Notre Dame’s tournament run reaches end with loss to Hiland in regional final

Brock Netter, Staff Writer

Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.

PICKERINGTON — Tooth and nail.

That’s how Notre Dame fought on Saturday night. But a win just wasn’t in the cards.

The Titans reached the end of their historic season with a 53-43 loss to Berlin Hiland in a Division IV regional final at Pickerington North High School — finishing their campaign at 24-3 overall.

Coming into the game, the Titans’ defensive focus was on stopping Hiland’s Ashley Mullet and Mallory Stutzman from scoring.

However, what they didn’t plan for was freshman Ava Mast.

The Hawks’ youngest sharpshooter hit five triples in the contest, ultimately pushing Hiland over the top.

“We executed what we wanted to,” Notre Dame coach JD McKenzie said. “I know it doesn’t feel like we did, but we held [Mullet] in check and we held [Stutzman] in check. But then a freshman comes out there and hits five threes. At the end of it, that’s what hurt us. We did some really good things tonight. It was a two-possession game with a minute to go. We left it all out there. But they were a little bit better than us tonight.”

The game’s first bucket came from Hiland’s Ashley Mullet with 6:25 to go in the first quarter, a 3-ball following an offensive rebound, to put the Hawks (22-6) up 3-0. ND’s Katie Strickland answered on the other end with a lay-in for a 3-2 game before Mallory Stutzman put Hiland up 5-2 with a runner.

With 4:50 to go, Gracie Ashley cut into Hiland’s lead, thanks to a feed from Kamryn Bradford, but Mullet dialed long distance again with 4:33 remaining, making it 8-4. Bradford answered on the other end with a lay-in, cutting the deficit to 8-6, before Annie Dettwiller gave the Titans their first lead of the night at 9-8 with 2:07 to play.

Bradford extended the Titans’ lead to 12-10, nailing a 3-ball with 24.5 seconds left, but Hiland’s Joplin Yoder scored to force a 12-12 tie after one.

Stutzman opened the second with a triple to put the Hawks back in front, 15-12, before Ashley answered with a tough-nosed drive to the bucket at the 7:20 mark, making it 15-14. Bradford then put the Titans in the lead at 16-15 with two free throws.

The next four scores belonged to Ashley and Hiland’s Evie Mast. Ashley scored twice in the post but Mast knocked down two 3-balls to put the Hawks ahead by a 21-20 tally.

By halftime, Hiland’s lead was 25-22 after a 3 from Mullett, two freebies from Yoder and a bucket from Dettwiller.

Both teams traded buckets to open the third, but Stutzman scored, which was followed by a triple from Mullet, opening Hiland’s biggest lead at 32-26. Mullet wasn’t slowing down, either,, scoring the next two buckets as part of a 7-2 run for a double-digit lead at 36-26.

Mullet ended with nine of the Hawks’ 14 points in the frame, and fed an assist to Mast for a buzzer-beating 3, putting the Hawks up 41-29 heading to the fourth.

The Titans opened the fourth with back-to-back buckets from Dettwiller and Ashley, but Mast sank her fourth trey of the night, pushing the lead back into to double digits at 44-33.

The Titans attempted to make one final rally late, but Mast hit another 3 and the Hawks made their free throws down the stretch to put the game on ice, and the Titans’ season to an end.

“By the time we were playing tonight, there were only six teams left in Division IV,” McKenzie said. “Of all of those schools, like I told the girls, we’re capable of being all of them. We just happened to run into this one. Berlin HIland has been great for a long time. This is what they do. But we had a great run. To go to the final minutes and seconds of a regional final … We just didn’t pull it out.”

Ashley finished the game with 16 points and nine rebounds, followed by Dettwiller with 13 points and four rebounds. Bradford had seven points and Katie Strickland finished with four points and five boards.

Mullet led all scorers with 21 points while Mast added 15 points. Yoder had six points and six boards, and Stutzman ended the evening with nine points.

While the Hawks move to a Division IV state semifinal, Notre Dame is forced to say goodbye to three seniors — Annie Dettwiller, Kamryn Bradford and Mallory Boland — who have led the Titans to an overall mark of 90-11 in the last four seasons.

“[ND’s success] is one of those things where we’ve always had girls like Annie, Kam and Mallory who have played with Claire [Dettwiller], Ava [Hassel] and Isabel [Cassidy], who played with Hagen Schaefer, Brooke Pierron and all those types. They’ve showed this is the standard. They’ve passed that on. Losing our seniors stinks But now, it’s someone else’s turn to step up,” McKenzie said. “We’ve got a great group of juniors returning and a solid group of sophomores. Will it be different? Yeah. But the expectation is to be right back here. That’s what we’re going to work towards.”

BOX SCORE

Notre Dame: 12-10-7-14 — 43

Hiland: 12-13-16-12 — 53

Notre Dame: 17-36 FG, 8-10 FT, 1-2 3pt., 21 rebounds (Ashley 9), 14 turnovers, 7 assists (Dettwiller 3). Scoring: Ashley 16, Dettwiller 13, Bradford 7, Strickland 4, Ball 2, Kirby 1.

Hiland: 18-46 FG, 8-8 FT, 9-21 3pt., 23 rebounds (Yoder 6), 14 turnovers, 6 assists (Mullet 6). Scoring: Mullet 23, Mast 15, Stutzman 9, Yoder 6.

SPONSORED BY SCHMIDT FAMILY RESTAURANT GROUP