Girls basketball: Keystone survives and advances in Division V tournament

LAGRANGE — Rocky Houston focused on the final score after Saturday night's Division V tournament opener for Keystone. The sixth-seeded Wildcats lived to play another day with a 41-28 win over No. 20 Canton South, winners of four of its last five games coming it. It was anything but beautiful for Keystone (20-2), which didn't score a point in the third quarter, but thanks to a 19-4 first-quarter advantage and a 27-6 halftime bulge, things turned out OK. "When it's all said and done and you look at the paper, it's just going to show the score," said Houston. "We know what happened out here. We know we've got to get better, but everyone else just sees it's a win and you go onto the next round and that's what you've got to do." The next round is Tuesday at home against No. 16 Orrville (15-9), a 57-52 winner over No. 15 Garrettsville Garfield on Saturday. The big early lead may have been part of Keystone's problem against South (9-14). The Wildcats scored the first six points and led 13-2 with just over a minute left in the quarter. Canton South had turned it over nine times and made just one basket out of only five shot attempts, putting Keystone on the foul line 11 times in the quarter. "Part of it was," agreed Houston, "and part of it, we're so young. When you get down like that, what do you do? You have to amp the pressure up, speed the game up and our girls sped up with it. We were taking shots we didn't need to take. We missed some stuff we normally make." Keystone, with a starting lineup of two juniors, two sophomores and a freshman, and three more freshmen and two sophomores off the bench, led by 19 at half and perhaps thought the game was over. However, the third quarter became a nightmare. The Wildcats were 0-of-10 from the floor and missed both their free throw attempts, while committing seven turnovers. Luckily, Canton South didn't take advantage, scoring only eight points with eight turnovers. Sophomore Jayda Gaines was the biggest bright spot for Keystone. She scored 21 points, hauled in nine rebounds and made eight of her 11 field goal attempts, and five of her nine free throws. Junior Madyson Sokolowski was held to 10 points, hitting six of nine free throws but missing all of her 3-point attempts. She grabbed eight rebounds and handled the ball pretty well through the game. "I don't know why we slowed down," said Gaines. "It won't happen again. We're planning on not letting our foot off the gas the rest of the tournament." "Down the end, this is what these young girls need to experience," Houston said. "There is no such thing as an ugly win when you get in the tournament. Every win is a good win no matter how it happens." Contact Tim Gebhardt at 329-7135 or timothygeb@msn.com. Keystone 41, Canton South 28 CANTON SOUTH (28): Ainsley Horning 0-0-0, Ainiyah Hall 0-7-7, Amylah Hastings-Peterson 0-2-2, Ava Nolen 1-1-3, Claire Howard 2-0-4, Madison Gordon 2-0-5, Lily Noll 0-0-0, Annie Bourquin 0-0-0, Reagan McDonald 3-1-7, Savanna Rueschman 0-0-0. Totals 8-11-28. KEYSTONE (41) Jayda Gaines 8-5-21, Sophia Clarico 0-0-0, Kendal Crabeels 0-0-0, Kaitlyn Lamb 0-0-0, Madyson Sokolowski 2-6-10, Bella Deuley 1-0-2, McKinley Accavallo 2-0-4, Amy Armitage 1-0-2, Corinne Lamb 1-0-2, Makynzee Miller 0-0-0. Totals 15-11-41. Canton South 4 2 8 14 — 28 Keystone 19 8 0 14 — 41 Three-point goals: Canton South 1-6 (Gordon), Keystone 0-16. Field goals: Canton South 8-43 (18 percent), Keystone 15-43 (35 percent). Free throws: Canton South 11-18 (61 percent), Keystone 11-19 (58 percent). Rebounds: Canton South 34 (Hall, Howard 8), Keystone 35 (Gaines 9). Turnovers: Canton South 23, Keystone 16. Fouls: Canton South 18, Keystone 18.