team. They know how to double-team or they know how to lock her up. So just being there to help her. "Leah's the heart and soul of our team, especially our offense. So when she's down it's hard for us to score at all. But just if everyone starts scoring, then she can start scoring and things can start rolling for us." Olmsted Falls has traditionally won big in this matchup. "Our mentality has to change when we're preparing for certain games," said Midview coach Brittney McNamara-Cole. "You can be upset about the game but they are a very great team. So the outcome probably won't change no matter if we played our best game or not. They are a very, very great team and they're going to go back and win all the accolades that they should win. "But at the end of the day we didn't perform our best on offense. That was just because of our little mistakes, turning the ball over and not being strong enough. The ball just not going in for little bunnies. Just those things you have to take more focus on, take more pride in and work harder at it during the practices. So we'll take away that from that game and look forward to Friday when we play North Ridgeville." Olmsted Falls went 22-of-47 from the field for 47 percent. That included seven 3-pointers. Midview managed only 9-of-25 from the floor for 36 percent and had only two 3-ponters, both by Crum. Turnovers especially hurt. Midview committed to 23 to 10 for Olmsted Falls. Junior Grace Largent led Olmsted Falls with 10 points while senior Avery DeLisio had nine. The Bulldogs bench was also much better, holding a 32-7 scoring edge. "We've practiced a lot," said Olmsted Falls coach Jordan Eaton. "We've only had two games, but there's been six-seven weeks of practice. I like that. They've worked very hard at practice to execute some things that we think are very important." Contact Paul Heyse at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Olmsted Falls 59, Midview 24 Olmsted Falls (59): Avery DeLisio 4-0-9, Jesse Simon 0-0-0, Emma Schaefer 2-2-6, Grace Largent 4-2-10, Addison Mullen 2-1-6, Reese Timura 1-0-3, Riley Bragg 3-1-9, Ella Meczka 0-1-1, Kayleigh Schaefer 2-0-4, Carli Nagy 3-0-8, Madilyn Frazier 0-1-1, Alexis Flowers 1-0-2. Totals 22-8-59. Midview (24): Leah DiFranco 1-0-2, Hunter Crum 3-0-8, Leila Morgan 1-0-2, Riley Frei 0-0-0, Audrey Gerber 2-1-5, Jacinta Miller 2-1-5, Hannah Bacskay 0-1-1, Maddie Babel 0-1-1. Totals 9-4-24. Olmsted Falls&emsp;15&emsp;16&emsp;18&emsp;10&emsp;—&emsp;59Midview&emsp;0&emsp;9&emsp;8&emsp;7&emsp;—&emsp;24 Three-point goals: Olmsted Falls (Bragg 2, Nagy 2, DeLisio, Timura, Mullen), Midview (Crum 2). Field goals: Olmsted Falls 22-47 (47 percent), Midview 9-25 (36 percent). Free throws: Olmsted Falls 8-14 (57 percent), Midview 4-7 (57 percent). Rebounds: Olmsted Falls 26, Midview 28. Turnovers: Olmsted Falls 10, Midview 23. Team fouls: Olmsted Falls 10, Midview 12.Junior varsity: Olmsted Falls, 45-19.