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Firestone's Tayelor McCalister, left, will face Kenmore and Porshae Hearn in the Akron City Series girls basketball championship.
Prior to Wednesday’s game with Archbishop Hoban, the Firestone girls basketball team was averaging roughly 70 points per game and their lowest point total in a victory came in a 62-61 win over Kenmore.
The fast-paced Falcons have enjoyed success running up and down the court this season on their way to 13-4.
However, with the high-powered Knights, ranked fifth in the AP Division II state poll, in town Firestone took the opportunity to prepare a new strategy and it paid major dividends.
The Falcons slowed the game down and worked their offense with a more methodical approach, and the result was a major 44-39 upset in overtime. Firestone set a new four-quarter low on the season with 36 points, but thanks to a strong defensive effort, the Falcons forced overtime and the chance to win.
“We’ve been practicing that, we’ve been playing uptempo a lot of times,” Firestone coach Audley McGill told SportsInk.com after the game. “We’ve been working on the halfcourt; this is tournament style basketball.
“We’ve decided to start working on it now and it’s coming around.”
McGill may have a point with defensive, and halfcourt offensive basketball being the key in the tournament. After rolling through a perfect 20-0 regular season last year and routinely putting up point totals in the 80’s or 90’s, the Falcons averaged just 58 points in two tournament games last year.
A look ahead to Firestone’s path in the Medina Division I district this winter and things would seem to go through the Wadsworth Grizzlies, who surrender fewer than 36 points per game this season.
“The key to tonight’s win was getting back on ‘D’,” McGill said.
That will likely be the key the rest of the way through the tournament for the Falcons, who also have a City championship game with Kenmore on the schedule. Firestone has averaged just 50 points in two games with the Cardinals this season, while splitting the pair.
More girls hoops: It’s Tourney Time
This Sunday girls basketball coaches, including those in the City Series will come together and draw district seedings and schedules.
At last year’s tournament Firestone was the only City Series team to record a tournament victory, defeating the Green Bulldogs 51-47 in overtime to win a sectional title. The Falcons lost to Hudson 69-66 in the district semifinals of the Akron Division I district.
The Falcons are one of six teams that will be moving districts after the OHSAA reorganized the districts for this season. Firestone, Garfield and Kenmore will all be moving from Ellet to Medina High School this winter. The three teams will join the Orangemen in the Medina Division I district, where Ellet competed last year.
The remaining three City Series teams will compete in Division II, after East dropped from Division I and will now be at Lake High School. Buchtel and North have moved from the Uniontown and Massillon districts, respectively to join the brand new Nordonia Division II district.
City Championships on horizon
The next week will be an exciting time for City Series athletics as the conference champions in bowling, girls basketball and wrestling will all be decided between now and next Saturday.
Tuesday night, City Series bowling teams get championship week under way at Midway Lanes.
Then Thursday night, the Firestone Falcons and Kenmore Cardinals will meet at North High School to decide which is the top girls basketball team this season. Kenmore began the season with a 42-38 upset over the reigning champion Falcons, led by Charnae Coleman and Porshae Hearn. Firestone got its payback a month ago with a 62-61 win on a bucket by Avoni Chaney.
The split series means that the winner will not only be the playoff champion, but will also mark the team with the best regular season record as both teams figure to enter the game 11-1 in the City Series – that is assuming Kenmore can handle East in its final league game.
Finally, city wrestling teams will take to Kenmore High School on Saturday to decide the league championship in that sport. The host Cardinals and Firestone figure to be the favorites entering the tournament.
Boys Hoops: Birds battle for championship chance
While Firestone and Kenmore will battle it out for the girls basketball championship next week, Friday night the Falcons and Cardinals will take to the court in a boys basketball game that will likely decide which team will face East in the championship game – two weeks from Friday night.
The Dragons (9-0 in the City) need just one more victory in their three league games to guarantee a spot in the championship game. East has Firestone, Kenmore and Buchtel remaining on their schedules. At 5-4 in the legue, the Griffins still have a chance to force a tie in second place, but Buchtel would need to beat the Dragons, along with North and Garfield just to start. If they win out the Griffins would still need the Cardinals to beat the Falcons and East to beat both Kenmore and Firestone.
The Falcons’ (8-2) path to the championship game is the simplest, beat the Cardinals and you are there. A Kenmore (6-3) victory brings the teams to a de facto tie, with Firestone having a game against the Dragons and the Cardinals still meeting East and North.