DAYTON — A pillow. A blanket. A large sheet of plastic. All instruments to use when trying to smother someone.
Or just use the Portsmouth Lady Trojans defense.
Portsmouth used its patented smothering defense to force 24 turnovers that keyed the Lady Trojans 53-38 win over the Norwayne Lady Bobcats on Saturday in the Division 5 state championship at the University of Dayton Arena.
The defense plus an unselfish offense were the keys as the Lady Trojans claimed the program’s first-ever state champion. Portsmouth had 12 assists among its 22 total field goals.
“Our defense is pretty tough. Really pretty tough,” said Portsmouth coach Amy Hughes, who won her first state title in three trips to the Final Four that includes last season at Portsmouth and 2005 at Ironton.
“I can’t say enough about how mentally and physically strong they are. They are really awesome kids and they really take pride in the defense. I can’t say enough positive things about how good our defense is.”
Not only was this the program’s first state title, the 27 wins are the most in the program’s history.
Portsmouth becomes the 36th school with both the boys and girls winning state championships. The boys own four state titles.
“I have nothing but great things to say about the community, my nine girls, and my coaching staff. It’s really just awesome. What they’ve gone through and how much they deserve this, I’m super proud of them,” said Hughes.
Sienna Allen scored 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting to go with 5 rebounds and 4 assists to lead the Lady Trojans who had four players in double figures. Keke Woods and Hayven Carter scored 11 points each with Daysha Reid getting 10 points.
Norwayne (25-4) was led by Ava Maibach with 15 points and 8 rebounds. Allie DeMassimo had 9 points and three 3-pointers while Hannah Froelich had 8 points and 7 rebounds.
The lead changed hands four times early in the first quarter before Portsmouth got a 3-pointer from Allen, a 15-footer from Carter and a layup by Allen with four seconds on the clock audit was 16-8.
Maibach’s layup and two foul shots by Froelich cut the deficit to 16-12 at the 6:20 mark of the second quarter before Portsmouth and its defense took over and outscored Norwayne 11-2 the rest of the half to lead 27-14.
Froelich converted a 3-point play to start the second half to make it 27-17 only to have Portsmouth score 10 unanswered points to lead 37-17 with 5:54 on the clock.
After a 3-pointer by DeMassimo at the 5:10 mark to stop the run, Woods and Carter made layups and a 3-pointer by Salem Allen off the bench opened up the Lady Trojans largest lead of the game at 44-22 with 3:24 left in the quarter.
The Lady Trojans slowed the game down in the half court set and ran clock in the fourth quarter. After a layup by Sienna Allen with 320 to play that made it 52-35, Hughes began to empty her bench as the seconds ticked away until the final horn.
The championship was a family affair for Hughes. Her father, Mike Hughes, is her assistant and Sienna and Salem Allen and Hayven Carter are her nieces.
Mike Hughes was a very successful boys’ basketball coach at South Point, Wheelersburg and Green.
“It’s special. My dad is my best friend. He got us this, This is his state championship. He’s all the work and all the brains and all the hard work behind it. He’s just amazing. I’m super proud he’s my dad,” said Hughes.
Portsmouth 16 11 19 7 = 53
Norwayne 8 6 14 10 = 38
PORTSMOUTH (27-1): Sienna Allen 7-8 2-2 17, Daysha Reid 4-9 2-2 10, Keke Woods 5-11 1-4 11, Hayven Carter 5-9 1-2 11, K.K. Mays 0-1 0-0 0, Savannah Cantrell 0-0 0-0 0, Bry Shannon 0-2 1-2 1, Salem Allen 1-3 0-0 3, Sky Mays 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 22-43 7-12 53. 3-pt goals: 2-10 (Si. Allen 1-1, Reid 0-4, K. Woods 0-1, Carter 0-1, Shannon 0-1, Sa. Allen 1-2). Rebounds: 7-O 14 -D = 21 (Si. Allen 5, Woods 3, Carter 3, K. Mays 3). Team rebounds: 2. Assists: 12 (Si. Allen 4, Woods 3, Reid 2, Carter 2). Steals: 18 (Carter 5, K. Mays 5, Woods 3). Blocks: 4 (Carter 3, Si. Allen 1). Turnovers: 14. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None.
NORWAYNE (25-4): Kendra Berre 1-3 0-0 2, Ava Maibach 5-12 3-4 15, Allie DeMassimo 3-11 0-0 9, Grace Wolf 0-2 0-0 0, Hannah Froelich 2-4 4-5 8, MaKenna Hayden 1-2 0-0 2, Courtney Cline 0-3 2-4 2, Madicyn Rupp 0-0 0-0 0, Layla Smithberger 0-0 0-0 0, Lauren Bauman 0-0 0-0 0, Annie Henico 0-0 0-0 0, Bella Buckingham 0-0 0-2 0, Gracie Henico 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 12-37 9-15 38. 3-pt goals: 5-15 (DeMassimo 3-6, Berger 0-2, Maibach 2-5, Wolf 0-1, Cline 0-2). Rebounds: 14-O 18-D = 32 (Maibach 8, Froelich 7). Team rebounds 4. Assists: 8 (Froelich 3, Maibach 3). Steals: 8 (Maibach 2, DeMassimo 2). Blocks: 0. Turnovers: 24. Fouls: 15. Fouls out: None.
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