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Twinsburg's Malina Howard was named to the McDonald’s All-American East Squad on Thursday. On Wednesday, the All-Ohio center was selected for the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association High School All-America game.

The accolades keep pouring in for Twinsburg girls basketball star Malina Howard.

Already a state champion, first-team All-Ohioan and University of Maryland recruit, the 6-foot-4 center was named to the McDonald’s All-American East Squad on Thursday.

The game will be played March 28 at the United Center in Chicago.

She is the only Ohioan - boy or girl - selected to play in the event.

As if that wasn’t enough, the Tigers senior was named Wednesday to the 2012 Women’s Basketball Coaches Association High School All-America game March 31 at the Pepsi Center in Denver.

Howard is averaging 16.8 points, 10.8 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game for the reigning Division I state champion Tigers, whio haven't lost a game to an Ohio school since March 12, 2010 (Canton McKinley, 53-43 in a Canton Regional final).

The Tigers are currently 15-3 and 8-0 in the Northeast Ohio Conference Valley Division. They close out league play with road games against Hudson (15-3, 5-3) on Saturday and Strongsville (4-14, 0-8) on Wednesday.

For a complete roster of the McDonald's All-American Game CLICK HERE

For a complete roster of the WBCA All-America Game CLICK HERE

Home cooking

Brunswick’s boys basketball team knows what it needs to do to close out the season, and the Blue Devils can do it – for the most part – at home.

The stretch run starts Friday with a game against Garfield Heights (11-4, 5-1) and continues with the squad’s lone road game at Medina (4-12, 1-5).

After that, home games with Strongsville (3-12, 0-6) on Feb. 17 and Mentor (15-1, 6-0) on Feb. 24 are all that’s left.

“Every game is important, but obviously we want to close things out the right way,” Brunswick coach Joe Mackey said. “We know our schedule is brutal, but you want to play your best basketball down the stretch. The fact we’re at home should give us an edge.”

That’s exactly what the Blue Devils (13-3, 4-2) are hoping for with a slim shot at still sharing the NOC Valley Division crown.

The fact the squad is 7-0 on its home floor with three of its final four at home could go a long way in what has been another solid year under Mackey.

But more importantly, Brunswick wants another shot at Garfield Heights and Mentor after lackluster road games the first time.

Against the Bulldogs, the Blue Devils hung with the reigning Cleveland Division I regional champs for a half before falling 56-39. While Kyle Wheeler (18 points) had a solid game, Brunswick’s leading scorer Ryan Badowski (15.6 ppg) scored just a single point.

Against the Cardinals, the Blue Devils played what Mackey thought was the school’s worst game of the season in a 100-70 loss.

Brunswick turned the ball over 28 times in that one, and a Mackey-led squad gave up triple-digit points for the first in his 14-year career. In order to find the last time Brunswick gave up 100 points, you’d have to go back to Feb. 25, 1994, when the Blue Devils lost 116-96 to Strongsville.

“We know Garfield Heights and Mentor are the elite teams in the league,” Mackey said. “We knew heading in they were definitely the teams to beat, but we don’t feel we played either team like we’re capable of. Hopefully, we’ll play a lot better and give ourselves a chance to win in the fourth quarter.”

As for playing against both Ohio powers on the school’s home floor, Mackey hopes that’s his ace in the hole. Brunswick handed Shaker Heights (14-1) its only loss of the season in an overtime thriller on Dec. 28

“Now that the Garfield game is approaching our kids are up to the challenge,” Mackey said. “Playing both teams at home should help us. We beat Shaker Heights here and they are very similar to Garfield and its athletes.

“I don’t know how many points its worth, but playing at home is an advantage in any sport.”

Geshke again

Real quick. Who’s the third-leading scorer in the NOC?

If you guessed Stow’s Kyle Scelza (19.3 ppg), Brush’s Pharaoh Brown (18.1) or Hudson’s Zack Brandy (17.6) you’d be wrong.

While Medina is struggling without Michigan State recruit Kenny Kaminski, Billy Geshke (19.9) is having an incredible junior season for the Bees.

Only Mentor’s Justin Fritts (27.8) and Stow’s David Walker (24.6) have higher averages.

Spitballing

With Shaker Heights filling the void in 2012-13 for Lakewood – which is moving to the West Shore Conference in the fall – administrators have already starting looking ahead to 2013-14.

League sources said athletic directors met this week and opened up discussion on what the football divisions will look like in 2013 – among other things – but nothing was finalized.

The Red Raiders will take the spot of the Rangers in the Lake Division in football next season.

The NOC realigns its divisions every two years in all sports to maintain a competitive balance.