Pioneers knock off third Columbus team

By Gregg Rettig

Managing Editor

PICKERINGTON — For the third time in three postseason games, the Jonathan Alder girls basketball team faced a Columbus City League team.

Like the first two times, the Pioneers won. It wasn’t as easy, though, Wednesday night.

Alder, the top seed in the Division II Central District tournament, beat third-seeded Centennial, 41-34, at Pickerington North High School.

The teams entered the fourth quarter tied at 32, but the Pioneers (18-5) didn’t allow the Stars (18-5) to score a basket from the field. Centennial’s only fourth-quarter points came from the free-throw line.

“They killed us on the boards,” Alder coach Terra McDaniels said. “We stunk it up on defense until the fourth quarter, but we were able to squeak it out.”

The Stars did indeed control the boards on both ends of the floor, but they weren’t able to hit their shots, especially in the fourth quarter. Centennial’s Aarin Jones grabbed 13 rebounds, including seven offensively.

The Pioneers tried throughout the game to work the ball into the post, but they had an off night shotting as well.

Alder led the game 24-23 at the break.

“I thought Brooke (Foster) was a real spark plug for us in the fourth quarter,” McDaniels said. “We tried to keep mixing it up defensively and I think we made them panic a little bit in the fourth quarter.”

The Pioneers went ahead for good when Alexis Milesky gave them a 34-32 lead on a lay-in to start the fourth quarter.

Brittany Bakenhaster scored three of her 11 points in the game in the fourth.

Morgan Plummer led all scorers with 20. She nailed four free throws in the fourth quarter.

“When we talked about (the Stars) fouling, we said Morgan needs to have the ball,” McDaniels said.