Trending
McDONALD -- The emotions didn't get the best of the McDonald Blue Devils (13-2, 10-0) on senior night. In fact, they thrived off of them.
Before crushing the Lowellville Rockets 66-17, the Devils honored their seven seniors and had a special ceremony for their pair of 1,000-point career scorers (Sophia Costantino and Molly Howard).
After the game, a tearful Taylor Tuchek and Maddy Howard explained why the night meant so much.
"We had a close friend that passed away a few years ago," Tuchek said. " We're more than teammates. We're all best friends. She played basketball with us. This game was just for her. Anna would have been a senior with us. She was a caring and loving friend to all of us. It meant a lot for us to come out and play hard tonight."
That's exactly what the Devils did. Molly Howard (who hit five 3-pointers and scored a game-high 21 points) was seemingly playing a game within a game, as all of her shots were hitting nothing but net.
Her identical twin sister Maddy Howard scored and McDonald led 20-0 after one quarter.
"We all started playing basketball together in the third grade," Maddy Howard said. "We've all grown up together. This is special to us. We remember our dear friend. She passed away our eighth grade year. That's why we're all here together."
Both McDonald's girls and boys teams have earned number one seeds in the upcoming tournament.
In fact, the boys team also has seven seniors and the entire boys varsity team was in attendance cheering on their classmates.
Maliyah Hedrick finally got the Rockets (7-9, 3-7) on the board when she hit one from deep with 3:30 left in the second quarter. McDonald led 34-6 at the break.
"We're always undersized," Lowellville coach Lisa Modelski said. "The girls play with heart.
"They've been playing good basketball. I'm excited to see what happens in the tournament. We'll see if we can make some noise."
Last season, the Blue Devils beat rival Western Reserve to win the district championship and advance to the regionals.
"The district championship was an intense game," Maddy Howard said. "We fought hard in the regionals. It just didn't work out in our favor. It showed us what to expect in our upcoming games. We're prepared this year."
First, McDonald finished off Lowellville. Brooke Lewis had a strong rebound and put-back. Costantino (15 points) nailed a 3-pointer. Samantha Moore made a 3-pointer at the buzzer for Lowellville, and McDonald led 48-13 heading to the fourth.
Seniors Emily Pratt and Carley Stitt hustled and played good basketball. Each player scored to close out the contest.
"If there's a better senior bunch, I don't know where it's at," McDonald coach Tony Matisi said. "Seven good kids. A couple of them are probably cheated because they could start for any team around. They accept their role. With the experience these kids have, in the tournament, nothing is going to faze this team."