Cleveland Heights Girls' Hoops Spring Huge Upset 57-46

Eastlake North coach Paul Force knew better.

Perhaps the Perry High School audience and the scorer’s table registered shock at the ease with which Cleveland Heights waxed Force’s top-seeded Rangers off the Northeast District Division I bracket at Perry, but Force knew he was in for it when he drew the Tigers.

“The seeds are just numbers, and those things don’t mean anything. … We thought we were good enough to beat Cleveland Heights. We thought they were good enough to beat us. And they did,” Force said.

Ra’chel Walton and the Tigers climbed all over the Rangers early and never let go, advancing to the district semifinals with a 57-46 win on Saturday afternoon. Cleveland Heights will face Brush, a 57-50 winner over Madison in Saturday’s second game.  The Tigers will play the sixth-seeded Lady Arcs on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. back at Perry.

Walton led the fifth-seeded Tigers (11-11) with 23 points, many of them coming at crucial moments to stem two Rangers rallies. Jasmine Harper and Supriya Frierson joined Walton in double figures with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Eastlake North’s big gun Kelsey Pacholke led the Rangers (18-3) with 12 points and 11 rebounds, but was 4 of 16 from the field.

“We knew what North could do. They’re a very good program. They’re well coached. They run a lot of sets.  … We were able to get a hand in most of the three-point shooters' faces. For the most part, limit (Pacholke’s) touches on the ball,” Heights coach Kim Hansen said.

Eastlake North is known for its three-point shooting, having made 124 on the season, but the Tigers’ defense held them to 2-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc. Walton was proud of her play, but mostly appreciative of the Tigers’ defense, which produced 21 turnovers from the Rangers.

“We just came out strong knowing it was an 18-2 team. We worked hard, stayed focused, and we went through with our plan,” Walton said. “We wanted to mess up their rhythm, box out on all of their three-point shooters, get the rebounds and give them no second chances.”

Walton was the catalyst for the Tigers’ first-half dominance and almost outscored the Rangers on her own with 17 points against 18 for Eastlake North.

Walton had 11 of the Tigers’ 17 points in the first quarter. After a Frierson layup to open the game’s scoring, Walton nailed a triple and followed with a steal she converted into a layup. Walton received a pass off a Harper rebound and made another layup to put Cleveland Heights up, 9-4.

The Tigers closed the quarter with a decisive run with under 40 seconds remaining. Walton hit a pair of layups, and Harper followed with one of her own to close the quarter with a 17-7 lead.

Cleveland Heights got started early in the second quarter as Chelsea Hicks nailed a 3-pointer from the corner to put Heights up, 20-7. But the Rangers mounted a mini-comeback with a 7-2 run that included a Mackenzy Schaefer 3-pointer and an Amber Smalley layup to draw to 22-14.

But the Tigers crushed any hopes of a full-fledged comeback before the half as Harper, Jackson and Walton engineered a 6-0 run. Harper set up Jackson for a score. Then Walton had a steal and layup and gathered up an outlet pass from Harper to double up the Rangers, 28-14, with three minutes left in the first half.

After being down 32-18 at halftime, the Rangers got a pair of buckets to cut the Tigers’ lead to 10. But Frierson powered through Lynsey Englebrecht for a score and foul. She then converted at the line to push the Rangers back to 35-22 at 6:42, which was the gateway to allowing the Tigers to reach 47-30 after three quarters.

Trying to make up a huge deficit, the Rangers continued to press and had some success, scoring the first seven points of the fourth quarter to draw within 10 once again, 47-37. But Walton slammed the door in Eastlake North’s face earning a steal and layup in a mad scramble and feeding Daychelle Thomas for a score. The Rangers couldn’t answer the Tigers assault.

Cleveland Heights  17 15 15 10 57

Eastlake North        7 11 12 16 46

Cleveland Heights:  Ra’chel Walton 23, Jasmine Harper 12, Supriya Frierson 11, Daychelle Thomas 4, Chelsea Hicks 3, Larissa Davis 2, Arion Jackson 2.

Eastlake North: Kelsey Pacholke 12, Amber Smalley 10, Lynsey Englebrecht 8,  Halle McKinley 8, Jocelyn Sefick 5, Mackenzy Schaefer 3.