Mayfield Girls Basketball Team Loses in District Semifinal

It’s probably a good thing the Mayfield High School girls basketball team is young.

A Wildcats team that starts three freshmen likely has time and future seasons to overcome surrendering a nine-point, second-half lead in a district semifinal game. A senior-laden team would likely be devastated.

Mayfield was so close to reaching the promised land but fell short to Mentor, 41-39, in Division I District play at Perry High School on Thursday night.

Mayfield freshman Halle Rubino had 15 points and senior Jacquee Herron had 12. Mentor senior Kali Deighan had 12, including the Cardinals’ final five points.

With his team’s inexperience and the night’s disappointment, all Mayfield coach Tony Ware could do was reflect back and look forward.

“We did as well as we expected to do (on the season).  We wanted to do a little bit better. Considering that we’re so young and we only start three freshmen. We can’t say enough about our seniors like Jacquee Herron, but we’re looking for three great years,” Ware said.

Second-seeded Mayfield (11-11) had a first-round bye and then knocked off East Cleveland Shaw, 72-43, to reach the semifinal. The Wildcats, a member of the Northeast Ohio Conference, were on a three-game losing streak before defeating Shaw.

Heading into the district semifinals, fourth-seeded Mentor (10-13) defeated Chardon, 70-57, in its sectional opener and then defeated Willoughby South, 63-22.

Mayfield held a 29-20 lead at 3:40 of the third quarter, but Mentor tied Mayfield, 31-31, with an 11-2 run as Deighan canned a 3-pointer to tie the contest at 5:40 of the fourth quarter.

Mentor’s Molly Owens drilled a 3-pointer to give Mentor a 34-31 lead at 5:11, but Mayfield’s Shannon Zajec  responded immediately with a  3-pointer to tie. Alexis Anderson hit a pair of free throws to give Mayfield the lead, 37-36, at 3:58.

But Deighan came through again with a baseline drive for a score to give Mentor the lead for good at 3:15. Deighan made three of four free throws down the stretch to close out the game.

With both teams playing a deliberate slow-down style, scoring was scarce in the first quarter.  Rubino emerged as the Wildcats’ catalyst, scoring eight of their 13 points. At the end of the quarter, Rubino drove to the basket and absorbed a hard foul that sent her to the line with 5.7 seconds left. Rubino sank two free throws, which allowed Mayfield to build a small cushion, 13-5, at quarter’s end.

Mayfield never held more than a five-point lead in the second quarter.  The Wildcats had a perfect opportunity to finally break the spell with a minute remaining in the half and leading, 19-14. Anderson gathered in a pass under the basket for what seemed like an easy two-point layup, but her shot slammed into the bottom of the backboard. Moments later, Mentor’s Lauren Stefancin netted a 3-pointer to close the half’s scoring at 19-17.

Mentor    8  9 9 15 41

Mayfield 13 6 11 9 39

Mentor:  Kelly Dawson 4, Kali Deighan 12 , Christy Cunningham 5, Courtney Schutz 7, Lauren Stefancin 7, Molly Owens 3, Lauren Funk 3.

Mayfield: Halle Rubino 15, Jacquee Herron 12, Shannon Zajec 8, Alexis Anderson 4.