Avon Lake girls basketball: Shoregals shake up Southwestern Conference picture, but face another challenge at North Ridgeville
When playing in the Southwestern Conference, after a team plays one big game, another one is waiting around the corner.
Avon Lake became the first SWC team to defeat Olmsted Falls since 2020. As much of an emotional game it was for the Shoregals, Coach Paul Appel plans to take the momentum into their Jan. 17 matchup against North Ridgeville.
“I think there is always a balance, whether there is momentum and you love to have confidence, but you don’t want to get ahead of yourself,” he said. “There is another big game coming up. We all look at them as great opportunities. That is the great thing about the SWC. After one big win, you get to play another big (game). … It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
After Avon Lake’s 39-35 win against Olmsted Falls, it goes into the North Ridgeville game with a 12-2 record (6-1 in SWC). Appel thought the team was confident to start the season. After watching its success, he can feel the buzz in the community for his team.
“There is excitement growing, and that is the most enjoyable part that you want to keep going." he said. "There is a lot of excitement around the program right now, and it’s really fun. It’s fun to be around them. It’s fun for the girls to experience that. We had a great crowd (at the Olmsted Falls game). We are hoping to continue that sort of stuff moving forward.”
Though North Ridgeville has a 5-1 SWC record (11-3 overall), it defeated the Shoregals, 32-23, on the road. The Rangers' three losses on the season were to Medina (75-44), Olmsted Falls (55-41) and Strongsville (62-50).
North Ridgeville vs. Avon Lake girls basketball: Rangers’ zone stifles Shoregals in SWC road win
“I think that we did a really good job defensively and guarding (North Ridgeville) really well, but we only put up 23 points on the board,” Appel said. “It’s hard to win when you score that many points. They did some different things with some matchups and zone defenses that we have to be ready for. We are going to prepare for that and go from there.”
The Rangers’ most recent game was a 63-47 road win against Lakewood, in which their Ball State signee Grace Kingery scored 38 points. She also scored 45 against Elyria 10 days prior.
Appel is very familiar with North Ridgeville. Not only are Avon Lake SWC opponents, but he also sees the Rangers several times in the offseason.
With that familiarity comes the chess match between coaches and players. In Appel's first head coaching season in 2022-23, North Ridgeville and Avon Lake split the series. Both teams made district tournament runs in the Division I postseason.”
“North Ridgeville is somebody that we play a lot in the spring, summer and the fall,” Appel said. “We do open gyms with them. We have seen them a lot. We know how good they are, but there is a high level of familiarity with them that we’ve played before.”
After the North Ridgeville loss, Avon Lake won nine of its last 10 games. The one loss was against Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary (39-33).
Avon Lake girls basketball falls to Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary
The girls basketball state poll was released Jan. 15, but the Shoregals did not receive 12 or more votes to be recognized. Even though Avon Lake didn’t make it, Appel believes his team is capable of playing at a top-10 level.
“I think that is something that we are definitely capable of,” he said. “I think that we’ve shown that we’ve competed with everybody that we’ve played against. I know that St. Vincent-St. Mary was ranked in the top 10 for Division II. We were right there against them. … We are just trying to get better every day. If we are in the top 10, we are going to let it fall where it falls.”
In the MaxPreps RPI rankings (as of Jan. 16) that will be used for seeding in district tournaments, Avon Lake (.701 rating as of Jan. 14) jumped to third in Northeast Ohio. Akron Hoban (.715) and Uniontown Lake (.712) are the only teams ahead of it.
As it pertains to Avon Lake’s region in Northeast Ohio, this would project it as the top seed in the region. Olmsted Falls (.688) trails in fourth.
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