Girls Basketball: Star-studded North Ridgeville gets past Midview

NORTH RIDGEVILLE — The only place you can find more stars than in the North Ridgeville starting lineup is the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The Rangers had four players in double figures Friday, led by Lauryn Bohannon with 20 points, and they held on for a hard-fought 58-56 Southwestern Conference win over Midview at the North Ridgeville Academic Center. "It's hard for a team to guard four people," Rangers junior guard Brooke Schroeder said. "It's good to have a team where if one person isn't hitting you get it in the post to Lauryn. If Lauryn's not hitting, you get it out to Reyna (Balderas)." While Bohannon did the most damage, it was Schroeder who made the biggest shot with a 3-pointer that gave North Ridgeville a 55-54 lead with 2:04 to play. "We had to slow down and get a good possession off," Schroeder said. "They just came off of scoring on the other end and I knew as a leader I had to step up and take a good shot." Schroeder finished with 12 points as North Ridgeville improved to 5-0 and 2-0 in the SWC. After trailing by as many as eight early in the second quarter, Midview (1-2, 0-2) kept battling back. The Middies tied the game at 27 with 6:53 to go in the third quarter when Audrey Gerber made a pair of free throws. Their first lead since the first quarter came three minutes later when Hunter Crum hit a 3-pointer to go up 35-33. Midview extended its lead to as many as four, 52-48, with 3:45 to play in the game, but North Ridgeville outscored the Middies 10-4 down the stretch. "We battled and played hard-nosed defense," Midview coach Brittney McNamara-Cole said. "It's nice early in the season to get a battle like this under our belt. We found our confidence in the second half. We showed we can play at a high level and we can compete with this kind of team." Middies senior Leah DiFranco was the game's leading scorer with 23 points, 15 of which came in the second half. Gerber finished with 12 points. Midview raced out to an 8-3 lead and was frustrating North Ridgeville with its defensive intensity until Balderas made three 3-point field goals in a span of 88 seconds to turn the deficit into a 12-8 lead. "Reyna embraces the role of coming in and getting us quick points," North Ridgeville coach Amy Esser said. "Every single game she becomes that scoring threat that we need and she's come up big the last two games for us." Balderas, who finished with 12 points, has 13 3-pointers this season. Sophomore Adri Spyres, whose basket with 2:23 to play tied the game at 52, was the fourth Ranger is double figures with 11. "A win like this inspires us to keep going and push even harder," said Bohannon, who had a double-double with 15 rebounds. "We did the little things to get the win, getting to the free throw line, we were getting rebounds. Those are the things that win games." Bohannon had 10 of those rebounds in the second half. "Lauryn is so hard on herself," Esser said. "She wants to be perfect. When she misses a shot she gets down so we have to keep getting her the ball to keep her confidence up. She has the ability to be a double-double machine." Four of North Ridgeviile's five wins have been by eight or fewer points. In three of those games the Rangers trailed at some point in the fourth quarter. "The last couple of games we've faced a lot of in-game adversity where we had to make adjustments and we've had to fix mistakes and we've been able to do that," Esser said. "I can't say enough about Brooke Schroeder in the fourth quarter, you want the ball in her hands." Contact Todd Shapiro at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. North Ridgeville 58, Midview 56 Midview (56): Leah DiFranco 8-5-23, Hunter Crum 3-0-7, Leila Morgan 3-2-8, Harlee Crum 1-1-3, Jacinta Miller 1-0-2, Audrey Gerber 4-5-13. Totals 20-13-56. North Ridgeville (58): Brooke Schroeder 4-3-12, Mary Strippy 0-1-1, Adri Spyres 5-1-11, Reyna Balderas 4-1-12, Lauryn Bohannon 6-8-20, Riley Marlow 1-0-2. Totals 20-14-58. Midview&emsp;8&emsp;14&emsp;19&emsp;15&emsp;—&emsp;56 North Ridgeville&emsp;14&emsp;11&emsp;18&emsp;15&emsp;—&emsp;58 Three-point goals: Midview (DiFranco 2, Hu. Crum), North Ridgeville (Balderas 3, Schroeder). Field goals: Midview 20-49 (41 percent), North Ridgeville 20-58 (34 percent). Free throws: Midview 13-19 (68 percent), North Ridgeville 14-19 (74 percent). Rebounds: Midview 35, North Ridgeville 38. Turnovers: Midview 20, North Ridgeville 16. Team fouls: Midview 19, North Ridgeville 17. Junior varsity: North Ridgeville, 30-25.