JM Moves On

Balance key for Monarchs against Edison

By SHAWN RINE, Ohio Sports Editor
The sideline demeanor and the end result were the same. About the only things different were the shirt and tie.

Assistant Mark McCormick, subbing for suspended head coach Stan Blankenship, picked up his first career victory as the John Marshall girls’ basketball team held off Edison for a 71-60 victory Monday night at John Marshall High School, in an OVAC Tournament Class AAAA semifinal.

The second-seeded Monarchs (11-6) will face top seed Indian Creek in the inaugural conference championship game, which we be held at 7 p.m. Saturday on the campus of Ohio University Eastern. Indian Creek knocked off Brooke, 49-39.

John Marshall threatened to blow this one open on several occasions, prompting Edison coach Ron Smyth to call a timeout to scold his team midway through the third quarter. The gist of the conversation was the Wildcats could either fight for an OVAC Championship, or simply go get back on the bus.

‘‘We made some mistakes, but I’ve never been prouder of a team’s effort,’’ Smyth said. ‘‘A lot of them were unforced errors, but I won’t for a second question the effort.’’

Trailing by double digits in the fourth, Edison was forced to foul.

Sometimes that approach — remember, the Wildcats had no other choice — works, while others it’s futile.

The Monarchs cashed 11 of 13 in the fourth quarter, and 23 of 30 for the game.

‘‘JM, I really like their team,’’ Smyth said.

‘‘They attacked us and shot the ball phenomenally well.

‘‘We had to foul at the end, and they made us pay the price.’’

But not before Edison made the home team sweat.

John Marshall led by as many as 17 in the third quarter (42-25), but the margin had dwindled to five before the Monarchs’ Julie Young drained three of her game-high 20 just in front of the horn.

The two teams traded buckets to begin the fourth before John Marshall’s Carrie Talkington cashed a putback for two of her 11, and Alexis Brinkman hit a 3-pointer for a 51-38 cushion with 6:38 remaining.

‘‘They are a good ballclub,’’ McCormick said of Edison. ‘‘What really hurt us were second shots.

‘‘I didn’t think we rebounded the ball all that well.’’

The Wildcats cut the deficit to nine (62-53) on a pair of Holly Carson free throws at 2:59 — the result of Young’s fifth foul — before Gossett took over from the stripe on the other end of the floor. She hit eight in a row on her way to a 17-point, eight-rebound, three-assist night.

‘‘Their coach did a good job as far as using his personnel wisely,’’ Smyth said. ‘‘We knew coming in it had to be a no-holds-barred game for us to win.’’

The Monarchs built a nine-point halftime lead, largely due to their pressure defense. It looked at times as though the Wildcats were out of sync.

‘‘Going in, from what I had seen on film, I didn’t think they could handle the pressure,’’ McCormick said. ‘‘We thought with our tempo, we could force them to do some things they weren’t comfortable with.’’

Young finished with six rebounds and six assists to go with her point total, while Aubrei Clegg added 10 points.

Edison was led by Megan Antigo, who scored 17 points, many on an array of runners in the lane. Kaitlin Blake contributed with 12 points and a game-high 12 rebounds as the Wildcats held a 44-36 advantage on the boards.

Though she scored just four points, the Wildcats’ Emily Pollock collected seven rebounds and four assists.