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Coach Brian Miller and the Norton Panthers will host Ravenna on Wednesday, bringing an end to a busy week of high-profile match-ups in Summit, Medina and Portage counties.

If you are a girls basketball team in the SportsInk.com coverage area with hopes of winning a conference championship this winter, you had better hope the holidays didn’t throw off your game.

The girls basketball schedule kicked back into full force last week, and by the time Wednesday night’s action is completed there will have been seven important matchups with direct consequences on six championship races in eight days.

Things started with Twinsburg, Medina and Cuyahoga Falls notching critical victories in their respective Northeast Ohio Conference divisions last Wednesday and will finish with Norton hosting Ravenna Wednesday in a battle for control of the Portage Trail Conference Metro Division.

The Tigers beat one of two second-place teams in the NOC Valley Division.  Twinsburg received 23 points and 12 rebounds from Maryland recruit and senior center Malina Howard in a 65-50 win over Hudson.

“I’ve seen that spark in Malina’s eyes the last couple of games,” Twinsburg coach Julie Solis said.  “It’s how I thought she was playing at the end of last year.”

The Bees remained undefeated in the River Division with key wins over third-place Brunswick (47-28) and second-place Mayfield (64-55) last week and now hold at least a two-game lead in the River.

Finally, Cuyahoga Falls (4-1) ousted Valley Forge 47-38 to stay just one loss behind division leader Normandy (4-0).  Senior Logen Breehl had a team-high 18 points for the Black Tigers.

Moving outside the NOC, Wadsworth once again proved its dominance over the Suburban League last Saturday with an 83-46 thrashing of second-place Highland to take a two-game lead in the SL.

“It was one of the better first halves we have had in terms of defense,” Wadsworth coach Andrew Booth said of his team and its 45-19 lead at halftime.

In the City Series, defending champion Firestone survived at home against Kenmore with a last-second basket by junior Avoni Chaney to beat the Cardinals 62-61.  The loss avenged an earlier Kenmore victory in both team’s first league game of the season.

Finally, Norton will try to pull even with back-to-back PTC Metro champion Ravenna on Wednesday night.  The Panthers are the only team to beat the Ravens during the regular season in a season and a half – during last season’s finale.  Norton also held a four-point lead with less than a minute remaining, but surrendered control in a 55-49 overtime loss.

“The kids remember the loss at Ravenna. There’s no motivation speeches needed for this one,” Norton coach Brian Miller said.  “It will be a spirited game. We both know each other so well.”

The Panthers beat Kent Roosevelt 48-41 to stay in second place last weekend, as the Rough Riders fell two games back of their arch-rivals.

Midterm Report

Last week wrapped up the first half of the season for pretty much every team in Summit, Medina and Portage counties, giving a pretty clear picture of how the title pictures are shaping up across the area.

Medina (9-2, 5-0), Wadsworth (8-2, 7-0) and Woodridge (10-0, 7-0) all have two-game leads with one cycle through their respective leagues left, leaving all three in good position to win at least a share of their league crowns as long as they take care of business. Ravenna could put istelf in the same position with a win on Wednesday.

Twinsburg (9-2, 5-0) will win the NOC Valley Division if it sweeps through its next five-game circuit, just like the first time.  Meanwhile, Cuyahoga Falls (6-3, 4-1) in the NOC Lake Division can earn a share of the crown by taking care of its opponents, including division leader Normandy (4-4, 4-0).

And the City Series could be headed for a split regular-season crown as Kenmore and Firestone are both 6-1 in league.  Akron Garfield sits a game back and could also earn a share just by winning out.  

Injury bug

The Barberton Magics were 3-4 and on their way to 4-4 when junior foreign exchange student Emma Nilsson sprained her MCL just before halftime of the semifinals of the Lady Magics Holiday Classic victory over Ellet.  The sprained knee ligament has forced the talented forward to miss Barberton’s last three games – all losses. Coach Kevin Pletcher hopes to have Nilsson back sometime in the next two weeks.

“”She’s going back to the doctor (later this week) and hopefully she will be back at 100 percent in the next couple weeks,” Pletcher said.  “(With Nilsson out), it takes another scorer out of the lineup; she can post up shoot the three or drive and shoot.

“It also hurts us defensively with the loss of some size.”

Streaking

Girls basketball teams across the area have found their strides during the first half of the season, including four undefeated teams in Archbishop Hoban (10-0), Manchester (11-0), Woodridge (10-0) and Ravenna (11-0).  These hot teams have shown themselves to be at the head of the class this winter, but there’s also other teams that are on a roll after rough starts.

Twinsburg has won nine straight games after losing its first two games of the year to out-of-state teams.  Hudson has won six of its last seven games, with the only loss coming against the Tigers.

Norton has won seven straight after losing its first three games.

Finally, Highland had won five straight before losing to Wadsworth on Saturday.