FAIRBORN, Ohio – On Wednesday,
Centerville (Ohio) survived one of the nation's top junior guard prospects in Princeton's Kelsey Mitchell. Saturday, the Elks couldn't duplicate the feat against two of the country's top junior posts.
Facing rival
Fairmont (Kettering, Ohio) in a grudge match of nationally ranked teams, Centerville fell 58-46 to its Greater Western Ohio Conference rival before 5,500 in the OHSAA Division I regional finals at Wright State University's Nutter Center.
Led by the 6-foot-2 tandem of
Kathryn Westbeld and
Makayla Waterman, Fairmont, ranked ninth in the
MaxPreps Xcellent 25, advanced to its fourth-straight OHSAA state tournament. The Firebirds (25-1) face
Notre Dame Academy (Toledo, Ohio) in Friday's state semifinals at Ohio State's Schottenstein Center.
Centerville,
ranked No. 8 in the Xcellent 25, finishes the most successful season in school history at 26-2. The Elks were playing in their first regional final. Both losses were to Fairmont.
"To get (to state) four years in a row is unbelievable," Fairmont coach Tim Cogan said. "It's great to make history. We're blessed."
And talented.
On a roster that includes seven college prospects, Westbeld and Waterman are crown jewels.
"They're tremendous," Cogan said. "They complement one another."
View the MaxPreps Ohio girls basketball playoff brackets
Westbeld, who has narrowed her college choices to Connecticut, Duke, Kentucky, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, USC and UCLA, ended with 13 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Waterman, who owns several offers including Ohio State, had 16 points, 12 rebounds and five assists.
Centerville scored the game's first basket for its lone lead and trailed 8-7 before a 19-4 run over a seven-minute span of the first and second quarters — fueled by nine points from Waterman — propelled the Firebirds in front 27-11. The closest the Elks got was nine with less than a minute to play.
Waterman's performance was particularly notable considering her last outing against Centerville wasn't.
"I probably had one of the worst games of my life," said Waterman of a one-point performance in the Firebirds' only loss this season. "I wasn't thinking about anything else except coming out and proving to them and everyone that I'm a good player."
"We always expect Waterman to play well, she just hadn't the first two times against us this year," Centerville coach Adam Priefer said. "She did a fantastic job in the first half of helping her team convert and build their lead. It felt like they were on fire."
Senior
Alex Henning (Bucknell) and junior
Shannon Coffee each scored 10 points for Centerville, which had a 19-game win streak snapped. Senior
Spencer Gray (Sienna) added eight points and five assists.
Senior
Chelsea Welch (Duquesne) scored 12 points for Fairmont, which ran its win streak to 11.
"It's not an easy thing to go to state every year," Westbeld said. "We killed it."
