'Excited to get the opportunity': Purcell Marian, Springboro ready for state tournaments

The Ohio high school basketball season is winding down. The girls state tournaments will be this weekend, followed by the boys from March 22-24.

Two girls teams will represent the Southwest District at the University of Dayton Arena this weekend.

Purcell Marian enters its fourth straight state tournament with a 27-1 record and a 25-game winning streak. Springboro is on this stage for the first time in 46 years.

Before the state tournament starts, here's a look at each team's state semifinal matchup.

Purcell Marian

The Cavaliers take the court against the Copley Indians at 1 p.m. Friday. It will be their fifth game this season against a state tournament team. They have previously faced Springboro, Magnificat and Pickerington Central, all in the Division I state tournament, and DIII qualifier Africentric.

The one opponent the teams have in common is Magnificat. Purcell won 72-59 while Copley lost, 58-42.

"We just want to build the toughest schedule possible just so we are battle-tested," Purcell Marian head coach Jamar Mosley said.

Copley (25-3) is in the state tournament for the first time since 2006. The Indians are scoring 59.9 points per game this season while allowing 36 points per game. Leading scorer Izzy Callaway is coming off a career-high 32 points in a regional final win over Bryan.

While Callaway stands at 5-foot-7, Copley has the height to match with the Cavaliers. Emily Kerekes and Kami Ayoup are 5-foot-10 and Audrey Parker is an even 6 feet.

"They do a really good job of rebounding the basketball. The last few games, we've been a lot better, but definitely, I would say one of our weaknesses throughout this years was just rebounding the basketball on a consistent basis," Mosley said.

Mosley and Copley head coach Julia Solis have a lot in common. Both have won back-to-back state titles; Solis won at Twinsburg in 2011 and 2012. Only one coach will emerge from Friday's matchup with a shot to win a third trophy.

The Cavaliers are making their fourth straight appearance at the state tournament, a trip that never gets old. Their main goal is to get better every day, a standard that has impressed Mosley with how far his team has come.

"They do something different — different as in a sense of special — on a daily basis. I'm like, 'Good gosh! If we're doing that on a daily basis, if we're doing what we did yesterday, and if you guys show me something else tomorrow, there's no telling how good this team can actually be,'" Mosley said.

That goal isn't hard to achieve with junior Dee Alexander, now a two-time Ohio Ms. Basketball winner. Sharp-shooting senior Jayda Mosley is coming off a regional final in which she made six 3-pointers, the fifth time she has done that this season. Freshman center Samaya Wilkins has also come on strong, scoring double-figures in four of her last six games.

Springboro

The Panthers are playing in the state's final weekend for the first time since 1978. Their reward is a third straight game against a team ranked in the AP Poll.

After defeating No. 3 Mason and No. 6 Mount Notre Dame in the regional tournament, No. 2 Pickerington Central (25-3) awaits in Friday's 8 p.m. state semifinal. The Tigers won the 2018 state championship and were the 2019 runner-up.

"Obviously a great, great basketball team. Excited to get the opportunity to play them. They have everything you would want in a team. They're extremely well coached and the program's tradition speaks for itself," Springboro head coach Mike Holweger said.

The Panthers' only losses have come to out-of-state teams: Cooper (Kentucky), Morris Catholic (New Jersey) and Crestwood Prep (Canada). Their best wins are over Purcell Marian, Lakota East, Magnificat and Bishop Watterson.

Led by Ms. Basketball nominee Berry Wallace, the Tigers score 62.1 points per game. Berry's sister, Blossom, is one of four starters scoring more than 7 points per game, but she is also one of their best defenders. Junior Rylee Bess has made 54 3-pointers this season and can convert from just as deep as Springboro's sharpshooters.

Should this game become an offensive shootout, the Panthers are equipped to hang with the Tigers. There is, of course, Ms. Basketball nominee Bryn Martin, but Brooke Clear, Chloe Downing, Morgan Meek, Aniya Trent and Ava Wade have all hit big shots in recent games.

"We have a lot of confidence in all of our players offensively. We expect them to be aggressive and shoot with confidence. We don't worry about if the ball goes in the basket or not if it's a good shot. I think our kids are tough. I think they are ridiculously competitive," Holweger said.

Pickerington Central also likes to extend its pressure, forcing turnovers that lead to quick, uncontested layups. Springboro is coming off a 21-turnover game against Mount Notre Dame but was averaging seven turnovers in the previous five contests. Something Holweger has done to combat the press is to have Trent take the ball out of bounds.

"She is such an incredibly gifted, talented and unselfish player that she will do anything that we ask and we ask a lot of her," Holweger said.

Just as the 1978 team was in attendance at the regional final, Springboro has continued to feel the support from the community. The team received letters from the fourth-grade class at Dennis Elementary and heard from Superintendent Carrie Hester. The city is sending the team off on Friday with a parade along Main Street.

"I'm really happy for Springboro. I'm happy for our players and the players, assistant coaches and the scout teams. They're the ones who really deserve all the credit for getting us here," Holweger said.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: OHSAA girls basketball: Purcell Marian, Springboro set to for Dayton