SHREVE TWP. — Cassie Schrock and Tanya Ross have company.
Lexi Civittolo
Anyone associated with the Cloverleaf girls basketball program knew what Lexi Civittolo accomplished Saturday wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. The versatile senior took over a non-league game at Triway, pumping in points at an absurd rate in the second half.
When Civittolo hit the back end of a one-and-one with 4.6 seconds left, she had 39 points and the Colts had a come-from-behind 63-58 victory.
Civittolo joined Wadsworth’s Schrock (Feb. 7, 2007 vs. Buckeye) and Buckeye’s Ross (March 10, 1999 vs. Lakeview in the regional semifinals) — two area legends — as Medina County single-game scoring leaders.
“When one of my teammates told me after the game, I didn’t believe her,” said a still-giddy Civittolo, who ranks 11th in county history with 1,291 career points. “I didn’t realize it was that much. I was really focused on getting the win. We got that done, so it was a nice surprise after the game.”
Making the record extra special was the 5-foot-11 senior powered the Colts (14-5) back from a 35-22 third-quarter deficit. The Seton Hill recruit scored 17 points in the fourth quarter and 29 in the second half on 9-of-12 shooting.
Civittolo also had 12 rebounds, eight steals and, illustrating she played within the flow of the game, could have had 10 assists if teammates weren’t 0-for-10 after getting a pass.
“She definitely does a lot of things for us, including rebounding the ball, stealing the ball and being key in defensive concepts in addition to what she can do offensively,” coach John Carmigiano said. “She’s willing to share the ball when needed, and she really stepped up when we didn’t have a lot of scoring going on.”
Playing point guard most of the game, Civittolo entered the fourth quarter with 22 points and Cloverleaf (14-5) trailing the Titans (6-12) 42-38. She then got a transition layup and step-back 3-pointer in the first 61 seconds before going scoreless for the next 2:56.
Due to the intensity in “The Pit,” Civittolo had no idea how many points she had when she broke the personal lull with an NBA-range 3-pointer at the 4:03 mark and a runner just to the right of the rim that put Cloverleaf up 56-50 with 2:02 left. Sandwiched between was Taylor Barnum scoring off a Civittolo missed three, leading to a jump and clap of excitement from Civittolo near midcourt.
Triway didn’t go down easily, scoring the next five points to set up Civittolo’s highlight of the game.
Taking the ball up the floor and to the 3-point line, Civittolo got a screen to her left from freshman center Mckenna Jordan. Civittolo decided not to use it, dribbling right and then crossing over as Jordan rolled down the key.
The four-year starter then jab-snapped and hopped backward — her patented move — but was a little off-balance. Even so, she fired and fell to the floor when the defender tried to box out as the ball caught the left-inside edge of the rim and spun in.
That put Cloverleaf up 59-55 with 1:10 to go, and Civittolo made four straight free throws in one-and-one situations to seal the game. She matched the record when Carmigiano unintentionally tried to ice her with a timeout between free throws.
“(Jordan) and I have this really cool thing where we always seem to have everything work out,” Civittolo said. “I knew (Jordan’s) defender was coming up (to hedge) on the left side, so I had to cross over and get it up. I guess I was feeling it. It went in, Carm called a timeout and at that point we were in defense mode. We had to guard to lead.”
The ironic part was Civittolo wasn’t comfortable scoring in the first half and looked to facilitate. She still had 10 points at halftime but air-balled her first shot, a 3-pointer, and went 2-for-4 from the foul line.
“Carm knows I get upset with myself when I miss shots and always tells me to forget about it,” Civittolo said. “We had a good talk at halftime and we were ready to fight in the second half.”
No one symbolized that more than Civittolo, as she went 4-for-5 from the floor in the third quarter until another odd cold streak at the foul line, missing 3-of-4. She later air-balled another 3-pointer at the start of the fourth before making 5-of-6 shots and 4-of-4 free throws.
“It was definitely a crazy game,” she said. “We got the team win, and that’s the most important part. In the last couple games, we’ve had to come back and win, and we always have a chance in the second half.
“As a team we really leaned on each other in the second half. Triway’s a great team, and I give them a lot of respect.”
Cloverleaf 63, Triway 58
CLOVERLEAF 11 11 16 25 — 63
TRIWAY 17 14 11 16 — 58
Cloverleaf — Helaina Limas 2-5-9, Kassandra Kemp 0-0-0, Taylor Barnum 2-1-5, Jillian Miglich 2-0-4, Lexi Civittolo 13-9-39, Mckenna Jordan 2-0-4, Kayla Wilson 1-0-2, Erian Hamilton 0-0-0, Anna Winnicki 0-0-0. TOTALS: 22-15-63.
Triway — Micah Findley 2-7-12, Zoe Carmichael 3-2-8, Tanner Wirth 4-3-12, Macie Wengerd 2-0-4, Olivia Lang 9-2-20, Sarah Shoots 1-0-2. TOTALS: 21-14-58.
3-point goals — Civittolo 4, Findley, Wirth. Rebounds — Cloverleaf 38 (Civittolo 12), Triway 51. Assists — Cloverleaf 8 (Kemp 3), Triway 13. Records — Cloverleaf (14-5), Triway (6-12). Junior varsity — Triway 36, Cloverleaf 13.