ROOTSTOWN, OH- It was a packed house at Rootstown High School on Wednesday night as the Rovers were playing for an outright PTC Championship. In their way were the Warren JFK Eagles who played the Rovers tough in their first matchup. JFK was looking for their 3rd straight win while the Rovers were looking to extend their long winning streak to seven.
The Lady Rovers set the tone for this game right from the start as they forced a quick JFK timeout after scoring eight straight points to start the game. Out of the timeout JFK missed a pair of free throws. What followed for the Rovers was a bucket inside by Nadia Lough and an Abby White three ball that forced yet another timeout call by JFK coach Marc Morgan with the Rovers leading 13-0. Eagles Gianna Pompelia split a pair of free throws to end the scoring run. JFK found their footing a bit late in the quarter cutting the deficit to 9 on a Ava Darney three. The Rovers would end the opening quarter up 23-9.
Rovers Colbie Curall drives to the basket for two
Nadia Lough opened the second quarter on a personal 6-0 run followed by a Brooklynn McIntyre bucket that opened the Rover lead up to 31-9. That made two straight quarters of the Rovers opening on an 8-0 run. Rootstown was relentless as it seemed every Eagles bucket would be matched with multiple Rovers buckets. Lough ended the half scoring the final 5 points, the last of which was an and-one conversion inside. Rootstown took a commanding 48-17 lead into halftime. Lough was an absolute beast in the paint and on the boards in the first half with 22 points and 11 rebounds.
Rovers Nadia Lough goes up for two of her game high 28 points
The third quarter was a low scoring, even quarter as both teams only put up 6 points with JFK scoring 6 of the final 8 points. Rootstown maintained their 31 point lead at 54-23 heading to the final quarter, just eight minutes from celebration time.
The Rovers ran the clock in the final quarter, scoring when they needed to and maintaining a 30+ point lead keeping the running clock going throughout. The Rovers cruised to their 3rd straight PTC title winning this one 62-29.
From the opening tip the Rovers were the aggressor, going hard after every rebound and loose ball giving a max effort when it was needed the most. As coach Leonard said postgame...
"We didn't want a share," said Leonard. "Two years ago we shared so that's always been something with the girls, they didn't like that and they wanted to be the outright PTC champs. They knew if you want to cut down nets and have these memories, you've got to get it done tonight!"
It was a monster game for the Rovers Nadia Lough who finished with 28 points and 16 rebounds getting multiple put backs at the rim as the Eagles had no answer for her down low.
The Rovers improve to 20-2 on the season. They open sectionals on 2/21 at home vs Lakeview.
Unofficial stats:
Rootstown:
Nadia Lough: 28 pts, 16 reb
Colbie Curall: 13 pts, 5 reb
Brooklynn McIntyre: 13 reb
JFK:
Gianna Pompelia: 7 pts
Hannah Myers: 4 pts, 4 reb