SPRINGFIELD – Saturday’s matchup of Arcanum and Summit Country Day in a Division III Ohio High School Athletic Association district championship game had the makings of the classic upset story.
Arcanum, the lower seeded and unranked team, taking on the undefeated and No. 1 state ranked Summit Country Day.
The Lady Trojans would take their momentum and confidence of winning their first sectional title into this game. However, Summit Country Day’s pressure defense and overall team quickness were just too much for Arcanum as the Trojans fell to the Lady Silver Knights 58-31.
“They left it all on the court,” Arcanum girls basketball coach Matt Grote said. “That’s all you can ask. They gave it their all.
“We came in this thing and we weren’t afraid of who we were playing. They were undefeated and No. 1 in the state, but we were going to give it our all.”
Summit Country Day got off to a fast start. The Silver Knights hit Arcanum with timely offense and a full-court press that gave the Lady Trojans problems, causing turnovers early in the game.
The Lady Knights opened a 10-0 lead before McKenzie Sharritts hit a trey to put the Lady Trojans on the board, but Summit would add 6 more points before period’s end to take a 16-3 advantage into the second quarter.
Arcanum showed very quickly that it was not finished playing this game. Stevie Johnting opened the second period scoring with a 3-point play, which made the score 16-6 and showed there was still fight left in the orange and black.
The Lady Trojans continued their quest back into the game and got as close as 20-13 with 4:42 before half time, but Summit Country Day went on a 13-5 surge before the intermission to secure a 33-18 advantage.
The second half was all under the control of the Lady Knights. Arcanum never got closer than 15 points.
“There’s a friendship there that a lot of teams don’t have,” Coach Grote said. “They gave it all for one another, left it on the court. I’m proud of them. If you would have told me at the beginning of the year we would make it to the district finals, I’m not sure I would have believed you. But the girls worked hard, got better … did some really good things this year.
“Going forward, second-year coach … last year they bought in, this year they really gave it their all and laid a great foundation for the future to come … Now, they know what it takes to get here. They know it’s going to take a little more to win,” Grote concluded.
