The Lady Tigers’ historic season came to an end in Medina against Olmsted Falls on Tuesday. Massillon fought admirably the entire game but was not able overcome the Bulldogs’ size and physical play. The 2024 D1 champs threatened to overwhelm the Tigers but Massillon put up quite a fight to keep the contest close until the final buzzer sounded. Although the season is over for the ladies, they still have a historic season to look back upon. The fight the Tigers put up against a program such as Olmsted Falls (2024 D1 state champs, 2023 runners-up, 8 straight regional championship appearances) was something that would not have been a thought in much of the program’s history. Coach Joe Pierce, his staff, and his squad beat McKinley for the first time in 22 years, won their first district title since 1994, and had a program record 21 wins. The story of success in the program is only beginning.
First Half
The first started off with a pattern that would continue throughout the contest– tough defense, physical inside play, and the Tigers having a tough time getting shots to fall. The ladies had quite a few unlucky bounces and Olmsted Falls jumped out to a 6-0 lead. The Tigers scored on a Hannah Nicola three a couple of minutes into the first to cut the Bulldogs’ lead in half. Both the Lady Tigers and Bulldogs ran traps and the press both at halfcourt and in the backcourt. Olmsted Falls relied on good ball movement inside and hit quite a few long threes as well. After one quarter, the Bulldogs lead stood at 16-9. The Tigers upped their rebounding game in the second, with Kynslie Williams and Lania Moore grabbing the ball under the opposing board and under their own basket. Olmsted Falls, however, used their size advantage to drive into the paint and get putbacks. They opened up a 9 point lead at 21-12 as the Tigers continued to struggle with their shooting. Massillon put up a fight to keep the game within range in the first half– they trailed 30-18 after 2 quarters. Kynslie Williams led the Tigers with 8 points.
Second Half
The Lady Tigers came out of the locker room determined to come back. They started the third with a hot-shooting streak. Hannah Nicola knocked down a three and Delaney Pierce completed an and-1 to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 6. A layup extended the Massillon run to 8-0 in the third and chopped the Olmsted Falls lead down to 4. A minute later another three from Nicola made the score 32-31 with just over 5:00 left in the third. Unfortunately for the Tigers, the Bulldogs made sure that the lead was back up to 5 in no time. Massillon cut it back down to a one-possession game with 3:00 left, but the Bulldogs would shut out the Tigers for the remainder of the quarter while adding 2 themselves to make the score 41-36. The contest started to go back-and-fourth quickly in the fourth quarter. The Tigers closed the gap to 3 once again, but Olmsted Falls jumped out to an 8-point lead with just under 7:00 remaining in the game. The Tigers cut it down to 6 a minute later but in another minute the lead was back up to 8. Time was running out for Massillon and Olmsted Falls was moving the ball well enough to match the Tigers basket-for-basket. The Tigers had their best chance at the end of the game. They had cut the lead down to 4 with 1:37 remaining. They then tied the Bulldogs up for a jump ball but were unable to score. Olmsted Falls was called for an offensive foul on the other end but again the Tigers were unable to find the hoop. Eventually the Tigers were forced to foul– they ran out of time with the score standing at Olmsted Falls 54 – Massillon 48.
Stats
Hannah Nicola, 16 points; Delaney Peirce, 16 points; Kynslie Williams, 10 points; Lania Moore, 6 points
Postgame Comments
Coach Pierce: “We just weren’t playing our game. This is new for us; we’re in a place we’ve never been. Olmsted Falls is a great program, a lot of respect to them. When you get this far you’re going to be seeing great programs.”
“I think with the girls that we have coming back next year this is a huge stepping stone. We’ve done a lot of things that happened for the first time. The whole experience was good for us– it was awesome. We really fought hard, our girls are eager and ready to come back at it again. The girls coming in next season are going to have to put in a lot of work to get on the floor. The biggest thing for next year will be replacing our senior [Lania Moore]… she did everything– rebounds, playing both ends, she had to guard the big girls, the best shooters. It’s going to be a lot of work but we’ll definitely be back.”
Photos
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