Elyria Catholic falls to Warrensville Heights for second straight year in 55-54 thriller

Elyria Catholic was on a mission to get back into regionals after falling to Warrensville Heights 63-55 in the 2020-21 playoffs.

In a Division III, North Ridgeville District Final that went to the wire, the third seed Panthers fell to the second seed Tigers 55-54 in heartbreaking fashion on Feb. 26.

Elyria Catholic finishes their season with a 20-5 record with a Great Lakes Conference crown. Warrensville Heights (21-1) will enter the Division III regional semifinal for the second year in a row.

Warrensville Heights’ Janayah Bohanon (17 points) was fouled within the last minute of the fourth quarter while taking a 3-point shot, which received mixed reviews from both sides as she drained all free-throws to give them a 55-54 lead.

“With three free-throws at the end when you are up two (points). It was pretty painful to watch,” Panthers’ coach Eric Rothgery said. “We played hard and felt like we had a good game plan coming in. We just couldn’t finish it.”

“(Warrensville Heights) did a good job,” Elyria Catholic’s senior Annika Bredel said. “It was a hard way to end the season. It was a good game. We both fought hard and we thought that we had them. Some things didn’t go our way and we have to live with that.”

“Coming out last year with (Warrensville Heights) knocking us out, we really had the drive (this season). We really wanted to win this game so bad,” Elyria Catholic’s Isabelle Niederst said following the loss. “This is such a great group of seniors. We really wanted to win it for them and to just keep (playing) with all of them.”

The Tigers have three players in double figures, including Jada Ward, Janayah Bohanon (17 points), and Zenna Thomas (22 points). All players average over 15 PPG while dressing seven players.

Elyria Catholic made an emphasis to get them in foul trouble and it worked. Ward fouled out with 6 points in the fourth quarter, and Thomas was on her fourth as well.

The way the Panthers did that was to institute their inside game with Carter McCray, who was fed early to set the tone inside to open things up. McCray did not play in last year’s district semifinal against the Tigers, but scored a team-high 19 points against a starting lineup with three 6-footers.

“We were getting the ball inside to see if we could get them into foul trouble,” Rothgery said. “Carter (McCray) is tough in the paint and we wanted to prove it.”

“In the first half, I think that I did well,” McCray said. “In the second half, they really had to try and handle me and we could get people shots on the outside.”

Once the middle started to open, Niederst got to work, Especially in the second half scoring 16 of her 18 points in the second half, 11 in the fourth quarter.

Niederst got hot to start the second half with a 3-pointer to tie the game at 29-29.

Elyria Catholic entered the fourth quarter trailing 36-38, but they had the momentum with a 5-0 run to close the quarter after the Tigers went on a 9-0 run.

In last year’s district semifinal, Bredel scored a career-high 33 points against the Tigers. Warrensville Heights played hard defense on her to prevent her from feasting again. She finished with 9 points, but grabbed seven rebounds in the loss.