CLEVELAND, Ohio — Lakewood and Medina will contend for a district title and a regional playoff bid on Thursday. This comes after the two teams combined to knock off the top two seeded girls basketball teams, Magnificat and St. Joseph Academy in the Parma district semifinals on Monday.
Last year the same four teams met in the district semifinals with the opposite outcome.
“We [Karen Kase and I] said let’s make a difference this year,” said Lakewood coach Mike Harper. “We saw what Medina was doing in the first game and it surely inspired us.”
Medina (10-16) and Lakewood (17-7) both share similar stories coming into the playoffs. While neither team had undefeated records or won their respective conferences, Lakewood and Medina have stayed in the mix of competition.
Pulling off wins against top seeded St. Joseph Academy and last year’s district champion Magnificat were huge victories as district finalists move forward in the playoffs.
Thursday’s finals matchup will be the second meeting between the two teams since Lakewood defeated Medina, 52-39, shortly after Christmas.
Who will win the Division I Parma district finals?
“Mike Harper is a great guy and very good coach who always has his teams ready to play and working hard,” Medina coach Karen Kase said. “We are familiar with each other and both teams play extremely hard.”
Four Medina players scored at least six or more points to provide balanced attack against top seeded St. Joseph Academy in Game 1 at Parma on Monday.
No. 5 Medina was down 17-9 after the first half against St. Joseph Academy, but in the next half outscored the Jaguars 33-17.
Senior guard Anna Marie Smith led Medina with 10 points followed by junior forward Emma Bobey with nine points and eight rebounds.
St. Joseph Academy’s senior Colleen Drellishak led all scorers with 12.
Medina’s District History: Three-time district finalists (1978, 1994, 2012), four-time district champ, three-time region finalist (1976, 1977, 1982); Kase was a member of the 1994 district finalist team and assistant coach in 2012.
Thank you so much for being there @medinafastpitch
