D-III District Girls Basketball: Avon pulls off impressive comeback to earn finals spot

LAKEWOOD — It would have been nearly impossible for Avon to start its Division II district semifinal at Lakewood any worse than it did. But the final three quarters were a thing of beauty. The No. 19-seeded Eagles trailed by 14 after the first quarter Wednesday, but proceeded to hold the Rangers to 16 points over the final three quarters, pulling away for a 51-33 win over No. 11-seed Lakewood to earn a trip to the district finals. The Eagles will face No. 8-seeded Massillon in Saturday's district final at Medina. The Tigers defeated Akron Firestone 71-25 in their district semifinal. Sophomore Sophia Sharp made the only Avon (9-14) field goal of the opening quarter with 4:02 remaining. In the first period Avon was 1-of-11 shooting and turned the ball over 10 times but Eagles coach Adam Castrilla was confident his team was still in the game. "People might think I'm crazy but I did truly think we were still in the game," Castrilla said. "I thought we were still in good shape. It might have taken us a second too long to get our footing but the message was we don't have to get it all back at once." The low-water mark for the Eagles came with 7:17 remaining in the first half when Lakewood's Charleigh Doxley made a shot to put her team up 19-3. Less than a minute later senior forward Audrey Lammers made a pair of free throws for Avon and then Alaina Pagan got the Eagles offense in gear. Pagan scored six consecutive points for Avon, and what was a 16-point deficit earlier in the quarter was suddenly down to eight, 19-11. "In the second quarter we finally got our rotations and our press working, and we started forcing a lot of turnovers," Pagan said. "We knew (Doxley) was in foul trouble and we adjusted our offense to attack her because we knew she's one of their best ball handlers." Avon didn't exactly do itself any favors at the free-throw line, where it shot 6-for-15 (40 percent) in the first half, but it made dividends later on as Lakewood had multiple starters in four trouble by the third quarter. Doxley, who led the Rangers (14-9) with 12 points, fouled out with 7:37 left in the game. The Eagles cut their deficit to seven, 22-15, by halftime and started the third quarter on an 11-2 run to take their first lead of the game on a Abby Owens 3-pointer with 3:09 to play to in the period that gave them a 26-24 lead. Owens scored 11 of her game-high 16 points in the third quarter and made three 3-pointers in a span of four minutes. "The first half was kinda rough and I was getting down on myself because I couldn't finish or do anything with the ball," Owens said. "Going into halftime I knew I had to push through and settle down and that's when shots started falling." Avon put on a defensive clinic in the second half holding Lakewood to 11 points and 15 in the first 12 minutes of the half by which time the Eagles had completely turned the tables to lead by 16, 43-27. "We played unbelievable defense in the second half. Of course we got their guard in foul trouble early so that really helped," Castrilla said. "That allowed us to continue to press and forced them to have other kids try to step up and handle the ball a little bit more than what they're used to." The Eagles defense forced 35 Lakewood turnovers. Contact Todd Shapiro at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Avon 51, Lakewood 33 AVON (51): Audrey Lammers 0-4-4, Sophia Sharp 2-0-5, Janelle Antrum 0-3-3, Alaina Pagan 4-3-12, Ava Mitchell 1-0-2, Chloe Collins 2-5-9, Abigail Owens 6-1-16. Totals 15-16-51 LAKEWOOD (33): Olivia Andregg 1-1-3, Maeve Andrews 0-1-1, Charleigh Doxley 5-0-12, Chloe Carroll 1-1-3, Chelsea Payne 1-1-3, Ari Hueter 5-1-11. Totals 13-5-33 Avon 3 12 16 22 — 51Lakewood 17 5 3 8 — 33 Three-point goals: Avon (Owens 3, Antrum, Pagan), Lakewood (Doxley 2) Field goals: Avon 15-44 (34 percent), Lakewood 13-44 (30 percent). Free throws: Avon 16-28 (57 percent), Lakewood 5-11 (645 percent). Rebounds: Avon 23, Lakewood 37. Turnovers: Avon 18, Lakewood 35. Team Fouls: Avon 15, Lakewood 20. Fouled out: Doxley, Hueter