District Champs!

The Clinton-Massie Lady Falcons are District Champs for the first time in school history. It was an exciting game last Friday night as they jumped out to a lead over Norwood and didn’t let them back in the game. The defense the Falcons played was intense from the first through the fourth quarter.

The Wilmington News-Journal had an excellent article on Massie’s victory, which you can read below.

On a side note, the Cincinnati Angels (Syd’s AAU team) are well represented in this year’s tournament. The Angels sent out an email listing current and former Angels’ players whose teams are moving forward in the tournament. Way to go Angels!

Division I:

Mason
• Kayla McDowell – Alum
• Jenna Gunn – 17U

Princeton
• LaJessica Olverson- 14U

Centerville
• Alex Henning- Alum

Twinsburg
• Marisa Howard- 17U

Reynoldsburg
• Alyssa Rice- 17U
• Nicole Orr- 17U

Toledo Notre Dame Academy
• Tierra Floyd- 17U

Division II:

Clinton-Massie
• Sydney Brackemyre- 17U
• Kasey Uetrecht- 16U

Division III:

Fayetteville Perry
• Megan Eyre – 16U

Middletown Madison
• Olivia Philpot- 16U

Here’s the Wilmington News-Journal article on the Falcons’ win:

MASON – In late December, many had written off the Clinton-Massie girls basketball team after a devastating injury and tough loss to Wilmington.

Two months later, the Lady Falcons are district champions.

Clinton-Massie won the school’s first girls basketball district championship Friday night, defeating Norwood 54-32 at Mason High School.

“The girls have worked hard, and they had a goal,” said CM head coach Allen Wilkinson. “They’ve done all they could do to make that happen. They’ve faced many different types of adversity.

“We’ve always had someone different step up every night.”

Clinton-Massie executed offensively with high precision in the first quarter, jumping out to a 16-3 lead. For good measure, Kasey Uetrecht threw one in from 45 feet to end the first quarter. Massie led 21-8.

Then, the Falcons just wore them down.

Norwood, playing just six players for most of the game, slowly started to fade as the game continued. Outstanding freshman Hannah Tubbs, who came in averaging 18 points per game, was held to just 11 points on 4 of 12 shooting.

“We don’t press, we just put pressure on the point guard to wear her down,” said Wilkinson. “Brittany Smith and Miquela Santoro did an outstanding job on Tubbs. Mary (Moyer) did a great job on (Natalie) Stoeppel.”

Moyer and the Falcon defense frustrated Stoeppel at every turn, causing her to take two straight charging calls which sent her to the bench with four fouls in the third quarter. She finished with just two points.

“We tried to keep (Tubbs and Stoeppel) out of the paint,” said Wilkinson. “They like to get in the paint and get to the free throw line.”

Clinton-Massie (21-5) didn’t just outplay Norwood (21-4), they outworked them. The Falcons outrebounded the Indians 45-27 and chased down numerous loose balls for second and third opportunities.

“We rebounded very well,” Wilkinson said. “We got to loose balls. We did a great job on 50/50 balls.”

Uetrecht was dominant inside, scoring 12 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. Moyer added 10 points, five rebounds and four assists. Allyson Monnin added 11 rebounds.

With a berth in the state’s final 16 teams, the Falcons are playing its best basketball at the right time.

“The sky’s the limit with this group,” Wilkinson said. “I told them in the locker room that the only person that can tell you ‘no’ is yourself and you don’t have to listen to yourself.”

Dayton Carroll awaits the Lady Falcons 8 p.m. Tuesday at Springfield High School. Carroll ended Talawanda’s unbeaten season Friday night in the district championship, 43-41.

“They’re very physical,” Wilkinson said. “They’re very big and they’re very good. They are a very well-coached team.”