HARWELLPHOTO.COM
Mogadore's Makenzie Williams, left, drives in for a layup in front of Garrettsville Garfield's Abbie Brown during Mogadore's 54-44 victory on Wednesday night.
The Ravenna girls basketball team powered past Streetsboro with a 51-21 victory Wednesday, which included a dominant 25-0 first-quarter performance from the Ravens.
The Ravens (13-0, 9-0 PTC) came into the game ranked fourth in the AP State Poll for Division II teams.
But that’s not what the athletes, coaches or fans were celebrating during and after the game.
DiAndra Gibson, who recorded 10 points in the winning effort, now is just the second girls basketball player in school history to score 1,000 points.
Gibson now has 1,006 career points at Ravenna.
“I was so shocked because I didn’t even know I was close to it,” Gibson said. “It’s a huge accomplishment and I’m so proud. I’m so happy and excited.”
At the 2:55 mark in the second quarter Gibson sunk a shot that she won’t soon forget.
The senior University of Akron recruit made a jumper just steps in front of the 3-point arc for her 1,000th career point.
“I’m so happy for Di,” Ravenna coach Sonny Tilden said. “She deserves it. She’s worked so hard … she definitely deserves it.”
After Gibson hit the milestone, Tilden called timeout and allowed the senior to get a few pictures taken and bask in the accomplishment.
The Ravens home fans held 1,000-point signs in honor of the feat.
“Everybody (on the team) was so shocked,” Gibson said. “I didn’t even know they had the signs up, then everybody said ‘turn around look at the crowd.’ It was awesome seeing everybody supporting me.”
Ravenna left no doubt one game removed from the team’s closest game of the season, when the Ravens squeaked past Norton 61-60 last Wednesday.
The Ravens jumped out to a 13-0 lead in the first four minutes of the game.
The next four minutes put the Rockets in an even deeper hole.
With the help of a persistent attacking defense, the Ravens owned a 25-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
“We’re not big, we count on our speed,” Tilden said. “We use our speed and our press and that starts our offense.
“We’ve got some fast girls on our team.”
To the Rockets' credit, they kept fighting.
But Streetsboro only found the scoreboard once with 3:17 remaining in the first half and trailed 35-2 at halftime.
Despite trailing by 30 points or more the entire second half, Streetsboro made strides, cutting into the Ravens lead.
The Rockets even outscored Ravenna 12-6 in the fourth quarter.
Malorie Gibson and Moniqua Smith each added 10 points for the Ravens, while Rachael Kolke recorded 10 points for the Rockets.
The Ravens take a week off before welcoming Crestwood in attempt to maintain their perfect record.
In other games:
Barberton 39, Cuyahoga Falls 36. At Cuyahoga Falls, senior Megan Jerome led the Magics with 12 points and seven rebounds.
Senior Jessie Frost added eight points and five rebounds for Barberton (6-7).
Cuyahoga Falls led 18-17 at the half, but Barberton outscored the Black Tigers 16-10 in the third quarter and held on for the victory.
Senior Logen Breehl led Cuyahoga Falls with 14 points, while junior Jasmine Eaker dropped in 12.
Field 60, Crestwood 38. At Mantua, Falcons senior Jacqueline Ricketson led all scorers with 16 points and pulled down eight rebounds in the victory.
Junior Morgan Peachey and sophomore Tiffany Spaller each scored 12 points for Field (7-6, 4-5). Senior Emily Mortimer dominated the glass with 12 rebounds.
Crestwood was led in scoring by Holly Hoffman’s 10 points.
Field closed the game with a 21-6 run.
Manchester 60, Triway 30. At Wooster, Manchester outscored Triway 51-20 over the last three quarters to earn the victory and remain unbeaten.
Senior Autumn Brown led the Panthers (14-0, 11-0) with 16 points and nine rebounds. Junior Angela Durgala scored 15 points, while freshman Alex Klein scored nine points and grabbed five rebounds.
Mogadore 54, Garrettsville Garfield 44. At Garrettsville, senior C.J. Lange and sophomore Ashley Barkley each scored 15 points to lead the way for the Wildcats over the G-Men.
Freshman Grace Reilly dropped in 13 points, and Brianne Porter and Makenzie Williams both scored nine for Mogadore (4-11, 4-6).
Jackie Tabor led Garrettsville Garfield with 12 points.
Mogadore led 23-22 at the half but outscored Garfield 31-22 over the last 16 minutes to seal the victory.
Windham 73, Waterloo 58. At Atwater, four players scored in double figures for the Bombers, led by Dari Heller’s 20 points.
Jessica Isler put up 16 points for Windham (7-7, 4-5), while Taylor Vlasaty and Britney Collins each had 12 points.
Waterloo was led by juniors Jamie Willis and Michaela Wise who scored 20 and 19 points, respectively.
Windham used a 36-25 first half to take command early.