Reynoldsburg edges Pickerington Central 56-53
After having a double-digit lead against Pickerington Central get cut to three, the host Reynoldsburg girls basketball team patiently set up a play following a timeout and senior guard Imarianah Russell scored on a layup with 1 minute, 3 seconds left.
Russell, a West Virginia commit who averages 23.6 points, then made three of four free throws during the final 40 seconds as the Raiders held on for a 56-53 victory Jan. 13 in a matchup of state-ranked teams and defending Division I district champions.
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“We call a lot of plays out of timeouts and we usually don’t run them right, but we just look for each other,” said Russell, who finished with 29 points. “I don’t have a beef with Pick Central, but it always feels good to beat Pick Central.”
The third-ranked Raiders improved to 11-2 overall and 6-0 in the OCC-Buckeye Division, while the ninth-ranked Tigers dropped to 9-4 overall and 3-3 in the league.
Reynoldsburg also beat Central 67-51 on Nov. 30 but lost senior point guard Makiya Miller to a foot injury two games later. Miller is expected to return later this month.
In the rematch, Russell was a part of strong starts at the beginning of the first and third quarters.
She scored four points during a 10-0 run to start the game before the Tigers slowly sliced into the lead, eventually tying it at 19 with 2:10 to go in the first half.
The Raiders led 26-22 at halftime and opened the third quarter on an 11-1 run that featured seven points and a steal by Russell and five points from junior post player Sam Savoy.
Reynoldsburg increased a 44-38 lead heading into the fourth quarter to 51-42, but Central answered again, getting within 54-51 on a 3-pointer by Berry Wallace with 18.7 seconds left.
“They’re a really good basketball team and I give them credit,” Raiders coach Jack Purtell said. “Their kids are better than the first time we played. They’re long and I thought they did a really good job of taking some things away from us.”
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Olivia Cooper had 16 points and Madison Greene and Wallace each scored 14 for the Tigers.
“They started the game 10-0 and then they came out in the third quarter and we had a couple turnovers,” Central coach Chris Wallace said. “When we got them in the half-court and didn’t make our own mistakes and hurt ourselves, I thought we did all right. We grew tonight.”
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