Staff photo / Brian Yauger
Western Reserve senior Izzy Mauro (13) goes up for a shot during the first half of Thursday’s Division VII regional semifinal against Mogadore in Massillon.
MASSILLON — Sometimes it’s just not your night.
An early hole plagued Western Reserve on Thursday as they were bested by Mogadore, 44-27, in a Division VII, Massillon Regional semifinal.
While the Blue Devils began finding the basket and matching Mogadore, by then, the hole was too deep.
“We thought the game was going to be ugly,” Western Reserve coach Steve Miller said. “We thought it was going to be a defensive effort. We knew Mogadore, and that’s what they do best. We knew they were going to be physical, we expected them to face-guard Quincy (Miller) and (Kylee) Ramsey). Pretty much everything that we knew they were going to come out and do, they did.
“Unfortunately, I think we looked extremely unprepared. That’s disappointing to me, that’s disappointing to our girls, I’m sure it’s disappointing to our crowd. We brought an army tonight. I’m proud of our community, I’m proud of our student body and brought up everybody that came out and supported us. And that all started with the girls. No one that came here today that’s a Blue Devil fan is going to be disappointed with our effort. They’re going to be disappointed in the outcome, they’re going to be disappointing the start. We put ourselves in almost an insurmountable hole and we just never were able to dig ourselves out of it.”
It was a rough start for the Blue Devils as Mogadore raced out to a 15-0 lead in the first quarter.
The Wildcats’ smothering defense held Western Reserve off the scoreboard for the first five and a half minutes of the contest.
As the game went on, the Blue Devils began putting the ball through the hoop. Senior Isabella Mauro led the way with 10 points.
Mauro is one of two seniors on the Western Reserve roster along with Amanda Hamilton.
After losing a large senior class that set the tone for the Blue Devils last season, a lot of responsibility fell onto their shoulders, especially Mauro’s.
Miller said that Mauro exemplified the “warrior mindset” that’s a staple of his teams.
“You don’t plan a speech for this moment because you’re always thinking you’re gonna ride again and play another game. But I just told both seniors, I was extremely proud,” Miller said. “After what we lost last year, for those two to step up and lead the way that they did, to always be fans and encourage the younger ones is something that’s inspiring. Izzy was extremely unselfish this year. She’s the all-time leading rebound in school history now. That’s an unselfish goal for the most part. That’s just fighting for the ball and doing all the dirty work.
“It starts in the trenches and it started with Izzy. You’ve got to have a certain mindset, and she was a warrior all year long, including tonight. Just battling. She wanted to finish and make a couple more layups, we all did.”
Western Reserve finishes the year with an 18-9 record.
The Blue Devils’ first win on the regional stage eludes the team for another season, but with a strong core of girls returning, headlined by rising seniors Miller and Ramsey, the team is positioned to make a tournament run again next year.
Mogadore will play Danbury in the regional final.