'Nobody gave us a chance'

FOSTORIA – First-year Calvert girls basketball coach Aaron Sheets said it best after his team knocked off top-seeded Carey 47-40 Thursday night in a Division IV district semifinal: "I've probably smiled more in these last 10 minutes than I have all year … and I'm a happy person."Yeah, upsetting a 20-win Carey team will do that.The young Senecas (16-8), who have had a miraculous turnaround this season, are one win away from their second-ever district title. The one was back in 1983, while the only other time they played for a district title was in 2016 in an overtime loss to New London."This just feels good. No one gave us a chance. Even at the beginning of the year I told people we could get 14 wins and win a sectional, people laughed," Sheets said. "Alyssa Rishty had a great first half, Megan Rombach … that was the best game she's ever played (17 points) – the last two games have been her best, she played her butt off. Megan brought it tonight. I'm so proud of her for a freshman."It certainly felt like a district title game as the two squads went back and forth all game. Rishty carried the Senecas in the opening half with 15 points, including knocking down a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to end the half with the score knotted at 21 apiece. At certain times throughout the first half the Blue Devils (20-4) looked like the more experienced and physical team scoring in the paint and grabbing leads of 17-13 and 21-18, but Calvert always had an answer.There wasn't much separation in the third period as Rombach made two free throws to end the quarter giving her team a 34-31 edge. However after a Rombach bucket to begin the fourth, Carey looked like the 1-seed with an 8-0 run as Kynlee Phillips drained a pair of free throws, Rachel Reinhart tallied five points and Riley Yost made a free throw to give Carey a 39-36 lead with 4:07 left in the game.All of the momentum had swung to the Blue Devils and their crowd was into it. Carey did just about everything it could to keep Rishty out of the game in the second half, but Rombach stepped up and delivered when her team needed it.After Rishty made two free throws, Rombach scored the next six points for Calvert, giving it a 44-39 lead with 54.8 ticks left."There in that fourth quarter we had that nice run to get us back in it, but we started trapping the ball too much leaving some people open, and (Rombach) hurt us," Carey coach Keith O'Flaherty said. "As far as their zone, we never for some reason we never could get into any type of set. We tried to work the high-low, that worked a few times, but then we got out of it. We wanted to stay in it, but the girls would get out of it. We never consistently got into an offensive flow and that hurt us tonight. "We also got beat up and down the floor a few times not getting back too, which hurt us, which gave them easy transition layups, so that hurt us too."After Carey grabbed the 39-36 lead with 4:07 left in the game, it only scored one more point the rest of the way."In our 2-3 zone we can take chances and there's still no penetration," Sheets said. "We can take a chance and we had people help then. These girls are learning … the beginning of the season was frustrating, but these kids are buying in, they are trusting the process. We don't run a lot of plays, we run a lot of sets. We get into different sets and try to take advantage, so with our athletic team we try to find mismatches."Phillips paced the Blue Devils with 12 points, while Emily Brodman chipped in seven and Rylee Row and Reinhart each had six.Regardless of the stinging loss Thursday, it was an outstanding season for the Blue Devils with a league title and 20 wins."This is going to sting for a long time because I thought we could've made a deeper run, but for the season we had it was phenomenal. I would've never dreamed we would've been a 20-win team this year," O'Flaherty said. "These girls proved me wrong. We made goals to win the N10 and then hopefully get to regionals … we got the N10, but didn't get the regionals one, but the way these girls worked, played together … every game we played everyone was involved. I'm just so proud of the way they played this year, but I feel bad for the four seniors to go out with a loss like this, but it happens I guess."Rishty led the Senecas with a game-high 24 points as her and Rombach combined for 41 of 47 points.Up next for the Senecas is Arcadia, who took care of fellow BVC squad McComb in the first game Thursday, 50-30."Arcadia beat us pretty bad last year, but they're 20-4 for a reason or whatever they are for a reason," Sheets said. "Their coach (Randy Baker) has been there for like 40 years, they're very structured. They take their time and not many turnovers, so we'll try to speed them up."I'm looking forward to Saturday, it should be a packed house." Calvert 47, Carey 40Calvert (16-8): Brooklyn Brown 0-0-0; Kaleigh Concepcion 1-0-2; Alyssa Rishty 8-6-24; Megan Rombach 6-5-17; Carleigh Meier 1-0-2; Kate Coleman 0-2-2. Totals: 16-13-47.Carey (20-4): Kelsey Bursby 2-0-5; Rylee Row 3-0-6; Rachel Reinhart 2-1-6; Ella Clinger 0-0-0; Riley Yost 1-2-4; Emily Brodman 3-0-7; Kynlee Phillips 3-6-12. Totals: 14-9-40.Calvert&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;10&emsp;&emsp;11&emsp;&emsp;13&emsp;&emsp;13&emsp;&emsp;– 47Carey&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;8&emsp;&emsp;13&emsp;&emsp;10&emsp;&emsp;9&emsp;&emsp;– 40Field goals: Calvert 16; Carey 143-point goals: Calvert 2 (Rishty 2); Carey 3 (Bursby, Reinhart, Brodman)Foul shots: Calvert 13-22; Carey 9-16Turnovers: Calvert 24; Carey 24