Tuslaw High School girls basketball weathers long layoff, opens OHSAA sectionals with win
TUSCARAWAS TWP. — A long layoff proved to be no problem for the Tuslaw High School girls basketball team. The Mustangs opened Division III tournament play with an impressive 55-30 win over Mentor Lake Catholic in a sectional semifinal. It was the first game for Tuslaw since the Mustangs clinched a share of the PAC-7 championship in their final game of the regular season on Feb. 7.
"We're really glad to have this one under our belt," Tuslaw head coach Kathryn Rowbotham said. "We really weren't able to carry our momentum from that final game in the regular season over into anything. I think early in this game we were shaking off some rust."
It didn't take long for the Mustangs to accomplish that thanks to a a strong game by Destiny Dulkoski. The junior forward had 12 points, nine rebounds and five blocked shots.
"We were really excited for the tournament to start," Dulkoski said. "Our start to the game wasn't the best in the first half but we got our mojo back. It took us a bit to adjust from two weeks of practice to an actual game. We tried to keep our intensity up and scrimmaged each other in practice as much as we could, but its difficult to simulate an actual game."
Three other Tuslaw players also scored in double figures. Emma Rowbotham added 13 points and five rebounds, Malia Mizeres had 11 points and a blocked shot and Breanna McCabe contributed 10 points, six rebounds and a block.
Long-range shooting was a big differentiator for the Mustangs. Tuslaw made eight 3-pointers. Lake Catholic had just one. Emma Rowbotham sank three triples for the Mustangs while Mizeres and guard Abby Leedy made two each. Karleigh Tully also made a 3 for Tuslaw.
"One thing we were able to do over the past two weeks was take a lot of shots in practice," Kathryn Rowbotham said. "We did a lot of shooting. I think you saw the effects of that tonight. When players had open opportunities, they took advantage of them."
Carmella Sowers led Lake Catholic with 11 points. Sowers was the only Cougar to score in double figures.
Despite being a No. 10 seed, Tuslaw (17-5) will be on the road for a sectional final against No. 7 Columbia Station Columbia (19-3) at 1 p.m. Saturday. No. 4 Rootstown, No. 3 Crestview and No. 2 Keystone are also in the Division III, Northeast 1 bracket with the Mustangs.
"It was a tricky process to place ourselves," Kathryn Rowbotham said. "We had a couple of different directions we could have gone, but we were kind of tired of running into the usual teams we always run into. We thought this might be a strategy to try. With game film being as prevalent as it is now, we didn't think preparing for these games against fresh opponents would be as tricky as it might have been in the past."
The Mustang players are not phased at the prospect of playing on the road or against tough competition.
"We just need to do the things that we always do to prepare for games," Dulkoski said. "We just need to focus on playing our game. A gym is ultimately just a gym. It will be a different feel to not have as many of our fans because the games are so far away. They really help bring our energy level up when they are with us. We will find a way to manage, though."
Reach Cliff at cliff.hickman@cantonrep.com
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This article originally appeared on The Repository: Tuslaw beats Mentor Lake Catholic in OHSAA girls basketball sectional
