D-IV District Girls Basketball: Elyria Catholic relies on defense to knock off Northwest, win district title

NORTH RIDGEVILLE — Eric Rothgery has always hung his hat on defense when it comes to the Elyria Catholic program. The district final Saturday was a prime example. The Panthers held Canal Fulton Northwest to 27 percent shooting and just six points in the first quarter to set the stage for a 53-42 Division IV district championship. It marks the seventh district title in the Rothgery era. EC will play Laurel (18-4) on Wednesday at the Canton Memorial Fieldhouse. This title may turn out to be the most satisfying for Rothgery. "It was just really hard work the whole year to get to this point," he said. "Nothing was handed to these girls. We've got one senior, a young team. We started late this year — four of our players are volleyball kids. They're fun to be around in practice. They work hard. No grief. No drama. No egos. "This feels so much more rewarding seeing how hard they worked." If the school they beat Saturday sounds familiar to EC fans, it should. The Panthers softball team came from behind to win a district championship last spring against Northwest. In fact, the volleyball team won the district in the fall. Northwest came into the game with a 20-3 record. EC improved to 18-6. On closer inspection, the Panthers have won five of their last six while Northwest closed out the regular season with two straight losses. What did Rothgery feel coming into the game? "We watched a lot (of film)," he said. "We picked (the bracket) because it was at North Ridgeville but we knew Northwest had two really tough games at the end of the season. They were 19-1 at the draw. "People thought we were crazy jumping on a 19-1 team, but I never think of it like that. We just looked at a lot of their games and people who didn't try to junk it up (defensively), just played good, solid man defense and force them to do things they didn't want to do." It was tied at 17 going into the second half and EC led only 30-28 entering the final quarter, but the Panthers ran off six unanswered points to start the fourth. And although Northwest continued to battle, EC never lost the lead. The EC scoring, as it's been all year, was balanced. Five girls finished with eight or more points and let's not forget Alena Bray's 3-pointer that put the Panthers in front 47-36 with just over two minutes to play. "I told her 'you made me look like a smart coach, throwing you in there,'" Rothgery said with a smile. "She's a nice shooter and she got that ball over and I was right behind her. I said 'shoot, shoot' and I could just tell she wanted to make that." "I was really scared," Bray said. "If I didn't make that, I'd have been pretty upset but fumbling it, too, it freaked me out." And don't forget 5-foot-11 sophomore Ari Dimacchia's contributions. All she did was lead the scoring with 14 points — all coming in the second half — and pull down 16 rebounds, a category EC dominated 44-31. Dimacchia's three straight layups in the final minute salted away the victory. The first came on a long lob pass from Juliana Cerny from the opposite baseline to beat the defense to give EC a 47-41 lead with 57 seconds to play. After two free throws from Claire Petrus, Dimacchia stole a pass and drove in for an uncontested layup with 23 seconds left, then finished the scoring with another layup. "That's Ari," said Rothgery. "Ari's probably one of the best volleyball players to ever play at Elyria Catholic already as a sophomore. Unbelievable and she's still not 100 percent sure she's a good basketball player. She's so physically strong and fast and can jump." "I was just telling myself go up easy, be soft with it," Dimacchia said of her three huge baskets. "There was no one around." Sophia Niederst captured family bragging rights with the district title. She scored 10 points, played great on the defensive end and finished with eight rebounds. Gabby Rodriguez, the lone senior on the squad, finished with nine as did Cerny. Petrus added eight, including a pair of free throws out of four attempts in the final minute after missing her first five. She also had four rebounds. "It feels amazing," said Niederst. "We've been working toward this all season. To win a district championship — that was our No. 1 goal." Contact Tim Gebhardt at (440) 329-7135 or timothygeb@msn.com. Elyria Catholic 53, Canal Fulton Northwest 42 ELYRIA CATHOLIC (53): Gabby Rodriguez 3-2-9, Claire Petrus 3-2-8, Sophia Niederst 3-3-10, Ari Dimacchia 6-1-14, Juliana Cerny 2-3-9, Alena Bray 1-0-3, Riley Treadway 0-0-0. Totals 18-11-53. NORTHWEST (42): Alivia Greenfield 2-0-6, Alexandra Sharrer 5-2-13, Ashlyn Lazarus 2-1-6, Aubrey Meggyesy 1-0-2, Jessica Haney 2-3-7, Arley Roth 1-1-3, Mallory Echelberger 2-0-5, Adalle Horsfall 0-0-0, Lily Lyons 0-0-0, Mercedes Baum 0-0-0. Totals 15-7-42. Elyria Catholic&emsp;10&emsp;7&emsp;13&emsp;23&emsp;—&emsp;53 Northwest&emsp;6&emsp;11&emsp;11&emsp;14&emsp;—&emsp;42 Three-point goals: Elyria Catholic 5-14 (Cerny 2, Rodriguez, Niederst, Bray, Dimacchia), Northwest 5-26 (Greenland 2, Sharrer, Lazarus, Echelberger). Field goals: Elyria Catholic 18-43 (42 percent), Northwest 15-55 (27 percent). Free throws: Elyria Catholic 12-24 (50 percent), Northwest 7-16 (44 percent). Rebounds: Elyria Catholic 44 (Dimacchia 16). Northwest 31 (Meggyesy 6). Turnovers: Elyria Catholic 19, Northwest 16. Fouls: Elyria Catholic 19, Northwest 21. Technical: Lazaras. Fouled out: Cerny.