The Rootstown girls basketball team shares a moment together in a huddle before the start of last Saturday’s Division VI regional championship game against Smithville.
Shannon Eldreth/Special to Portage Sports

By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

When watching the Rootstown High School girls basketblal team, there are many little things that stand out.

In some ways, you would expect that from a team that owns a glowing 26-1 record and regional championship to earn a spot in Ohio’s Final Four in Division VI.

In other ways, though, those little things that the Rovers are overlooked and underrated.

Not to a basketball enthusiast like me.

The way I view and approach the game, every little thing is a big thing.

It’s how you create an identity for your team.

It’s how you get to 26-1.

It’s how you earn a spot into the state semifinal.

While watching the Rovers during their thrilling 37-36 regional final victory over Smithville last Saturday, the little things were there again for Rootstown.

And I was taking notes.

     • Rootstown junior Colbie Curall averaged nearly 11 points per game this season. In the Rovers’ regional semifinal and regional final games, the standout has scored a combined two points. Yet, Curall has had a pronounced impact in both games. Especially in the regional final, when in the final 53 seconds of play, she made two of the biggest plays of the game with a touch-pass assist to Nadia Lough on a critical out-of-bounds play, as well as a game-sealing steal with 5 seconds remaining. The note is not to identify how Curall has not reached her scoring average, but more about spotlighting her ability to play selflessly and do what the team needs to win games instead of recognizing that she is not scoring as much as she is used to and beginning to chase points.

A close-up of the Rootstown girls basketball team’s warmup shooting shirts.
Shannon Eldreth/Special to Portage Sports

     • On one of the regional final’s most important plays, senior starter Addy Germann was on the bench. With Smithville taking the ball out of bounds on the side near halfcourt, trailing by one point after the go-ahead layup by Lough, head coach Joe Leonard subbed Cloe Bengston in for Germann. Ultimately, it was Curall who burst in front of a pass for the game-sealing play. However, Germann, a senior averaging double-digits in points and a terror in the passing lanes herself, selflessly going to the bench and trusting in her coaching staff and teammates to make the plays instead of sulking, is something that did not go unnoticed.

     • At one point in the fourth quarter, after having just scored, Rootstown set up in its patented full-court pressure defense. As the guards set up the top part of the pressure, Lough sprinted toward halfcourt to be on the back-end of the pressure. As she did, her feet got tangled up with a Smithville player along the sideline. The Smithville player lost their balance and went tumbling backward to the ground. By this time, the Smithies had the ball in play and were advancing up the court. Lough stopped, left her defensive responsibilities, and helped the Smithville player up. As she did, the Smithville guard threw deep down the court — where Lough would have been otherwise — for a freebie layup for the Smithies. Just a few plays later, the Smithies uncharacteristically turned the ball over on a full-court pass to an open and unguarded player only feet from the basket that almost inexplicably bounced off their foot and out of bounds on what appeared to be another sure-thing layup. Or maybe the energy of the game simply evened things out from Lough’s good deed a couple of minutes earlier.

     • The game-winning basket by Lough came after Smithville thwarted Rootstown’s initial quick-strike play. In the timeout prior to the play, Leonard drew up a set that had sophomore Elliott Smallfield taking the ball out of bounds and Lough set up on the low post. Anticipating aggressive man-to-man, the set was designed for Lough to flash to the ball, Smallfield to deliver it to her and immediately follow the pass, then for Lough to hand it off to Smallfield, who would have a full-head of steam to the basket. Smithville’s defense created a wall to block the action. Lough still handed it off to Smallfield, but Smallfield then had to reverse the ball back to the top of the arc to senior Kelsey Bittecuffer. Lough re-located back to the low post and Bittecuffer delivered a perfect bounce pass through traffic that Lough calmly caught, then went to work to dribble around a double-team for the game-winning basket. Basketball players making basketball plays and ignoring the pressure of the situation.

     • After Curall’s game-sealing steal, she was fouled almost immediately by a Smithville player, who was trying to stop the clock with as much time on it as possible. It gave Rootstown a side-out with Curall as the inbounder. Leonard and his staff gave Curall two clear instructions: First, any attempted pass was to be thrown toward the basket the Rovers were scoring on and nothing into the backcourt. Second, mentally count to four and if no clear pass presents itself, throw it off the leg of the defender guarding you. Both came into play. Curall’s first pass, to a cutting teammate down the sideline, was deflected back out of bounds, but did pull some time off the clock. On the ensuing inbound, there was only three-tenths of a second on the clock. When the official handed her the ball, she threw the ball off the shin of the defender, ending the game.

     • Rootstown’s substitution patterns include two players in and two players out about every 2 minutes. It allows the Rovers to keep their preferred defensive pressure at constant levels throughout the game because players stay fresh. They know they can play as hard as possible, emptying their energy level, because a break is on the way. And when it comes, two fresh-legged players are back on the court wreaking the same havoc. What’s refreshing is that when a Rootstown player is subbed out, there is never any negative body language from the fact that they seemingly just went in a couple minutes prior and feel like they should stay on the court. Instead, they run over to the bench, high-five every player all the way down the bench, grab their water and take their spot on the bench with attentive eyes on the court.

     • Lough led all scorers in the regional semifinal and regional final games. Simply put, she was the difference-maker that elevated the Rovers, but only because that is what the team needed for the win. To watch Lough play, she is such a confident player, and so comfortable on the court, that she knows the game will come to her when she is needed. If she takes over a game, it is not because she is attempting to prove how good she is, but, instead, naturally playing the game to give her team what it needs for them all to have success. Consider that the Rovers have had eight different leading scorers in games this season.

Moments like these have been happening for the Rovers all season long. It is why all the plays and moments listed above happened naturally and without applause. It is why the Rovers are living inside a special season that will continue on Friday in the state semifinal versus Fort Frye.

Chances are, more little moments will emerge then, too.