Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
SARDINIA — For the first eight minutes of Saturday’s non-conference matchup between Chillicothe and Eastern Brown, the Cavaliers held Rylee Leonard in check.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
The Warriors’ leading scorer entered the second with just two points after self-admittedly struggling to find the bottom of the bucket.
And then, something clicked while Leonard proceeded to torch Chillicothe’s defense throughout the next three periods to the tune of a game-high 37 points in a 60-46 victory.
You can’t stop her. You can only hope to contain her. It’s really just that simple.
“She does everything well,” Chillicothe coach Anthony Gordon said. “Her hesitations are unbelievable. She’s just skilled in every area of the game. We knew that going in. We made her work really hard in the first half. But we lost her twice at the end of the [second] quarter, and she hit back-to-back 3’s. If you make the tiniest mistake against her, she’s going to make you pay.”
Chillicothe (12-5) took an 8-0 lead within the game’s first three and a half minutes, thanks to buckets from Paige Huggins, Ny Hatfield and Avery Erslan — forcing Eastern coach Kevin Pickerill to call a timeout.
The Warriors (18-2) responded with a 6-0 run, highlighted by a 3 from McKinzie Dotson, before the Cavaliers took a 10-6 lead into the second.
After Chillicothe’s Kiera Archer stretched the lead to 15-9 with a free throw, Leonard ripped off six straight points to force a 15-15 deadlock. The two then traded buckets, playing to a 19-19 tie, before Leonard hit a 3 with 38.2 seconds left in the first half.
PHOTOS: Images from Eastern’s win over Chillicothe
Then, with 0.8 seconds left on the game clock, she drilled another 3 to put the Warriors ahead 25-21 at halftime and shift all momentum.
“We started slow but I think we just let [the game] come to us,” Leonard said. “We started making some lay-ups and then we got in our groove. I knew a 3 would definitely be big for us and be a momentum-changer. I hit one and I got the feel for it. Then, I was open again, so I just knocked it down.”
The third featured more of the same.
Dotson started the quarter with a bucket before teammates Sarah Clark, Emma Litzinger, Clara Martin and Tabby Schumacher chipped in throughout the frame. That took pressure off Leonard, who scored eight points of her own in the quarter, and helped Eastern extend the lead to 43-32.
“It’s definitely important,” Leonard said. “If I’m not hitting shots, I know I can get it to my teammates and they can finish a lay-up or hit a shot. It definitely takes a lot of pressure off me.”
After entering the fourth and final frame with 24 points, Leonard dropped the hammer throughout the closing eight minutes.
The senior scored 13 of Eastern’s 17 points in the fourth to help seal the team’s 18th victory.
Stat book
Leonard added three rebounds and two assists to her game-high 37 points while Doston helped out with seven points, seven rebounds and three helpers. Clark finished with four points and five rebounds, and Schumacher had four points and seven boards.
Chillicothe was led by Erslan, who scored 14 points and grabbed five rebounds. Hatfield also chipped in with eight points and five boards while Huggins finished with nine points.
What’s on tap
Eastern is back in action on Monday at Fairfield in yet another tough matchup. The Lions won the two’s first meeting by a 54-48 final in overtime.
“It’s the little things,” Leonard said. “That’s especially against the good teams coming up [on the schedule]. We just have to perfect those little things and that will go a long way.”
Meanwhile, Chillicothe will try and bounce back on Wednesday at Miami Trace.
“We feel like we’ve turned the corner as a program and we want to put ourselves in positions to play other teams that are known for having success,” Gordon said. “We want to play those teams because we’re really close to being a good basketball team. I think our girls were up for that challenge today. It’s big for our program to be on this stage.”
BOX SCORE
Chillicothe: 10-11-11-14 — 46
Eastern Brown: 6-19-18-17 — 60
Chillicothe: 20-58 FG, 6-16 FT, 0-14 3pt., 27 rebounds (Archer 6), 14 turnovers, 8 assists (Cox 2, Erslan 2, Allen 2). Scoring: Erslan 14, Huggins 9, Hatfield 8, Huggins 6, Cox 4, Knapp 2, McCloy 2, Archer 1.
Eastern Brown: 24-49 FG, 8-10 FT, 4-13 3pt., 31 rebounds (Dotson 7, Schumacher 7), 22 turnovers, 14 assists (Dotson 3). Scoring: Leonard 37, Dotson 7, Schumacher 4, Martin 4, Clark 4, Litzinger 2, Smith 2.
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