By Phil Keren

Correspondent

Tenacious defense and sharpshooting from the 3-point line were key ingredients in the Aurora girls basketball team’s dominant 52-9 win over Cuyahoga Falls on Friday.

When the two teams first squared off in December, Aurora (14-4, 8-3 in the Suburban League American Conference) won, 39-27.

That game was tightly contested in the first half, but the Greenmen built a solid lead after outscoring Cuyahoga Falls (6-11, 3-8) 11-1 in the third quarter.

This time, Aurora used intense, focused, ball-pressure defense and strong 3-point shooting to build a 19-2 lead by the end of the first quarter.

Aurora senior Brooke Pierce swished two 3-pointers and senior Addison Witting chipped in with a trey of her own.

Aurora’s relentless defense created several turnovers and prevented Cuyahoga Falls from getting into an offensive rhythm.

The Black Tigers didn’t get into the scoring column until senior Isabell Fenn made two free throws at the 1:39 mark of the first quarter.

Aurora opened the second quarter with a 7-0 run to extend its lead to 26-2.

This point surge consisted of junior Jillian Monastero scoring on a transition layup, sophomore Caitlyn Pierce making a layup on a drive and Brooke Pierce knocking down another 3-pointer.

After Cuyahoga Falls junior Kayce Lee ended the run with a pair of foul shots, the Greenmen closed out the first half with six consecutive points; sophomore Reese Witting made a short

hook in the paint and added two free throws, while Caitlyn Pierce swished a jumper from about

10 feet.

Aurora led 32-4 at halftime and continued to increase their lead in the second half, much of which was played with a running clock.

“I thought we did well,” Aurora head coach Erika Greenberg said afterward. “We took good shots. We got to the rim when we needed to. There’s some stuff to clean up, but overall I thought we did OK.”

Aurora’s defense held Cuyahoga Falls to zero made field goals in the first half and just two for the entire contest.

Greenberg noted there was an added effort to contain Lee, who had a big game in the teams’ first meeting in December.

“I thought we did a good job (on defense),” Greenberg said. “We moved our feet. We contained the ball.”

Brooke Pierce finished with a game-high 14 points, including a trio of 3-pointers.

“She shoots the ball well,” Greenberg said. “I thought we moved the ball well to be able to find her within open spots and she knocked it down. She did a good job.”

Although Brooke Pierce was the only player who reached double figures, she received plenty of scoring support from her teammates.

Reese Witting had 9 points, while Caitlyn Pierce and freshman Lela Buleski tallied 8 each.

With a large lead at halftime, Greenberg said she and her staff talked with the players about fine-tuning some components of the offensive attack.

“Even though we played well (in the first half), there was still some things we needed to clean up,” Greenberg said. “We made some bad passes I thought in the (first half) that we needed to clean up a little bit…I did think we took a little bit better care of the ball in the third quarter.”

The victory was a nice bounce-back win for Aurora after its 50-41 loss to Copley on Wednesday.

The Greenmen had won 10 straight before Copley defeated them. With the win over Cuyahoga Falls, Aurora sits in third place in the Suburban League’s American Conference, two games behind Copley.

They have four regular-season games remaining, starting with a home contest against Tallmadge on Jan. 28.