How lineup changes fueled Pickerington Central girls basketball's return trip to state
It might be tempting for girls basketball fans to write off Pickerington Central’s latest appearance in the Division I state tournament as business as usual.
Led by senior forward and McDonald’s All-American Game selection Berry Wallace, the Tigers are at state for the second year in a row and fourth time since 2018. It’s also their 15th trip since the beginning of the Dave Butcher-led dynasty in 1985.
The other three teams in the field this week at University of Dayton Arena have a combined nine state berths, six of those belonging to Rocky River Magnificat.
But those observations probably do not take into account that Central returned only two starters in Wallace and junior point guard Rylee Bess, that their graduates included a Vanderbilt-bound point guard in Madison Greene and a Columbia University signee in Olivia Cooper or that in late January, coach Chris Wallace found his starting lineup in need of a revamp.
Junior Faith King and freshman Zoe Coleman became starters, and senior Jaden Tucker and junior Kennady Gordon saw their minutes shift later in the game. All are guards, although the 5-foot-11 Coleman also plays inside.
“They didn’t lose minutes,” Wallace said. “We just felt it was a better spark and rotational flow of what we needed as a team.”
An 11-game winning streak has followed, including four district tournament victories by an average of 60.5 points and 20- and 13-point wins in the regional round.
Central (25-3) will face Springboro (23-5) in a state semifinal at 8 p.m. Friday.
“Everybody uses the word ‘role,’ and sometimes people take that as a negative thing,” Wallace said. “It doesn’t matter if your role is to score or rebound. The kids we’re talking about who have played really critical roles, those roles changed through the course of the season. We had to ask girls to do different things.”
None of their statistics are gaudy.
Coleman leads the group with averages of 8.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists. King, a transfer from Worthington Christian, adds 4.0 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists. Gordon averages 4.1 points, 3.0 assists and 1.7 rebounds, and Tucker contributes 3.4 points and 2.0 assists.
“I knew I could be a help for this team; I didn’t know I could get into the starting lineup,” King said. “(The coaches) basically just said they wanted to see what we could do. If we did well, we’d get more playing time. If not, we wouldn’t, which is how it should be.”
The others emphasized their defensive roles.
“I’m someone who crashes the boards, gets rebounds and I’m another presence in the post (besides Wallace),” Coleman said. “I can get the guards open and create in the post. It was kind of a big transition but as a starter, I knew I had to pick things up right away.”
Central allows 35.4 points per game, and such an effort will be crucial against a Springboro team led by Ms. Basketball finalist Bryn Martin. The 6-1 junior, the Southwest District Player of the Year, averages 20.8 points and 4.5 assists.
Friday’s winner will face Magnificat or Olmsted Falls in the state final at 8:30 p.m. Saturday.
Central lost to Olmsted Falls 58-53 in a semifinal last year, a game it led into the fourth quarter.
“We’ve been through so much this season and we’ve worked so hard to get here,” Gordon said. “We’re trying to get it back from last year. Not winning last year is a ton of motivation.”
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Pickerington Central girls basketball makes return trip to state
