By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

The Streetsboro girls basketball team keeps adding to its season of firsts.

Streetsboro’s Ella Kassan and Naomi Benson embrace after the Rockets defeated Norton to win a Division II district championship on Saturday at Normandy High School.
Myra Smith/Portage Sports

Just two weeks ago, the Rockets celebrated the first league championship in program history.

On Saturday, another celebration.

The program’s first-ever district championship.

Streetsboro earned the prestigious honor with a 49-36 victory over Norton in Division II tournament action at Normandy High School.

It was the third game, and rubber match, versus the Panthers, who shared the Metro Athletic Conference title with the Rockets, this season.

On Saturday, Streetsboro stormed out to a 13-3 lead after the first quarter, then maintained the advantage throughout before closing out the fourth quarter to celebrate the team’s new accomplishment.

“Continuing to make history is a credit to everybody who’s been involved in our program,” said Streetsboro coach Carl Singer, who is in his ninth season and has ushered in a new era of winning for the Rockets. “I’m excited for these girls, because they are so committed to being great and they are getting to see the results of all that hard work. We are putting Streetsboro girls basketball on the map and it’s a fun ride.”

Saturady’s ride was to the free-throw line for the Rockets, who shot 39 attempts from the charity stripe. They connected on 22 to account for nearly half of their point total.

Ella Kassan, who was the team’s leading scorer with 17 points, was 11-of-15 from the free-throw line. Carlee Bedford was the Rockets’ only other double-digit scorer with 12 points, and she was 6-of-8 from the line.

The win advances Streetsboro to Tuesday’s Division II regional semifinal, where they will meet St. Vincent-St. Mary at 8 p.m. at Barberton High School.

The two teams met earlier this season, with the Irish claiming a 61-44 victory on their home court on Jan. 20.

“We are very excited for the opportunity to play in a regional game, but we set a goal of making it to state, and we truly believe we are capable of accomplishing that goal,” Singer said. “We played a tough schedule this year to prepare ourselves for this and happen to be playing one of those teams in the regionals now, so we are ready.”

Norton was led offensively by Dakota Graham’s 17 points. She connected on five field goals and was 7-for-10 at the line. Alivia Goff added eight points for the Panthers.