Granville girls basketball seniors complete perfect run through district tournament
GROVE CITY — As time expired Saturday, Maddie Jones raced onto the court with her Granville girls basketball teammates, jumped into the arms of Taylor Warehime and would not let go as if she was afraid the senior would disappear.
Fear not, Warehime is not going anywhere except back with the Blue Aces to the Division II regional tournament. Warehime scored 5 fourth-quarter points, including the go-ahead layup, to lift top-seeded Granville to a 55-49 victory against No. 6 North Union at Central Crossing.
“(Jones) makes everything so much more fun,” Warehime said. “She’s like the ringleader of our whole team. It’s awesome.”
Granville (25-1), which won its fourth consecutive district title and was a regional runner-up a year ago, plays Bryan (24-1) at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Mansfield Senior. Bellevue (21-5) plays Copley (23-3) in the second semifinal.
Warehime is a softball star and also a standout for the volleyball team, but she has carved out quite a niche on the basketball team during her career. Usually a defensive stalwart, Warehime scored 13 points Saturday, hitting a rare 3-pointer in the third quarter and making all three of her free throws in the fourth.
“In my other sports, I don’t get to do this,” Warehime said. “It’s just something I really look forward to coming into basketball season. It’s really serious. We are here to win, and that’s all that’s important to the team.”
North Union (17-8) fell behind 12-4 four minutes into the game after a 3-point barrage, including three from Granville star Harper Annarino. The Wildcats righted the ship and took a brief 16-14 lead early in the second quarter, but the Blue Aces answered with a 14-0 run.
North Union again came charging back. Sophomore Kennedy Harrah’s layup tied the game at 41 in the final minute of the third quarter, and sophomore Kailyn Colegrove’s layup off an assist from senior Zoe Wedding pushed a Wildcat lead to 49-46 with 3:23 left in the game.
“We fought hard,” said North Union coach Bre Jackson, whose team did not score again. “We kept fighting; we didn’t give up, kept pushing through. We did a lot of good things in the right moments and some not so good things, too. … We gave them a really great game. The ball just didn’t fall and go in our direction.”
Following Colegrove’s basket, Warehime drew a foul on a drive, but as she tumbled to the ground, she banged into Annarino’s previously injured left knee. Annarino went down in audible pain and eventually was helped off to the hallway.
As Warehime prepared to shoot the free throws, Annarino returned to the bench area. Warehime made both free throws, and upon Annarino’s return to the lineup the Blue Aces forced a turnover that led to Warehime’s go-ahead 3-point play on a breakaway layup.
“I never score the ball, so it’s kind of fun, but I would never have been able to do that without my teammates getting steals,” Warehime said.
Coach Tate Moore added, “Taylor Warehime — I don’t know how to put this into words — has been an afterthought for way too many people for three years. She is really good at basketball.”
Six players scored for North Union, and all six totaled at least 6 points.
Junior Addison Wedding stepped up and delivered a team-high 11 points. Harrah and freshman Gabby Lindsey added 9 points apiece and senior Audrey Benedict 8 points.
“Truly what I commended my team on in the locker room is every one of my players has grown from Day 1 of season until now in a positive trajectory,” said Jackson, whose team finished as district runner-up for the second consecutive season and graduates just Benedict and Zoe Wedding.
Annarino scored 22 of her game-high 26 points in the first half. She certainly provided a scare when she was down in pain.
Annarino, however, was out only momentarily, and the Blue Aces persevered. Senior Aliyah Moore added 8 points, and freshman Elle Mortimer made two free throws after an offensive rebound and made a key block down the stretch.
“As soon as (Annarino) got hurt, the one thing (assistant coach Kellon Thomas) said is we were going to win no matter what,” Warehime said. “That gave me a lot of confidence in our team.”
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This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Granville seniors complete run through OHSAA district tournament
