The Rootstown girls basketball team, along with youth players, students, and others, pose for a celebration photo after Friday’s victory.
Shannon Eldreth/Special to Portage Sports

By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

Earlier this week, while preparing for Friday’s Division VI state semifinal, Rootstown girls basketball coach Joe Leonard had a feeling take over him.

Rootstown senior Addy Germann celebrate her team’s 57-54 state-semifinal victory over Fort Frye on Friday.
Shannon Eldreth/Special to Portage Sports

“I felt it in my bones. I can’t explain it, but I felt it deep,” he said.

The feeling?

“I just knew that Colbie (Curall) was going to have a huge game for us.”

Leonard shared the feeling, and his confidence in it, with his junior standout.

“I told her that I wanted her to be aggressive and to make plays.”

On Friday, Leonard’s feeling was played into reality.

Curall was electric.

From the opening quarter, when she scored seven points in the game’s first 90 seconds, and throughout, finishing with 16 points (a perfect 7-of-7 shooting), five blocked shots, five steals and seven assists.

Curall’s signature and clutch performance, along with plenty of help up and down the Rovers’ lineup, highlighted a historic 57-54 victory over Fort Frye at Claymont High School.

The triumph catapults Rootstown (27-1) to the Division VI state championship game for the first time in school history.

The Rovers will square off against Columbus Grove, which defeated Minster on Friday in the other state semifinal, 43-40.

The state final between the Rovers and Bulldogs (26-2) is set for Saturday at 2 p.m. at the University of Dayton.

As for Friday’s win, the emotions were not unique to the players and coaches only.

Rootstown’s Sophi Smith goes up for a layup during Friday’s second quarter at Claymont High School.
Shannon Eldreth/Special to Portage Sports

The entire Rootstown community rushed onto the floor in celebration, sharing in the special moment with hugs, smiles, tears, pictures … and memories.

“I am just so proud of this team. Every single player,” Leonard said. “This was another true team win. It took all 17 girls for us to get this win tonight. They all had a part in it. JV players, too, because they were the scout team all week and did a tremendous job preparing us. (Fort Frye) runs an offensive action that is so different than anything we see so for our JV team to replicate that all week helped us prepare.

“And to see the community support us the way they do … that is special,” Leonard added. “It means more to us than they will ever know.”

Once again, the Rovers’ faithful had plenty to get behind, too, including a pivotal 11-0 run by the Rovers that bridged the third and fourth quarters and ultimately helped secure the win.

After a fury of third-quarter points, behind the strength of 5-for-8 shooting from 3-point range, the Cadets (21-5), who trailed by as many as 10 (32-22) with 2:47 left in the second quarter, blitzed back into the game.

Fort Frye’s momentum surged when it took a 45-42 lead with about 2 minutes to play in the third quarter — a staggering 23-10 run for the Cadets — that prompted a Rovers timeout.

Leonard admitted that he considered changing his gameplan, but instead, trusted his heart and his players.

“As a staff, we contemplated if we should change our defensive approach during that stretch,” the Rovers’ leader said. “I decided that we were going to stay with our gameplan, at least for another 2 minutes. I didn’t want to abandon our gameplan, and I felt like if we could just get to the fourth quarter, we could wear them down.”

Rootstown sophomore Elliott Smallfield dribbles up the court against Fort Frye.
Shannon Eldreth/Special to Portage Sports

What helped ease Leonard was that the Rovers scored the next five points, which were the last five points of the third quarter.

Curall sparked the offense, and jump-started the 11-0 run by completing an and-one three-point play that tied the game at 45-45 before the Rovers took a 47-45 lead into the fourth quarter.

In a slower-paced fourth quarter, when Rootstown protected possessions and were opportunistic offensively, the lead went to 49-45 on a drive and left-handed finish by Curall.

The lead grew to 51-45 when Nadia Lough, who finished with a team-high 20 points, grabbed a defensive rebound on one end to start a transition, then pulled down an offensive rebound seconds later for an easy putback layin. Rootstown’s lead then extended to eight, 53-45, with 2:19 to play, when Curall found Kelsey Bittecuffer with a cross-court pass that Bittecuffer used to put in a tough left-handed layup.

The Rovers’ 11-0 run was finally snapped when Fort Frye’s Emma Duskey hit a free throw at 1:19, giving the Cadets their first points of the fourth quarter and ending a nearly 10-minute scoring drought.

Fort Frye fouled to work the clock and Rootstown’s Addy Germann and Elliott Smallfield both hit free throws down the stretch to help secure the win.

The Cadets’ Ella Dowler hit a par of 3s in the closing seconds (29.8 seconds left and as time expired) to close out their scoring.

Rovers senior Nadia Lough waits for an inbounds play to start.
Shannon Eldreth/Special to Portage Sports

The 3-pointer was a huge part of Fort Frye’s offense on Friday. They shot the ball particularly well from distance, hitting 14-of-30 from behind the arc, but struggled inside it, where they were only 4-for-17.

The Cadets were especially hot from deep through three quarters, hitting 12-of-22, before cooling to just 2-of-8, including misses on their first six attempts, in the fourth quarter.

Fort Frye, whose starters played every second of Friday’s game, placed three players in double-digits.

Dowler led all scorers with 23 points (7-of-11 on 3s), while Duskey added 13 points and Haven Shilling connected on four of her six 3-pointers to also finish with 13 points.

Meanwhile, the Rovers’ offense was dominant.

Rootstown shot 22-of-34 from the field (65 percent).

In addition to Curall’s perfect shooting, Lough was also nearly perfect.

The senior made eight of her 10 shots from the floor, including 3-of-4 on 3s.

While Curall and Lough did the heavy lifting in the scoring column, Smallfield, Bittecuffer and Addy Germann all played key roles as floor generals to help the Rovers move in and out of sets, as well as controlling the clock in the fourth quarter.

DIVISION VI STATE SEMIFINAL

ROOTSTOWN 57, FORT FRYE 54

(At Claymont High School)

FORT FRYE (54) — Ava Huffman 1 0-0 2; Emmie Duskey 5 1-2 13; Haven Shilling 4 1-3 13; Aubrie Lang 1 0-0 3; Ella Dowler 7 2-2 23. Totals 18 4-7 54.

ROOTSTOWN (57) — Colbie Curall 7 1-1 16; Addy Germann 1 1-2 3; Elliott Smallfield 1 4-8 6; Kelsey Bittecuffer 3 0-0 7; Sophi Smith 1 0-0 2; Cloe Bengston 1 0-0 3; Mia Damicone 0 0-0 0; Nadia Lough 8 1-2 20. Totals 22 7-13 57.

FORT FRYE 17-11-17-9—54

ROOTSTOWN 19-15-13-10—57

Three-Point Goals — Fort Frye (14-30): Dowler 7, Shilling 4, Duskey 2, Lang 1. Rootstown (6-15): Lough 3, Curall 1, Bittecuffer 1, Bengston 1.

Total Rebounds — Fort Frye 19 (Huffman, Lang 5 each), Rootstown 15 (Curall, Lough 4 each).

Total Assists — Rootsotwn 15 (Curall 7), Fort Frye 15 (Lang 6).

Total Turnovers — Fort Frye, 14-12.

Total Fouls — Fort Frye, 12-11.