The Olentangy Orange girls basketball team capped the regular season in style Tuesday night in Lewis Center, starting fast and finishing strong on the way to a 52-36 non-league win over visiting Licking Heights.
Wins have been hard to come by for the Pioneers (3-18) this winter, but they looked poised to run away with one early on. They outscored the Hornets (8-13) 16-6 in the first quarter, leading by as many as 12 after Ellie Beck buried her second three-pointer of the quarter to make it a 16-4 game with 1:23 left.
Licking Heights got back into things in the middle two periods. The Hornets got within five, 21-16, by halftime and were as close as three early in the third.
The Pioneers regained their form from there, though. London Davis scored their first hoop of the third to make it 25-20 and back-to-back buckets from Emma Delmore ballooned the lead to 29-20.
Beck sank a pair of free throws on Orange’s next trip down the floor, capping an 8-0 run, and the Hornets never quite recovered.
Brooke Thompson hit a three to make it 35-22 after three and, after a 7-0 Heights run sparked by baskets from Nashala Coffman and Kortnie Starr, the Pioneers used a 17-7 finish to smooth out the scoring summary.
Olentangy 46, Licking Valley 40
Bridget Stafford had a game-best 13 points and Kennedie Doup added 11 to lead the Braves to a non-league win in Tuesday’s regular season and home finale.
Olentangy outscored Licking Valley 23-17 in the first half before the teams played an even second.
Cardington 53, Olentangy Berlin 38
Casey Bertke had 19 points and Mikayla Links added 10 to lead the Pirates past the host Bears Tuesday night in Delaware.
Courtney Suchan led Berlin with 16 points in the setback while Maddie Goodman and Haley Cera finished with eight apiece.
BOYS BASKETBALL
Delaware Christian clinched at least a share of the MOCAL title Tuesday, rolling to a 63-30 win over host Tree of Life.
The Eagles took care of business early, setting the tone with a 14-4 first quarter. They won the second 21-10 to take a commanding lead into halftime before outscoring the Trojans 16-7 in the third to all but seal the deal.
Nathan Stewart led DCS with 19 points while Pryce Johnson and James Vasek had 17 and 15, respectively.
Ian Leach led Tree of Life with a game-high 22 points.
Delaware Hayes 53, Mount Vernon 43
The Pacers trailed 27-24 at halftime, but outscored the host Yellow Jackets 16-10 in the third quarter and 13-6 in the fourth to put the finishing touches on a non-league win Tuesday in Mount Vernon.
Paul Burris had a game-best 15 points while Nate Griggs and Addison Harvey backed him with 14 and 13, respectively.
Blake Meyer led Mount Vernon with 12 points in the setback.
Olentangy Liberty 59, DeSales 57
Henry Hinkle poured in a career-high 32 points, 21 in the fourth quarter alone, to lead the Patriots to a come-from-behind win over the visiting Stallions Tuesday night in Powell.
Liberty trailed 40-32 heading into the fourth, but outscored DeSales 27-17 down the stretch.
Hinkle buried a school-record eight three-pointers in the win, five coming in the game-deciding fourth.
Cam Barcus backed Hinkle with 14 points while Desmond Watson led DeSales with 21.
Olentangy Orange 51, Central Crossing 43
Andre Irvin, Jason Foster and Ryan Cutler combined for all but 11 of their team’s points as the Pioneers notched a non-league win over the host Comets Tuesday night.
Foster led the way with 16 points while Cutler had 15 and Irvin chipped in 11.
Devon Miller finished with a game-high 17 points for Central Crossing.
Columbus Academy 69, Buckeye Valley 57
The Vikings finished with a flourish, outscoring the visiting Barons 27-14 in the fourth quarter to notch a MSL-Ohio win Tuesday night in Columbus.
Dylan Herbert and Dylan Thompson had big nights for BV, scoring 27 and 14, respectively, but it wasn’t enough to offset a balanced attack by Academy.
The Vikings had seven different players score. Tanner Compton (17), Jared Kass (15) and Carter Warstler (14) all finished in double figures.
