Avon Lake vs. North Ridgeville girls basketball: Rangers win completes season sweep

The way the Southwestern Conference race is going among Avon Lake, Olmsted Falls and North Ridgeville, it’s turned into a high school girls basketball version of rock, paper, scissors.

North Ridgeville had the opportunity to sweep Avon Lake at home on Jan. 17. The Shoregals had one trip down the floor left. After a few offensive rebounds, a 3-point shot to force overtime missed, and the Rangers won, 52-49.

The Rangers survived a 9-0 Avon Lake run at the start of the fourth quarter to take a 48-46 lead. They called upon their star, Grace Kingery, to tie the game with less than four minutes remaining.

C.C. Bouman followed up with two clutch free-throws to extend the lead, 50-49. Maddie Eldridge also made her free throws in the end.

“Overall, I thought it was a great team win. We had great plays from Brooke Lime, Maddie Eldridge, C.C. Bouman hit some big free throws. Grace (Kingery) makes things a lot easier out there,” North Ridgeville Coach Amy Esser said.

Even with perimeter defenders including Izzie Polinko, Avon Lake Coach Paul Appel tried everything he could to contain Kingery.

“We never ran girls at people to double team and tonight we did that for the first time. … You also have to give a lot of credit to North Ridgeville,” Appel said. “I thought they shot really well. There are not a lot of girls you can double off of because they have a lot of capable players. It makes (playing defense) hard.”

Kingery scored 16 points in the first half en route to 27 points. She didn’t score for most of the third quarter, but got going again to score 11 near the end of the third and the entire fourth.

She was also a force on the defensive end with five blocked shots, three steals and seven rebounds.

North Ridgeville trailed, 5-0, to start the first quarter. Kingery scored or assisted its next 11 points.

While the offense did its thing, the defense allowed two points in an 11-2 run in the first quarter. North Ridgeville led, 14-10, to start the second quarter.

“We knew that (Avon Lake) was going to counter our zone. We had to mix a couple of things in. We missed some assignments here and there. Credit to them, they tried to counter and make some adjustments. They knocked down some shots. I thought Tobin had a great first half. Our goal in the second half was to get her out of the game.”

Avon Lake controlled most of the third quarter, which propelled it to a 10-5 run to cut the lead.

North Ridgeville was led by Kingery, but Eldridge (eight points), Lime (five), Macie Miller (five) and Bouman (five) contributed on the scoresheet, as well as other facets of the game.

“It’s about keep getting better. We are not at our highest point yet. We have to keep working together,” Kingery said. “It’s not just me. I heard one of the (Avon Lake) parents actually saying that they have a one-man team. That is not true. That is everybody. I might be on the stats, but (our production goes further than that.”

Olivia Miller (five rebounds) was Avon Lake’s top scorer with 12 points. Tobin and Claire Springer each scored 11 points and Summerfield had nine. Springer fueled the 9-0 fourth-quarter run with seven of those points.

The Rangers completed the season sweep against Avon Lake, as they defeated the Shoregals, 32-23, earlier in the season.

North Ridgeville also won its seventh straight game to improve to 12-3 (6-1 in SWC) and will travel to Amherst on Jan. 20. Amherst had a close game with them, but the Rangers prevailed, 59-51.

North Ridgeville and Olmsted Falls (11-3, 7-1 in SWC) are the only one-loss SWC teams remaining.

Avon Lake had a big win against Olmsted Falls. However, the North Ridgeville loss dropped its record to 11-3 (6-2 SWC). The Shoregals will have a rivalry game against Avon on Jan. 20.

PHOTOS: North Ridgeville vs. Avon Lake girls basketball, Jan. 17, 2024