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Cleveland Heights' Girls Basketball Season Comes to a Close

Tigers fall to Brush in district semifinals

Sometimes when a team leader goes down unexpectedly, the other members sharpen their focus, bear down and find the right formula to persevere under trying circumstances.

The Cleveland Heights girls’ basketball team’s top inside scoring threat, Jasmine Harper, got tangled up in action under the basket and sprawled on the floor just before halftime. It didn’t look good. The junior forward-center had to be helped off the court, where it was soon discovered she had injured her right knee and wouldn’t return.

The Tigers certainly looked doomed without her in their Division I District semifinal game.

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While a reduced Cleveland Heights (11-12) team adjusted itself well and nearly overcame the Lady Arcs, the might of Brush (10-13), and especially Darmii Warner’s 22 points, was too much to resist as the Tigers fell, 45-37, to end their season at Perry High School on Thursday night.

Brush’s physicality overwhelmed Cleveland Heights in the same manner it didin their come-from-behind 57-50 victory over Madison in the prior round. It was a particularly harrowing defeat for Cleveland Heights as expectations were high .

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“Both teams really wanted to win the game, but Brush put it out on the floor. They came after us. They came after us hard. They put tremendous pressure on us in the half court, and they dismantled us on the boards,” Tigers coach Kim Hansen said.

Brush outrebounded Cleveland Heights 40-22.

Harper’s presence is clearly valuable to the Tigers, but Hansen wouldn’t use her second-half absence as an excuse.

“Brush set the tempo early even when Jasmine was on the floor. We made a couple really good runs to cut the lead to two possessions without her. Whether having her on the floor at that time could have made a difference is just a guessing game,” Hansen said.

The early going was topsy-turvy. Brush ran off the first seven points of the game until Walton hit a 3-pointer at 3:30 for the Tigers’ first points.  Davis followed with a pair of driving jump shots to draw even, 7-7.

Brush clawed its way to a 10-point lead with an 11-3 run to open the second quarter for a 20-10 lead. Bre Laster made a bucket and had a free throw to give the Tigers a little life, and then Davis made a jumper and Jasmine Harper made a free throw to complete a 6-2 run to reach 22-16. Brush answered with a 4-0 run of its own to close the half.

With Harper on the bench and her knee wrapped in ice, the Tigers came to life in the third quarter.  Arion Jackson was the beneficiary of Larissa Davis and Ra’chel Walton passes for a pair of layups during a 10-4 run to draw to 30-26. The Tigers could have drawn even closer, but Supriya Frierson and Walton missed layups on consecutive trips.

Warner made the Tigers pay for their misses with a jumper and a 3-pointer to spread Brush’s lead to 35-26 at 1:34 of the third quarter.

Warner struck the Tigers again as another bucket capped a 5-0 run to match its biggest lead of the second half, 40-28, with 4:56 remaining in the game. But the Tigers had one last furious rally, going on a 9-0 run to get within 40-37 as Davis rebounded a Lady Arcs miss and sent a pass to Walton who nailed a long jumper for two of her team-leading 14 points.

But Warner rose once again to save the Lady Arcs as she escaped Walton’s steal attempt, weaved through the Tigers’ defense and scooped in a layup to effectively end Cleveland Heights’ season.

Brush       45

Cleveland Heights   37

BHS     9 17 9 10 45

CHHS   7  9 12 9  37

Brush: Darmii Warner 22, Aeriyelle Perrin 10, Constance Conner 9, Shakiyla Quinn 2, Natasha Shorts 2.

Cleveland Heights:  Ra’chel Walton 14, Arion Jackson 9, Larissa Davis 8, Bre Laster 3, Supriya Frierson 2, Jasmine Harper 1.

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