In a thrilling battle between two diocesan Catholic high school girls basketball teams, Portsmouth Notre Dame’s Katie Strickland made a reverse layup in the final second after grabbing a tipped shot and the Titans came away with a 46-44 victory over Lancaster Fisher Catholic in a Division IV regional semifinal on Thursday, March 2 at Pickerington North High School.
Notre Dame (25-2) advanced to the regional final to play Berlin Hiland on Saturday, March 4 at Pickerington North in a bid for the program’s first state tournament appearance.
The loss ended an outstanding season for Fisher Catholic (21-6), which had won nine consecutive games and its first district title since 2008.
Ellie Bruce led the Irish with 14 points, six rebounds and four assists. Voni Bethel added 12 points on four 3-pointers, Averie Bruce had 12 points and Ava Albert led the team in assists with five.
With the clock winding down in the final seconds, Notre Dame’s Ella Kirby launched a 3-point shot that was tipped and fell short of the basket into the waiting arms of Strickland, who was in the right place at the right time.
Strickland came off the baseline underneath the hoop and put up a spinning reverse layup that banked off the glass and in as the buzzer sounded, sending the Notre Dame players running onto the court in celebration.
Notre Dame received contributions from multiple players. Gracie Ashley led the Titans in scoring with 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Teammates Annie Dettwiller added 12 pounds, five assists and three steals. Strickland finished with eight points and eight rebounds, and Kirby had nine points and five rebounds.
Fisher Catholic trailed by 10 points in the final four minutes of the game before mounting a comeback that included a 3-pointers from Albert and Bethel, including one to tie the score at 42 with less than two minutes to play.
A basket from Dettwiller put Notre Dame back in front and then Fisher Catholic’s Averie Bruce sank two free throws with 20 seconds left to knot the score again, setting up Strickland’s buzzer beater that bounced on the rim twice before falling through to give the Titans their second victory this season over the Irish.
