The Rams routed North College Hill on Monday to win their first Division III sectional title since 2002. Greeneview (22-3) goes for its first district championship since 1981 when it plays Hamilton Badin (13-12) at 3 p.m. Saturday at Springfield High School.
“I think these girls realize this is a special group,” Greeneview coach Gregg Haines said. “We’re not ready for it to be over. … Our girls are hungry to bring that (district title) back to Jamestown.”
The Rams showed that on Monday. They led NCH 24-22 at halftime before turning it on in the second half. Greeneview outscored NCH 26-8 in the third quarter and 47-24 in the half.
Ashton Lovely led Greeneview with 22 points despite missing about four minutes in the third quarter. She was knocked to the floor driving to the basket and, after getting checked out, returned in the fourth quarter.
By then her teammates had all but ended NCH’s chances.
Sophie Sonneman and Alex Rice both scored 16 points. Katelyn Combs hit a demoralizing 3-pointer to put Greeneview up 36-26 with just under four minutes left in the third. Natasha Siebenaler had eight assists, seven rebounds, four steals and played stellar defense.
“We didn’t change anything. We only shot 21 percent from the field in the first half,” Haines said of that decisive third quarter. “We got good looks, the girls were playing hard, they were rebounding. We started knocking down shots and that was the biggest thing.”
The Rams couldn’t slow down NCH freshman point guard Victoria Morris, who finished with 27 points. They did limit senior D’Aja Turner to three points, but she did have 15 rebounds.
“We tried to attack the bucket as much as possible and (Turner) got into a little bit of foul trouble,” Haines said. “We kind of double-teamed her in the post. We were trying to do the same thing with Morris, but she is going to be a player. She’s going to be playing at the next level. She hurt us big time.”
In the district final, Badin enters with a deceiving record. The Rams play in the Greater Catholic League, one of the toughest conferences in the state with Alter, Carroll, Cincinnati McNicholas and Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame among others.
Badin beat NCH 64-53 in the fourth game of the season. Senior Torey Stang’s 12.6 points leads a balanced offense.
“They bring a physical-ness to the game. If we can handle their physical-ness and handle the ball I think it will be a really good game,” Haines said. “It’ll be who can execute down the stretch.”
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