SPRINGFIELD – The Versailles Lady Tigers defeated the Bethel-Tate Lady Tiger 58-45 to win the OHSAA D-III District Title.
“Bethel-Tate is a great team and I felt like our girls faced some adversity and were able to overcome it,” said Versailles coach Tracy White. “I felt like as a team we played really solid and everybody played as a team.”
Versailles jumped out to a 14-2 lead after one period of play led by five Daniel Kunk points including a 3-pointer. Brooke Stonebraker added 4-points, Lindsey Winner 3 and Emma George 2-points.
The Versailles Lady Tigers pushed their lead to 27-13 at 1:23 in the second quarter of play, taking the second period 14-11 over Bethel-Tate sending the teams to the halftime break with Versailles leading 28-13.
Caitlin McEldowney paced Versailles second quarter play with 7-points including a triple.
The Bethel-Tate Lady Tigers battled back using a 17-9 run to open third quarter play to make it a 7-point 37-30 Versailles lead with 2:09 on the clock.
Versailles took advantage of 7-3 scoring to close out the third and lead 44-33 with one quarter to play. Period No. 3 proved to be the lone quarter Tate would own, taking the period 20-16.
Lindsey Winner accounted for eight Versailles third quarter points, McEldowney drilled a 3-pointer, Katelyn Marshal hit a basket and free throw for 3-points and Stonebraker went 2-2 at the line.
Bethel-Tate continued to battle making it a 6-point game, trailing Versailles 45-39 with 4:57 on the fourth quarter board only to have the Versailles Lady Tigers put the game away outscoring the Bethel-Tate Lady Tigers 13-6 to close out scoring on the day and earn a 13-point District Championship.
“Lindsey Winner and Brooke Stonebraker played really good inside, rebounding and scoring as well – defensively can’t say enough about those two,” said Coach White following the win. “Caitlin McEldowney played really well and Danielle Kunk. Then you add Abbey Stammen on defense and Brooke (Stonebraker) being able to play such a defense. Hannah Barga was able to get back from her injury and give us some quality minutes.”
The Versailles Lady Tigers continue to be a fixture winning the D-III district tournament year after year.
“You have to show up and play,” White stated. “It doesn’t really matter, even in the sectional you’re going to meet teams that are good and then you get to the district and on and they just get better and better.”
BOXSCORE:
VERSAILLES 58, BETHEL-TATE 45
VERSAILLES – L. Winner 17, C. McEldowney 13, B. Stonebraker 12, D. Kunk 9, K. Marshal 3, E. George 2, A. Stammen 1, K. Griesdorn 1 – TOTALS 15 16-28 4 58
BETHEL-TATE – G. White 17, M. Burton 8, T. Bee 7, A. Stolz 6, J. Carter 4, A. Wheeler 2, S. Gardner 1 – TOTALS 13 10-20 3 45
3-POINTERS
Versailles 4 (C. McEldowney 3, D. Kunk 1)
Bethel-Tate 3 (J. Carter 1, G. White 1, A. Stolz 1)
SCORE by QUARTERS:
14-14-16-14 58 Versailles
02-11-20-12 45 Bethel-Tate
