JOE MAGILL
Special to The Plain Dealer
BEREA, Ohio -- The answers were different yet quite similar.
After taking an 83-77 overtime victory over top-seeded Baldwin Wallace Thursday in an Ohio Athletic Conference tournament semifinal, the Capital Crusaders were able to celebrate their seventh consecutive victory over their hosts, including three this season.
The question is, why?
“I wish I knew,” Baldwin Wallace coach Cheri Harrer said.
Capital coach Dixie Jeffers didn’t have an explanation either, simply stating, “I don’t know.”
But then both coaches did take it further.
“If you look at each game, it’s been a different person who steps up and plays a great game for them,” Harrer said. “We had some people who played well, but you need to play great against great teams.”
Jeffers added, “We like to play up here. We feel we match up well with them. We feel we know them.”
Jamie Caton was the star this time for the Crusaders, scoring 27 points despite missing half of her 18 free throws. Cookie Geroski added 16 points for Capital, as the two seniors proved that experience does matter.
“Their seniors stepped up big time,” Harrer said.
It appeared the Crusaders had the game in hand late in regulation, leading by as many as seven, but they missed six of eight free throws down the stretch. Caton had a chance to clinch the game from the line with 3.3 seconds to go, but her air ball led to Audrey Smolik of Strongsville banking in a three-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime with the score tied at 72. Overall, Capital made just 24 of 39 free throws.
Caton dominated the game from the high post, taking advantage of the slower defenders assigned to guard her. Using a play that was just put in two weeks ago, Caton would get the ball on the high post as the guards cris-crossed past her. If she didn’t hand the ball to one of the guards, she would turn and face her defender, often times driving to the basket.
“They kept their big girls on me,” she said. “When I see that I’m going to take advantage of my quickness.”
According to Harrer, the problem wasn’t the defender who was matched up with Caton, but it was her teammates.
“We needed to take charges and nobody stepped in to take a charge,” Harrer said. “We talked about it in every huddle, but nobody would step in to take the charge.”
Baldwin Wallace, which finished the season at 20-6, was led by Shari Mangas with 24 points. She was followed by Jessica Lairson with 12 and Sam Hamar with 8 points and 6 rebounds off the bench.