Regular season records may not mean much in high school playoff basketball, but momentum is still important and the Berkshire Badger girls’ basketball team has that in spades. The Badgers rolled past Salem Northwestern 49-22 last Saturday afternoon in the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division V Northeast 1 sectional championship in Burton.
“It was good,” said Coach Dave Albert. “We talked about coming on strong and setting the tempo right from the beginning and setting the tone offensively and defensively, which we did. Coming into tournament play, you have to throw records out the window so on any given day anyone can beat anyone, so it was important to set the tempo.”
It marks the second consecutive season that Berkshire (17-6, 5-3) has advanced to the district level.
Should the Badgers defeat Massillon Tuslaw in the district semifinal on Tuesday, it would advance to the district championship to play either Lake Catholic or Chippewa on Saturday afternoon at Woodridge High School in Peninsula at 1 p.m.
Last season, the Badgers became road warriors by winning two consecutive games to earn a berth in the district semifinal. This year, Berkshire’s strong regular season netted them the fifth seed in the OHSAA Division V bracket, earning them the chance to play their first two playoff games at home.
“It is great,” said sophomore forward Stella Bateman. “It is nice that we do not have to go on the road and have more confidence.”
At one point, the Badgers hovered just a few games above .500 and appeared to hit a wall by suffering consecutive losses against Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division rivals Kirtland and Crestwood but responded with a seven-game winning streak to end the season, which helped them achieve a favorable seed for the playoffs.
On Saturday, the Badgers rode a fast start racing ahead 10-0 in the first quarter, paced by stout defense and strong ball movement, as sophomore guard/forward Ivy Martin buried a pair of 3-point baskets to put Berkshire in firm control.
The Badgers took a 17-5 lead at the end of the first period and continued clicking in the second quarter by going on a 6-2 spree to increase their advantage to 16 points. In addition to some good ball movement, Berkshire was active on the glass and limited the Huskies to one-shot opportunities.
After a strong start, the Badgers’ offense slowed down and scored only four points in the final minutes of the second quarter, but their defense remained strong, allowing the Huskies only two field goals to take a commanding 27-9 edge into the half.
Entering the playoffs, the Badgers found their identity as a defensive stalwart, having allowed more that 40 points just once over the span of their seven-game winning streak at the end of the season.
That trend continued as Berkshire’s defense forced 12 turnovers in the first half.
“We work on defense a lot in practice,” noted Bateman who scored 12 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out one assist. “That is one of the main things we work on, and we want to make sure that is one of our best things every day.”
The Badgers’ offense remained stagnant at the beginning of the third quarter, but Salem Northwestern could not take advantage, scoring only seven points in third period and Berkshire was fueled by a 12-0 run to pull away further and held a 43-16 lead at the end of the quarter
According to the first-year coach, rebounding was a key in helping the Badgers maintain control, outrebounding their opponents by a 52-31 margin.
Albert acknowledged that despite not being the biggest team on the court, Berkshire has improved at fighting for loose balls.
“It is one of the things we have been doing well,” he noted. “We have been working on boxing out and trying to get those rebounds because one of the things that I preach is if they shoot the ball, we have to box out and try get those rebounds on the defensive side to not give them another opportunity to score. For the season we have had some lapses and given them second, third or fourth opportunities but on Saturday we limited their shots by doing a good job boxing out.”
Ultimately, Berkshire’s defense overwhelmed the Huskies, preventing them from scoring in the double digits in any of the four periods.
“It is good,” Albert said. “We have talked about that. There have been a few games where we only gave up single digits in quarters for the whole game and that is important because with tempo and communication, trying to create the turnovers, which create opportunities to get easy buckets. We try and take pride in that.”
