Sectional Girls Basketball: Columbia settles in, cruises to opening win

COLUMBIA STATION — It took about a quarter for Columbia to knock off the rust and get rid of the jitters Thursday night. But once they did, the Raiders put on a clinic in a 58-29 win over Medina Christian Academy in a Division VI tournament opener. Tenth-seeded Columbia (16-7) led by just five after the first quarter, some of the struggle from not playing since Feb. 4 and then some from the nerves of tournament time. But once the Raiders shook it off, they were off to the races with a 20-3 second quarter and then the first 15 points of the third to turn what had been a 15-10 advantage into a 50-13 lead over the 31st-seeded Knights (5-10) late in the third quarter. "We haven't played in like two weeks, we haven't had a game," said Columbia sophomore Natalie Miller, who led all scorers with 24 points while grabbing a team-high 11 rebounds and dishing out a game-high five assists. "I think it was kind of just like shaking off the rust and not having a game for a little while. And I think we thought, OK, we came out kind of slow. We need to ramp this up and play our game second and third quarter." That was also the message from coach Faith Williams after the first eight minutes. "She pulls aside obviously and says (we) need to lock in on defense, need to stay on our man, talk and play as a team, stay together," Miller said. "I think we all listened really well and pulled it together." With the defense ramped up a notch or two, the Raiders were able to get out in the open floor and get easy baskets while also distributing the ball well in the half court, always making the extra pass to find the open shooter. "We started getting into the groove," said senior Alyssa Goebel, who had 14 points. "We started finding the gaps, finding the passes, shooting good, finding the extra person." After a first quarter in which the Raiders at times had thoughts of how this is tournament basketball and any game could be the last, a message from their coach got them to settle in and play. "I told the girls we just need to embrace this pressure, because you'll never get any of these games back," Williams said. "And I feel like they did just that in the second, third and fourth quarter. They really had fun with it. I love to see them playing really hard and smiling, and that's what it turned into tonight." One thing the Raiders were able to do in the second half was make sure that everyone in uniform — all 14 who were healthy — got on the floor and got postseason minutes in front of a home crowd. "Everybody that could play tonight played," Williams said. "That's something that we really pride ourselves in, because we want everybody to have an opportunity, and especially in the first round, in our last game on our home floor for this season. It was really special to get everybody on the floor." The starters enjoyed watching the rest of their teammates get a little bit of run in the final minutes. "It feels good to know that we have (other) players and we can put them in and we can stay comfortable (in the lead)," Goebel said. "It feels nice." The postseason journey heads on the road for Columbia, which will travel to play undefeated and No. 5 seed Salineville Southern (23-0) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the district semifinals. "We're really excited, I think we can go really far," Miller said. "I think we have to be on our A-game, obviously, but we need to just lock in and obviously do good at practice. But I think we're excited." Columbia 58, Medina Christian 29 MEDINA CHRISTIAN (29): Aaliyah Rauckhorst 0-0-0, Ansley Wood 0-0-0, Ann Sems 5-0-10, Deanna Pace 1-0-2, Grace Workman 4-4-13, Leah Stroup 2-0-4. Totals 12-4-29. COLUMBIA (58): Alyssa Goebel 6-0-14, Natalie Miller 10-3-24, Lexi Miller 1-0-2, Bella Herhuth 0-0-0, Kenzie Shackelton 2-0-5, Allison Boardman 3-0-7 , Abby Elgin 0-0-0, Bernadette Beach 1-0-2, Ira Lavinder 2-0-4, Morgan Andrews 0-0-0, Honey Wilson 0-0-0, Addy Roberts 0-0-0, Brooke Miller 0-0-0, Brianna McTigue 0-0-0. Totals 25-3-58. Medina Christian&emsp;10&emsp;3&emsp;6&emsp;10&emsp;—&emsp;29 Columbia&emsp;15&emsp;20&emsp;15&emsp;8&emsp;—&emsp;58 Three-point goals: Workman, Goebel 2, N. Miller, Shackelton, Boardman. Rebounds: Medina Christian 28 (Workman 12), Columbia 34 (N. Miller 11). Assists: Medina Christian 3 (Sems 2), Columbia 15 (N. Miller 5).