BERLIN TWP. — The black padding underneath the Perry Reese Center baskets have gray lettering that reads “Dictate the tempo (I will).”
The message is intended for hometown Berlin Hiland, but it also was the Wadsworth girls basketball team’s top priority Sunday night when it played big, strong and physical Mason (14-2) at The Classic in the Country Challenge.
Unfortunately for the Grizzlies, they couldn’t run-and-gun until it was too late.
With a rotation featuring six players standing least 6-foot and a 5-9 star point guard headed to Arkansas, the Comets kept tempo slow and imposed their will for three quarters of a 41-30 decision.
Wadsworth, which will fall from No. 1 in The Associated Press Division I state poll this week, cut a 19-point second-half deficit to seven, but that was all she wrote.
“We’re obviously never going to give up,” All-Ohioan Jodi Johnson said. “We were going to keep pushing back as hard as we could until the end, but obviously we’re going to be a little upset about that start.”
Johnson was referring to when she opened the scoring with a 3-pointer but Mason answered with a grueling 19-0 run that finally ended with a Jenna Johnson made free throw with less than a minute remaining before halftime.
Wadsworth (14-1) missed 20 straight shots against Mason’s intelligent and long-armed matchup 2-3 zone. The Grizzlies also were 2-for-23 (1-of-7 threes) in the first half and couldn’t finish at the rim with 6-footers all over the paint.
With the way Mason controlled the ball — it had four turnovers in first half — and handled the Grizzlies’ 2-2-1 press with ease, its 25-6 lead midway through the third quarter felt insurmountable.
Never-quit Wadsworth had cut Mason’s lead to 35-28 with 1:47 left. However, three missed shots and two bricked free throws on the same possession were the last gasps.
“We just have to play basketball and not play the play in the half court,” point guard Sophia Fortner said. “You can’t just have Coach (Andrew Booth) call a play and do exactly what he says. If our look isn’t open, we can’t run that play. We have to try something different.”
Johnson’s patented aerial drives were negated by the trees inside, but she still led Wadsworth with 11 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals. Backup post Peyton Banks added 10 points — all in the second half — but the rest of the team had 10 points on 4-of-24 shooting.
Power forward Lauren Van Kluenen, a 6-3 Marquette recruit, led Mason with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Arkansas-bound point guard Jailyn Mason added 12 points and seven assists, while Samari Mowbray (6-2) and 6-footers Samantha Puisis, Mariah Campbell, Anna Brinkmann and Tihanna Fulton were strong defensively.
Wadsworth got a moral victory with the furious comeback against an athletically superior opponent, but the Grizzlies will focus on fine-tuning moving forward.
“We need to play teams in our league like it’s the state championship — like it’s the top-level teams in Ohio — so we’re able to get better and play teams like this (in the tournament) and get the win,” Jodi Johnson said.
Notes
Molly Palecek had 16 points and Meggie Flanigan added nine points and four blocks, including one on three straight possessions, as Wadsworth’s undefeated junior defeated Lakota West 47-28.
Mason 41, Wadsworth 30
WADSWORTH 3 3 7 17 — 30
MASON 8 11 10 12 — 41
Mason — Samantha Puisis 1-0-2, Lauren Van Kluenen 6-4-18, Mariah Campbell 2-0-4, Samari Mowbray 1-1-3, Jailyn Mason 4-2-12, Anna Brinkmann 0-0-0, Tihanna Fulton 1-0-2, Allison Reichert 0-0-0. TOTALS: 15-7-41.
Wadsworth — Jenna Johnson 0-1-1, Laurel Palitto 0-0-0, Lexi Lance 1-0-2, Jodi Johnson 3-3-11, Sophia Fortner 1-0-2, Olivia Chaney 1-0-2, Peyton Banks 4-1-10, McKenna Banks 1-0-2, Maddie Movsesian 0-0-0. TOTALS: 11-5-30.
3-point goals — Van Kluenen 2, Mason 2, Jo. Johnson 2, P. Banks. Rebounds — Mason 26 (Van Kluenen 11), Wadsworth 22 (Jo. Johnson 5). Assists — Mason 12 (Mason 7), Wadsworth 10 (Palitto 4). Records — Mason (14-2), Wadsworth (14-1). Junior varsity — Wadsworth 47, Lakota West 28.