Africentric 58, Ottawa-Glandorf 47
Nubians Complete The Journey and Win Again
DAYTON, Ohio - - Most coaches feel pressure when they are leading the standard of their sport, but not for Africentric head basketball coach Janicia Anderson, in fact, she doesn’t feel any of it.
“No pressure,” she started when asked about the pressure of winning her second consecutive title. “I just wanted these young women to continue to grow and be great, this is just the game of basketball.”
“I wouldn’t say pressure, everyday being an African-American woman, leading African American young women to be better, to reach for beyond the stars, that’s a win in my book. This state championship, we wanted it, but we didn’t have pressure, we wanted to take it day-by-day, enjoy the moment, but to send 4-5 kids off to college, full athletic scholarship, Division 1, equipped to stand life, I won, regardless.”
The Africentric Nubians (28-2) there second state title in a row, giving the school an astonishing nine for the program. Ottawa-Glandorf (25-3) falls short in their fourth appearance in this game.
It started slow for both sides, neither team hit a shot for nearly two minutes, until sophomore guard Karsyn Erford broke the seal on the game with a shot in the paint, the first two of her game-high 18, and junior Carlie Brinkman followed it with a layup on the next possession to take a quick 4-0 lead. The defending state champions bounced right back, answering with a 9-0 run that was capped off by senior Kamryn Grant hitting a pair at the free throw line.
The Titans clawed their way back, and with another bucket from Erford cut the deficit to 9-6, but DePaul commit Natiah Nelson, who finished with 12 points, responded with a score to keep her team with a five-point lead. Grant’s offensive rebound and layup cemented a 15-10 lead at the end of the first quarter for Africentric, she finished the game with 10 points and 13 rebounds.
Tenacious defense ruled for the Nubians to start the second quarter, they held Ottawa-Glandorf scoreless for close to half the quarter, sticking them at 10 points and only giving up five total in the quarter. Senior Myka Aldrich, sophomore Alivia Grothause scored and junior Carlie Brinkman split a pair at the free throw line to get on the board and go into the half in a 21-15 hole.
Both teams came out of the locker room offensively driven, with both teams trading baskets to start the half. Erford, Aldrich and Katie Kaufman helped engineer the comeback, cutting the game to a two-point deficit at 25-23 midway through the third. Another Erford basket cut it to two once again, but Nelson came right back to extend the lead again.
“I felt the girls played as hard as they ever played,” Titan head coach Troy Yant said after the game. “We just couldn’t necessarily get the breaks we needed at the end, hats off to Africentric.”
“The energy was there, you can’t fault the girls, I just think we need to slow them down a little bit.”
The two-point deficit is the closest the Titans would be to the Nubians the rest of the contest.
Buffalo commit, senior Sam Thompson got fouled on a bucket and hit the free throw, followed by sophomore Janiya Bowers hitting three of her 10 to stretch the lead to 37-28 in the third quarter. Junior guard Shaunie Little got a steal and score to get the lead to 10, 40-30, as time ticked away in the quarter.
“One of the toughest kids I’ve ever had the opportunity of coaching,” Anderson said about Little. “She’s relentless, she wants it, and one thing about Shaunie that’s special, she masters and accepts her role, she knows who she is.”
Senior guard Ashtan Winfrey closed the quarter for the Nubians with a baseline jumper to take a 44-33 advantage into the final quarter.
With firm control of the game at 48-37, the Titans tried to mount one last comeback, but it was shutdown with the gap at six before Thompson’s layup put the game at 50-42, she finished with 12 points and five boards. Africentric salted the game away and left with a 58-47 win, one that will always be remembered by the young ladies that were on the winning side.
“It feels amazing because we made histrory and we get to stand on an island by ourself,” Nelson said after the game. “We worked so hard, every single day, since June for this moment.”
“It’s truly just a blessing for me, I wasn’t able to play last year with my team and win states with them, Grant started. “So just me being able to come out on top again with my team and be able to lead them and still do my best, and get better from my injury, it means everything to me.”
Africentric winning their ninth state gives them the most on the girls side of Ohio basketball, passing Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame, and sets these young ladies legacy in stone on the court and in Africentric history.
Written By 270 Hoops Staff Writer Mark Francis Jr.