By Phil Keren

Correspondent

Even though they ended up on the short end of a 48-34 score in Friday’s Division VII state semifinal against Waterford, the members of the 2024-25 Mogadore girls basketball team can take pride in the fact that they made history.

They were the first team in girls program history to make it to a state semifinal game.

Mogadore (23-5) head coach Jen Ritch said she was “super proud of that accomplishment by these girls. We’ve had a lot of talented kids come through Mogadore’s basketball program and get to the Elite Eight, and I’m just proud that this group was able to break that barrier and get here and put us on the map.”

One of Ritch’s senior leaders, guard Julie Tompkins added, “In the end, it didn’t work out for us, but we’ll remember this for the rest of our lives.”

In the first half of the game at Dover High School, Waterford (26-1) used their significant height advantage to score in the paint and also knocked down 3-pointers against Mogadore’s zone defense to take a 23-9 halftime lead.

After playing a tight first quarter that ended with them holding a 9-6 lead, Waterford outscored Mogadore 14-3 in the second period to expand their lead. Waterford’s baskets came on a baseline jumper and layup from sophomore Ava Hurley, two 3-pointers by junior Elsie Malec, two free throws by senior Avery Wagner and a layup in the post by senior Avery Smithberger. Mogadore didn’t score in the second quarter until Julie Tompkins banked in a 3-pointer with 15 second left in the half. In fact, Julie Tompkins scored all nine of her team’s first-half points.

Ritch noted her team struggled in the first half to score against a squad with a significant height advantage: Wagner is 6-4 and Smithberger is 5-10, while Mogadore doesn’t have anyone taller than 5-8 on its roster. Wagner blocked a few shots and definitely altered others.

“We don’t play anyone that’s 6-4 or even 5-11,” Ritch said. “It took us too long to figure out how to adjust to those heights. Usually we drive, that’s our bread and butter. Well you can’t drive when you’re 5-2 and they’re 6-4, so we had to adjust and then we didn’t hit shots from the outside that we would normally hit. It just wasn’t falling for us, so we had to adjust our strategy a little bit and try to rely on our defensive pressure.”

After playing zone defense in the first half, Mogadore switched to man-to-man after halftime, a move that led to some steals and points off turnovers. Although Waterford continued to extend their lead in the third quarter, Mogadore started to find some offensive rhythm as they scored in their sets and off of turnovers created by the defense. In the third quarter, senior Amelia Morris made a mid-range jump shot, junior Rylee Clark hit a jumper, Julie Tompkins made a fastbreak layup following a steal and feed from Morris, and sophomore Casey Bolyard knocked in a jump shot from just inside the 3-point line at the top of the key.

“We knew that this was going to be a tough game,” Ritch said. “They outmatch us in size, and they move the ball really well, so we had to ratchet up the defense a little bit more and try and make things happen because one of our strengths is speed. We’re scrappy. We just decided we had to leave it all on the floor and that’s exactly what they did.”

Julie Tompkins said she thought her team played good defense the entire game, but acknowledged, “Sometimes you just can’t guard people taller than you.”

At the start of the fourth quarter, Waterford senior Kendall Sure made a layup in the post to give her team a 37-18 advantage. Mogadore answered with a 10-2 run to cut the lead to 39-28 with 2:40 remaining. Mogadore’s points came on a corner trey from Morris, a jumper by sophomore Hayli Clester, a rainbow 3 by Julie Tompkins, and a fastbreak layup by senior Ari Tompkins.

At that point, Waterford called a timeout to regroup.

When play resumed, Ari Tompkins and Waterford’s Brynnlee Pottmeyer got tangled up competing for possession of the ball.

The play was initially called a jump ball, but then changed to a foul on Ari Tompkins, her fourth.

Pottmeyer missed both foul shots, but got her own rebound and was fouled again by Ari Tompkins, her fifth, forcing her to exit with about two minutes to play. This time, Pottmeyer swished her free throws to put Waterford ahead, 41-28. Waterford made 6-of-6 free throws in the final minute to clinch the win.

Julie Tompkins led Mogadore in scoring with a game-high 14 points, while Morris had 6 and Bolyard and Clark had 4 points each.

For Waterford, Wagner had 13 points and Malec notched 12.

With the victory, Waterford advances to the Division VII state championship game on March 15 at the University of Dayton Arena. They will play the winner of the Ottoville-Fort Loramie game.

Julie Tompkins said they started the game with a 2-3 zone to force Waterford to shoot from the outside.

“That didn’t really work because they’re not slow, they were hitting some shots so we switched over to man, which personally, I wanted to do man,” Tompkins said. “I thought that we’re better at man. I think that it switched our mentality of how we were going to win this game and especially in the fourth quarter when we were down 11, I think that we mentally all got back into it. Unfortunately …  it didn’t end up our way.”

On offense, Julie Tompkins noted the team struggled to score in the first half because Waterford was “playing pretty good defense.”

In the second half, Tompkins said she thought Waterford was focusing on stopping certain players leaving others open for shots in the process. Mogadore and Waterford each scored 25 points in the second half, but Mogadore had more field goals by a 10-5 margin.

“If we would’ve just had the same first half (with scoring), I think we would’ve end up coming out on top,” Tompkins said.

Ritch praised her team’s effort.

“All four seniors that I have, they leave it on the floor every single time they go out there,” Ritch said. “…The (Tompkins) twins and Amelia Morris… they’ll give you whatever they have in the tank. Kasey Bolyard and Hayli Clester, too. They did the best they could.”

Reflecting on the season, Ritch said she felt her team’s loss to Loudonville in last year’s Division IV district championship played a role in igniting this season’s state semifinal run.

“We learned from that,” Ritch said. “We learned what we needed to do to get to that next level, and we really pushed it in the summer.”

That push yielded some amazing results.

“This has been a fantastic season,” Ritch said. “Unfortunately it either had to end today or next Saturday and it’s so abrupt and you just never want it to end. We’re family.”

Ritch said she and her coaches thanked the players “for making this program what it is right now.”

She gave additional kudos to the departing seniors: Morris, Ari and Julie Tompkins and Ava Miller.

“When those four seniors walked in the door, we had a culture change and you can see the results out there on the floor,” Ritch said.

While the game didn’t ended the way she wanted, Julie Tompkins took a moment to appreciate the great strides the program has made.

“To get here and have our community here celebrating us, it feels pretty great,” she said.

DIVISION VII STATE SEMIFINAL

WATERFORD 48, MOGADORE 34

(At Dover High School)

MOGADORE (34) — Julie Tompkins 5 1-2 14, Kasey Bolyard 2 0-0 4, Hayli Clester 1 0-0 2, Amelia Morris 2 1-2 6, Rylee Clark 2 0-0 4, Ava Murphy 0 2-2 2, Ari Tompkins 1 0-0 2. Totals 13 4-6 34.

WATERFORD (48) — Elsie Malec 3 3-4 12, Kendall Sury 3 0-0 7, Brynnlee Pottmeyer 0 9-12 9, Ava Hurley 2 0-0 4, Avery Smithberger 2 1-4 3, Avery Wagner 4 5-7 13. Totals 13 18-27 48.

MOGADORE 6-3-9-16—34

WATERFORD 9-14-12-13—48

Three-Point Goals — Mogadore (4): J. Tompkins 3, Morris 1. Waterford (4): Malec 3, Sury 1.

Total Rebounds — Mogadore 13 (A. Tompkins 4).