Grove's 'missed opportunities' does them in against the Eagles

ELIDA—With a little over a minute-and-a-half left in regulation, everything started going Columbus Grove's way. It drew a charge on Toledo Christian's Mackenzie Royal-Davis to foul her out, it scored four-straight points to tie the game at 33 and had the ball. To top it off, CG's Savanah Ridenour drove down the lane to get a great look at the go-ahead bucket with 47.3 left. Until she fumbled the ball away and TC recovered it. Six unanswered points later — four by Kendall Braden, who finished with a game-high 15 points — the Eagles went up 39-33 with less than ten seconds to go Kenzie King knocked down a buzzer-beating 3-pointer as Grove's run toward a state title came to a halt, losing 39-36 in Thursday's D-IV regional semifinal in Elida. "Columbus Grove made us earn every second of this and I'm super proud of this team," Toledo Christian head coach Tim Wensink said. "I thought there were times where our composure — we could've lost it and we didn't at all — and I'm super proud of that. I've talked about it all year, I think we're mentally tough and physical tough. We played a tough Columbus Grove team." The Eagles will play New Knoxville— after it beat Crestview, 35-26 —back in Elida at 7 p.m. Saturday for a chance to make it to the state semis. In the second half, Grove finished 7-of-22 from the field and had a hard time mustering much of anything offensively, after it scored 15 points in the second quarter alone. "Their defensive pressure was really good," CG's Brian Schroeder said of Toledo Christian (22-4). "We went to more of our ball-screen actions (in the second half) because when you're putting that much pressure on the perimeter, your help-side isn't gonna be as good. We wanted to get 13 (Royal-Davis) and some of their posts involved in the ball screens (because) we thought we could attack with Lauryn, Savanah and Kenzie a little bit." "They did a really good job taking that away. But I thought for the most part — and they're a good defensive team, don't get me wrong — but we missed some opportunities." It certainly didn't help Grove's cause that Lauryn Auchmuty — who scored 29 points in the district final game against Miller City — picked up three first-half fouls and her fourth one less than a minute into the second half. Despite that, the freshman led the Bulldogs with a game-high 15 points. "She's a freshman, so she still makes those freshman mistakes. But she works hard each-and-every day in practice, she loves basketball and she really grew throughout the year," Schroeder said. "She was playing her best basketball at the end. With her getting in foul trouble hand-cuffed us a little bit." Still, though, Schroeder's team got contributions from others who helped keep them in it while their hottest scorer was on the bench. Savanah Ridenour finished with 14 points and six boards to follow Auchmuty's game. "I can't say enough about all the girls that stepped up," Schroeder said. "Lauryn was huge in our districts—for her to be in foul trouble—other girls stepped up, fought with that type of team. That's pretty special to me as a head coach. Obviously it didn't end the way we wanted, but I'm proud of their effort and intensity." Columbus Grove finishes the season at 18-7 and while the loss of Thursday's game still stings, Schroeder couldn't be anything but proud of his team for how they played not only in this game, but the season as well. "I've got four seniors that are special (King, Ridenour, Emma Renner and Shay Schroeder). They worked really hard, they're high-character girls, they have leadership and they're gym rats," he said. "Before school in the morning, you'd see them shooting. I've told them before that (they should) give it enough time and put it in perspective because they've put their stamp on this program. Their character, their leadership and what it takes to be PCL co-champs, district champs and they've kinda left a legacy and a higher standard for our girls. I'm just lucky enough to have coached them." TOLEDO CHRISTIAN (22-4) Butler 1-5 -10 9, Braden 4-15 7-8 15, Royal-Davis 3-4 4-5 10, Rosales 1-4 0-0 3, Wensink 0-2 0-1 0, Neitzke 1-2 0-0 2. TOTALS: 10-32 17-24 39. COLUMBUS GROVE (18-7) Auchmuty 6-11 2-3 15, Sautter 0-2 0-3 0, Clement 0-2 0-0 0, King 2-8 1-7 5, Ridenour 7-10 0-2 14, Schroeder 0-5 0-0 0, Halker 0-4 0-0 0, Fortman 1-1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 16-43 2-9 36. Toledo Christian &emsp;&emsp;11 &emsp;&emsp;8 &emsp;&emsp;7 &emsp;&emsp;13—39 Columbus Grove &emsp;&emsp;5 &emsp;&emsp;15 &emsp;&emsp;5 &emsp;&emsp;11—36 3-POINT GOALS: Toledo Christian 2-13 (Butler 1-1, Braden 0-7, Rosales 1-3); Columbus Grove 2-15 (Auchmuty 1-3, King 1-7, Schroeder 0-4). REBOUNDS: Toledo Christian 29 (Royal-Davis 8); Columbus Grove 27 (Ridenour 6). TURNOVERS: Toledo Christian 12; Columbus Grove 12.