MADISON—Clutch defense and a dynamic duo led Madison to a come-from-behind 54-53 win over visiting Chagrin Falls in the season opener for both squads on Wednesday.
The Blue Streaks trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half before cutting the Tiger lead to 25-20 at the break. Madison then scored the first six points of the third quarter and made the key plays down the stretch to kick off the Heather Reho era with a hard-earned victory.
“We started the first quarter a little slow, but we kept telling them defense was going to win games and boxing out is going to win games, and we said the same thing at halftime,” Reho said of the key to her team securing her first career victory as a head coach. “Defensively, we had to get in the passing lanes and then we had to get on the help line, and we did that in the second half.”
Chagrin Falls got off to a fast start thanks to three 3-pointers, one each by Avery Russell, Amelia Bencko, and Lily Stukus.
Russell and Stukus both finished the quarter with five points.
Norah Pope then hit a 3-pointer in the second to add to the Tiger momentum, but Madison’s defense settled in and made life tough for the Chagrin Falls shooters in the second quarter.
“We had to help (Sidney) Sorber out,” Reho said. “She was, of course, guarding their best player and we did those things we needed to do. She was amazing. I told her yesterday what her job was and that I didn’t want to let her score. She definitely came out strong.”
A 10-point run helped Madison cut Chagrin Falls’ lead to just five points at halftime.
Zoey Deliganis came out of the locker room locked in as she scored the first six points of the second half in just over two minutes giving the Blue Streaks their first lead, 26-25.
Deliganis finished with a game-high 26 points, with 19 of them coming in the second half.
The third quarter saw several lead changes with the Tigers taking a 40-39 lead into the fourth quarter.
A Kay 3-pointer gave the Tigers a 53-48 lead with 2:48 remaining in the game, and that’s when Claire Wakim donned her hero cape, with assistance from a pesky defense that recorded steals on each of Chagrin Falls’ final offensive possessions.
Wakim scored the final six points of the game—which included a rolling layup that dropped with eight seconds left in the game—and she picked off a pass at halfcourt to seal the win.
She finished the game with 20 points.
Allyssa Snider contributed to Madison’s win with four points, Sorber added three, and Ella Hall scored one.
Russell led the Tigers with 14 points in her high school debut while Stukus finished with 11 and Pope, Kay, and Bencko each finished with nine. Elena Goodwin scored one point for the Tigers.
