North Ridgeville girls basketball: Rangers prepare for Avon Lake with dominant win against Lakewood, Grace Kingery scores 38 points

Having a 28-6 lead to start the game is good for any team, especially for North Ridgeville in a Jan. 15 road game with Lakewood.

In a battle of the Rangers, North Ridgeville’s hot start propelled it to a 63-47 win.

Lakewood’s Charleigh Doxley scored the game’s opening field goal. That was its only lead of the game.

North Ridgeville All-Ohio forward Grace Kingery had another astronomical scoring performance, as she scored 38 points. Her career-high was 45 against Elyria on Jan. 5.

“I didn’t even know how many points (Kingery) had because she was getting them in the flow of the game,” North Ridgeville coach Amy Esser said. “What people don’t know is that Grace is a really unselfish player. She finds the open players and she finds the best looks out there on the court, but when she is on and in the flow of the game. She is pretty hard to stop. That was kind of what she was like today.”

Kingery got the ball rolling with their first four points, which ignited a 17-2 run to lead, 17-6, to start the second quarter, with the help of defensive support.

“We talked about coming out strong, playing well from the get and playing four quarters consistently,” Esser said. “I thought we came out hot offensively and we were playing some really good defense. We were able to counter some things and change some things up on them to throw something different at them, as far as defenses go.”

Kingery scored 36 points over three quarters. North Ridgeville led, 54-28, to start the fourth quarter. Lakewood rallied with an 18-1 run. Kingery was reinserted back into the game and made a pair of free throws.

In Lakewood’s lineup that featured two 6-footers, North Ridgeville held Delaney Garcia and Layla Smith to combine for nine rebounds. Kingery led the team with eight, but Brooke Lime and Cecilia Bouman each grabbed six.

Esser assigned Maddie Eldridge to face guard Garcia, as she was held to eight points. Smith scored 17 points, but 11 of those points were scored in the fourth quarter, in Lakewood’s rally.

“We went to face guard Garcia with Maddie (Eldridge) and it was kind of like we did it with the Rocky River game plan (earlier in the year),” she said. “We relied heavily on ‘C.C.’ Bouman plays pretty good defense in the post. I thought Maddie did a really good job of shutting down Garcia. We relied heavily on our outside defense, which allowed Grace (Kingery) to get some easy rebounds.”

Bouman scored eight points and Lime also chipped in with nine points and four assists.

“I thought, overall, that it was a really good team win and a lot of kids contributed today. That is good to see as a coach,” Esser said.

North Ridgeville won its fifth straight game, as it improved to 11-3. Lakewood suffered its second straight loss, along with a 54-36 defeat to Westlake. Lakewood dropped to 6-9.

North Ridgeville will have a big Southwestern Conference game against Avon Lake on Jan. 17. As two one-loss teams in the SWC, the Rangers handed the Shoregals their only conference loss of the year with a 32-23 road win.

North Ridgeville vs. Avon Lake girls basketball: Rangers’ zone stifles Shoregals in SWC road win

“I think (our recent success) has given us a little bit of confidence and it has given us a little bit of an edge. I feel like we are still figuring out our identity and starting to figure out how to beat good teams. We matched up really well against Avon Lake the first time, which is why we won the game. … It is a matter of not worrying about who we are playing, but also trying to continue to better ourselves. I feel like in the last few games, we have really clicked offensively," Esser said.

Lakewood will have another chance to bounce back as it will host John Hay on Jan. 18.

THE SCORE

North Ridgeville 63, Lakewood 47