By Phil Keren

Correspondent

The Streetsboro girls basketball team’s season ended on Saturday with a hard-fought 62-47 loss to Laurel in the Division IV Regional Final at Canton Memorial Field House.

The final score is not indicative of how competitive the game was most of the way.

As Streetsboro head coach Carl Singer said, “I felt like it was a battle until the fourth quarter and they just made more plays down the stretch.”

During the first three quarters, Streetsboro and Laurel played a physical, energetic game, where the teams matched one another nearly play for play.

Each squad’s top player — Streetsboro’s Naomi Benson (24 points) and Laurel’s Tristan Williams (26 points) — scored on tightly contested shots, and the momentum swung back and forth as each team took turns going on scoring runs.

Thanks to a three-point play and a layup from Benson, the Rockets closed out the third quarter on a 5-0 run to pull to within two, 42-40.

In the fourth period, some great individual plays from Williams and couple key defensive plays propelled Laurel to a decisive victory.

“We had a couple plays not go our way and it’s tough in that situation to come back from that. … It was a tough situation for us,” Singer said.

Laurel opened the fourth quarter with six consecutive points, courtesy of a bank shot and a  pair of free throws from junior Liv Schneider and a driving layup by Williams. Streetsboro junior Carlee Bedford then scored on a running hook shot to make the score 48-42 with about 4 minutes left in the game.

It would be the closest that Streetsboro would get the rest of the way.

The Gators’ defense made a couple of key plays in the final period. Leading 49-42, Laurel’s

Sydnee Robinson denied an entry pass to Benson and, following the turnover, Williams scored on a drive to the hoop. A steal recorded by Laurel on a Streetsboro inbounds pass led to Williams making a pair of free throws to put her team ahead, 53-42, with 2:19 to go. With

Streetsboro committing fouls in an attempt to conserve time, the Gators made 9-of-10 free throws to ice the game.

Singer noted Laurel’s strong defensive effort played a key role in the Gators outscoring the Rockets 20-7 in the fourth quarter.

“We know that they play hard defense, and we feel like we play hard defense,” Singer said. “They just made more plays than us down the stretch.”

Benson finished the game with 24 points even though she was double-teamed and occasionally triple-teamed when she got the ball in the low post. The Gators played physical defense and also knocked away the entry pass a few times.

“We knew that they were going to try to find a way to contain her,” Singer said. “I think she did a nice job. I thought she fought through a lot of contact today. We were fighting for calls a little bit and then when you’re the biggest and strongest one out there, sometimes you don’t get those calls.”

Benson said she was pleased with the way she played.

“Even though it didn’t have the outcome I wanted it to be, I wanted my last game to be a good game,” she said. “I was in foul trouble a little bit, but I wanted to dominate, I wanted to battle on the boards like I did and score and just have a good game.”

The Gators led for the entire first quarter and a Williams layup put her team ahead, 18-12, at the start of the second period. Streetsboro then went on a 9-2 run to take the lead. Those nine points came from two free throws by senior Sydney Abbuhl, a putback from Benson, a pair of foul shots by Bedford and a 3-pointer off the glass by Abbuhl. The Rockets led, 21-20, with about 4 1/2 minutes to play in the first half. The lead was short-lived, however, as Schneider recorded an and-1 three-point play. A layup by Benson knotted the game at 23, but a driving lay-in from Laurel sophomore Reese Grammes put the Gators ahead, 25-23, at halftime.

In the third quarter, Laurel led by as much as nine (34-25) but the Rockets chipped away at the lead thanks to 10 points from Benson.

“When we actually were a little bit more patient and ran our stuff, we did a nice job and we got the looks that we wanted to,” Singer said. “We just let ourselves get sped up a little too much at times.”

At halftime, Benson said she told her teammates, “let this be the best 16 minutes we’ve ever played,” and them to “come out hard” and “play hard.” She also noted Singer told her to defend Williams when she got past a Rocket defender and drove to the basket for a layup.

“Just guarding them, it was exciting,” Benson said. “I wanted to guard them.”

It was the second consecutive time that Streetsboro’s postseason run ended with a loss to Laurel. Despite being on the short end of the score, Benson noted, “I feel like we’ve proven that we are a great team and coach Carl Singer is a great coach.”

Saturday’s loss was the final game for Benson, who closed her stored career as Streetsboro’s all-time leading scorer and has committed to play for the University of Illinois next season. She had one final message for her teammates as they reflected on their season.

“I just told them I loved them,” Benson said. “…I love my teammates…to be able to not practice and play with them anymore is kind of sad.”

Her coach praised the character and leadership she displays.

“She’s such a great kid,” Singer said. “Everybody in that locker room loves her.”

Singer said he was proud of the work ethic his team displayed during a campaign that ended with a 22-4 record and a perfect 13-0 mark in Metro Athletic Conference play.

“It’s been a special year,” Singer said. “What we did last year was also special, but it kind of set an expectation, I think. These girls have carried on that legacy. It’s almost harder sometimes when you have an expectation from accomplishing things. That’s why I’m so proud of them for how hard they’ve worked this year.”