MASON — With her team leading by two points (36-34) with just under two minutes remaining in the program’s first-ever district final appearance, Eaton senior Anna Kramer was headed to the free throw line to shoot a pair of free throws.
Junior Lily Shepherd had a simple message for her teammate — “you make both of these and we’re going to win a district championship.”
Kramer, one of the unsung heroes on a team defying the odds, calmly sank both free throws for her only points of the game, and the No. 7 seeded Eagles gradually pulled away from No. 1 seed Cincinnati Summit Country Day to win the program’s first-ever district championship, 43-35, on Friday, Feb. 26, at Mason Middle School.
With the win, Eaton (13-13) advances to the regional final for the first time in program history to take on Hamilton Badin (20-6). The game was scheduled to be played Tuesday, March 1, at Springfield High School. The winner will play on Friday, March 4, at 7 p.m. in the regional championship against either Kettering Archbishop Alter (24-1) or Columbus Granville (24-1) — with a trip to state on the line.
The win over Summit was the Eagles’ second straight over a No. 1 seed. Eaton defeated Dayton Carroll on Monday, Feb. 21, 53-45, at Tecumseh High School, to end the Patriots’ run of three consecutive final four appearances.
“Our team has been resilient all season. We’ve especially done well with handling adversity throughout playoffs. Summit might have been in front most of the game, but I don’t think we ever felt we were out of it,” Eaton coach Dave Honhart said. “At the start of the fourth quarter, we began to talk about all the close games we’d been involved with lately and how most of Summit’s wins had been by a wide margin. I think that helped us to feel a little bit more comfortable down the stretch. At a certain point I think our players started to realize, we’d been there, done that, and could do it again.”
Trust in one another and defensive intensity have been big factors during the postseason run, which now includes four straight wins over higher seeded teams.
Eaton held the Silver Knights 25 points below their season average while containing all three of Summit’s double-digit scorers. No SCD player scored in double figures.
”If there is one area where this team has grown so much, it is in their trust in each other at both ends of the floor. Our defensive help, awareness and communication has gotten so much better, as has our ball movement and willingness to look for each other and trust each other on offense,” Honhart said. “We’ve also really, really committed to being the best defensive team that we can be. We have a philosophy and our players buy into it. We tried to do certain things game plan wise to discourage ball screens, get the ball out of Mari Gerton’s hands and make it tough on Gabby Martin inside, and we executed those well all night. They are a high-powered team. To hold them to 14 of 58 shooting and only 10 points in the second half was phenomenal. While they came up with a few offensive boards, we did a great job of keeping them from turning those into points (they only had 5 second chance points.) And overall, the job we did on the defensive boards was really, really good. I’m not sure I’ve ever coached a game where two of my players had double-figures on defensive rebounds (Olivia Baumann with 14 and Allison Mowen with 11.) That speaks highly of our toughness.”
The two teams played to a 9-9 tie after one quarter. The Silver Knights grabbed the lead with a 7-0 run to begin the second quarter and led 25-19 at the half.
Eaton still trailed 29-22 with just over two minutes left in the third before closing the quarter on a 4-0 run to make it a 29-26 game.
After the Silver Knights connected on a 3-pointer early in the fourth for a 32-26 lead, Eaton slowly began to take control.
An old-fashioned 3-point play by senior Allison Mowen, who finished with 10 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, cut the SCD lead to 32-29 with 6:28 left. Shepherd, who scored 9 on the night, scored with 4:10 left to make it a 32-31 game. Less than a minute later an Olivia Baumann (18 points, 15 rebounds) layup gave Eaton its first lead since the first quarter, 33-32.
Summit responded to take a 34-33 lead with 3 minutes left. It would be the team’s last lead of the game.
Baumann then connected on her third 3-pointer of the game to give the Eagles a 36-34 lead with 2:45 left, setting the stage for Kramer’s key free throws.
”At this point, where there are so many good players on the floor, you have to gamble a somewhere defensively. For the most part, we managed to get away with leaving certain players to help out others,” Honhart said. “They gambled by giving Liv Baumann room to shoot from the outside. She did a nice job of taking advantage of the opportunities by going three-for-five behind the line, all at big moments, and her teammates got her the ball at the right spots at the right time.”
From there, Eaton iced the game with free throws.
Honhart noted the win was not just for the current players, but for all of those who previously wore the Purple and Gold.
”Winning a District Championship is a cool accomplishment,” he said. “All of the current players and coaches are having an awful lot of fun. But this championship isn’t just for the current team. It is for all of the alumni; the players and coaches that have come before us. They all had a hand in building this program up. We had five former players in the locker room with us after the game and at least five more in the stands. That kind of connection over the years means a ton and reflects the kind of culture that we’ve built as players and coaches.”
Honhart added, the crowd support didn’t go unnoticed.
”I thought our crowd was tremendous. They definitely helped us stay in the game early and finish strong late,” he said. “This is an amazing community in the way that they support their student athletes in a positive way. We’ve seen it with football and all the other fall sports, we saw it with men’s basketball this year, and now we’re seeing it with our team. We’d love for everyone to head up to Springfield on Tuesday and ‘Pack the Place with Purple.’”
Honhart said this team continues to improve and they don’t seem to care who gets the accolades.
“Part of the thing that is really allowing our team to play well right now is the way that everyone is embracing their roles,” he said. “Ali, Lily, and Liv have been getting lots of recognition with All League and District All Star voting, etc, and it is well deserved. But on this team, there is not a hint of jealousy. They all compete with each other and root for each other. Kendall Miller, Anna Kramer, Olivia Orr, Kyla Mize and Caroline Miller all do so many things to help us win possessions. Some of them show up in the stats. Some of them don’t. But their contributions are vital.
“I am incredibly proud of our players and our assistant coaches. This was a total team effort. It started last Thursday with our preparation and film study as individuals and as a team. Having six days to prepare definitely helped. To see it all come together on game night was pretty special. This was truly a total team win. Even the players that didn’t play in the game made a huge difference with their bench energy and communication throughout the game, as well as the jobs they did impersonating the Carroll players in practice all week to prepare their teammates.
”Almost a year ago, in her junior year exit interview, I told Ali Mowen that we were going to win Districts her senior year and she was going to cut the net down. It was so fulfilling to see that vision realized through the hard work and trust by so many players, coaches, trainers, administrators and support staff. So many people have played a role in the run that we’re currently enjoying,” he said.
“Having Ali cut the net down represented something that I firmly believe in. The best teams are player-led. It is our job as coaches to teach them how to lead and then trust them to do the job. Every single player on our team is equally important and has played such an important role. But it is also incredibly rare to have a four-year-starting quarterback who runs the team and sets the tone for us. Ali is one of the most selfless players I’ve ever coached and that rubs off on everyone. She earned that moment.”
Now it’s on to the next game.
“We are trying to strike the balance between acknowledging and appreciating the accomplishments along the way, while also turning the page and shifting the focus to preparing for the next game, and continuing to find ways to help us improve for the days ahead. We’ll do our best to just keep on doing what we’ve been doing and enjoying the ride,” Honhart said. “Honestly, as much fun as the playoff wins have been, the best part of every win for me is that we get to spend another three or four days together in the gym as a team. This is just such a fun group of people who get along so well; we are enjoying every day together.”
Eaton stuns Carroll, 53-45
NEW CARLISLE — Eaton pulled the shocker of the Tecumseh sectional with a 53-45 win over top-seeded Carroll.
The Eagles rallied from a 9-point first half deficit to earn the win.
Baumann led the way with 20 points. Shepherd tossed in 17, while Mowen and Kramer each scored six.
“I cannot say enough about this team’s relentless resiliency. I thought we did a really good job making Carroll work on offense in order to find good shots. In the first half, however, when they did find shots, we felt like they were getting them in rhythm,” Honhart said. “At half time we talked as a team about the need to disrupt shooting rhythm, take away threes and force off hand dribbles on every catch. Then we came out and played the best defensive half of basketball we’ve played all season. That is a tribute to the coachability of our players and their willingness to commit to doing what the team needs.”
Eaton trailed 13-9 after one and 26-20 at the half. The Eagles, who lost to Carroll 66-39 back on Dec. 30, continued to cut into the Patriots lead.
”I thought a couple stretch in the game was right before and after halftime. They had gotten up by 9 points late in the first half, but we closed on a 5-2 mini-run. Then we started the second half with a 6-2 mini-run. Together, that made it a two point ballgame,” Honhart said. “I think it assured our players that we were every bit as good as Carroll and helped us believe that we could win. I also think it let Carroll know that we were not going away. This was our second payback win over the last four games and in both cases we flipped the margin from the earlier game by more than 30 points. You just don’t see that very often. I think that speaks to how much this team has improved. We had some rough spots in our season. It would have been very easy to pull apart and coast. Instead this group dug in, committed to improving as individuals and as a team and developed a special kind of resiliency.”
Honhart said his team realized the importance of the win.
”As far as the significance of the win, it is not lost on us, and I’m sure it’s something we’ll look back on with a lot of pride, but at the moment, we are just working on maintaining the same mindset as we prepare for the next game and a relentless hunger to keep improving as a team and as individuals,” he said.
