The magic carpet ride for the Wadsworth Lady Grizzlies is over. The season ended against the same team, in the regional final round and in the same gymnasium as it has for the last three years. In the Division One Regional Finals at Norwalk High School, Toledo Notre Dame Academy defeated Wadsworth 42-37.
The game turned early in the fourth quarter. A couple of turnovers and a missed three-pointer by Wadsworth contributed to a 6-0 run by the Eagles and made the score 37-27 with 5:03 to play in regulation.
But, you have to take your hat off to the Lady Grizzlies. They didn’t fold the tent. As junior guard Jodi Johnson said “The game is 32 minutes long”. And Wadsworth had one run left in them. Two three-pointers by Laurel Pallito, a basket by Aubrey Virgin and free throws by Jenna Johnson and Sophia Fortner closed the gap to 38-37 with 50 seconds to play.
A couple of free throws by C.J. Jefferson of Notre Dame Academy extended the lead to 40-37 with 35 seconds to go. Lady Grizzlies Coach Andrew Booth called a time out with 9.6 seconds remaining after Wadsworth had a hard time getting into their offense.
After the Eagles used up two fouls it came down to a final play with 5.6 seconds. Jodi Johnson took the inbounds pass and took an off-balance shot that hit the front of the rim into the hands of Mariah Copeland of Toledo Notre Dame Academy. She was fouled and sank two free throws to make the final margin 42-37.
Booth said he was proud of the way his team fought back in the fourth quarter. “It was great character on the part of our kids” said Booth. “To even have a shot to tie it late in the game, I was pretty proud of that because they could have packed it in, but they didn’t”.
Wadsworth was led in scoring by Palitto with 14 points. Jefferson led Notre Dame Academy with 19. Wadsworth finishes the year at 23-4. Toledo Notre Dame Academy is 26-2 and heads to the Final Four in Columbus next weekend.
