Girls district basketball: Madyson Sokolowski has big day but Keystone falls in final

WELLINGTON — Madyson Sokolowski's historic day for Keystone wasn't enough for the sixth-seeded Wildcats in the Division V district championship game at Wellington High School on Saturday afternoon. The Wildcats never led, falling to No. 11-seeded Wooster Triway, 54-40. Triway improved to 19-6 and will face Norwayne at Elyria Catholic High School on Tuesday after it defeated Lake Catholic 65-37 in the first game at Wellington. Sokolowski kept the Wildcats within striking distance, scoring 27 points to give her 612 points this year. The total broke the single-season scoring record held by McKenna Peters. "I had no idea that I was close to breaking the record, coach (Rocky Houston) never told me," said Sokolowski, who finished the day with seven 3-pointers against multiple defenders. "It was all about moving without the ball and setting screens for my teammates and them working with me to try and get me open." Keystone got a taste of what was to come in the opening minutes as Sydney Frank drained a 3-pointer and 5-foot-1 senior guard Payton Snyder nailed her first two shots from behind the arc. Syder was just getting started as she finished tied with Sokolowski with 27 points while hitting a career-high eight 3-pointers for Triway. The Titans maintained their lead going into the second period, but Sokolowski scored the first 14 points of the quarter for the Wildcats and they trailed 18-14 midway through the period. Jayda Gaines broke through for Keystone with a layin and after a late Sokolowski three, the Wildcats (21-5) only trailed 25-19 at the half. Thoughts of a district championship for Keystone disappeared in the third quarter when the Titans went 7-for-11 (64 percent) on 3-pointers with Snyder knocking down five of them to go with a pair from Frank, who finished with 12 points. "We knew we had to come out hard in the second half because we knew they could come back on us with Sokolowski," Snyder said. "I knew I had to come out and score and make plays for our team in the third." While Triway was knocking down shots, the Titans held Sokolowski to just two points on only three shots as the Wildcats fell behind 49-29. "We've watched Keystone a lot and we knew (Sokolowski) could score," Triway coach Mike Miller said. "We switched things up a little bit in the second half, swarming to the ball, trying to get it out of her hands, and it worked well for us." The Titans only scored five points in the final eight minutes, but that was by design as they spread the floor to kill time. Sokolowski added another eight points in the fourth. "They started making threes. I called one timeout. I called a second timeout. Iit just didn't matter. We couldn't stop that momentum when they got it," Keystone coach Houston said of the third quarter. "We worked on some of the other girls to take more shots, a few went in, but not enough. "We had six girls without any varsity experience going into this year. You aren't supposed to win 21 games and you aren't supposed to be in a district final. These young ladies, under the leadership of Maddie, were competitors to the very end." Contact James Brady at jbrady_ct@yahoo.com. TRIWAY 54, KEYSTONE 40 TRIWAY (54): Payton Snyder 8-3-27, Brookelynn Lowe 0-2-2, Sydney Frank 4-1-12, Alayna Perman 1-0-3, Zoey Baker 2-3-7, Kenasyn Garrison 0-3-3, Haily Browning 0-0-0. Totals 15-12-54. KEYSTONE (40): Jayda Gaines 1-0-2, McKinley Accavallo 1-0-2, Sophia Clarico 0-0-0, Kendal Crabeels 2-0-5, Corrine Lamb 0-0-0, Kaitlyn Lamb 2-0-4, Madyson Sokolowski 9-2-27. Totals 15-2-40. Triway 14 11 24 5 - 54 Keystone 8 11 10 11 - 40 Three-point goals: Triway 12-23 (52 percent, Snyder 8, Frank 3, Perman), Keystone 8-20 (40 percent, Sokolowski 7, Crabeels). Field goals: Triway 15-35 (43 percent); Keystone 15-42 (36 percent). Free throws: Triway 12-18 (67 percent); Keystone 2-2 (100 percent). Rebounds: Triway 22, Keystone 32 Turnovers: Triway 6, Keystone 10