St. Paul slips past Old Fort to advance

NORWALK — "Calm down, Morgan." As St. Paul senior Morgan Endsley walked to the free-throw line, the message inside her head was that simple. The Flyers were holding a slim 39-38 lead with just 30.2 seconds left. Endsley had been fouled after stealing the ball from visiting Old Fort in Saturday's Division VII sectional championship game. "I was just trying to calm myself down and know if I make these, it's going to put us in a good spot," Endsley said. The senior then did just that. St. Paul then turned away two more Old Fort possessions in the final 30 seconds for the 41-38 come-from-behind win inside Harvey Keller Gymnasium. St. Paul (11-12) advanced to a district semifinal against St. Mary Central Catholic (11-13) at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Gibsonburg High School. The Flyers rallied in the final two minutes for a 31-28 win in the second game of the season against the Panthers back on Nov. 25. "It felt amazing to win," Endsley said. "We've never cut down the nets before in my four years, so to do it in our last game in this gym is really nice. Being able to be a part of this turnaround with this group of girls means a lot to me." The Stockaders (11-12) and Flyers traded scoring runs for much of the first three-plus quarters. St. Paul led 17-10 in the second quarter, only for Old Fort to respond with a 10-0 scoring run and a 20-17 lead. But the Flyers got the last two baskets of the first half from freshmen Deanna Vazquez and Raeleigh Friend for a 21-20 halftime lead. After a stalemate third quarter (9-9), the Stockaders then pushed ahead for a 36-32 lead with 3:32 left on consecutive scores from Adelyn Dick. Quickly at the other end, junior Aubrie Bogard's only basket of the game was a big one. She was fouled and added the free throw to make it 36-35, then Endsley had another steal and a layup to give the Flyers the lead back at 37-36 with 3:05 left in the game. Dick scored again for Old Fort with 1:45 left to give the Stockaders the lead, but Vazquez was fouled and sent to the line at the other end with 1:21 left. She made both to give St. Paul a 39-38 lead, then the end became a little chaotic. St. Paul grabbed a missed shot by Old Fort and was fouled with 37.7 seconds left. After missing both free throws, the Flyers then quickly put up a shot attempt on the rebound, and Old Fort grabbed the ball with 33.8 seconds left, much to the dismay of St. Paul head coach Steve Frazee. But with fouls to give, the Flyers were aggressive on defense. Endsley then got the steal and two foul shots to go, and Old Fort missed a three-point shot with nine seconds left, but the ball deflected out of bounds back to the Stockaders. St. Paul then fouled Old Fort with 4.9 seconds left to shorten the game. On the final play, Vazquez then stole the ball near half-court and dribbled out the first sectional title for St. Paul since the 2020-21 season. "I'm just so proud of them," Frazee said. "It's been an up-and-down season, and we didn't finish the strongest down the stretch. But Old Fort was a team a lot like us that we felt we could compete with, and we ran a defense we have never run before. I thought we had a little bit more depth, and we could wear them out some." The St. Paul senior class endured a three-year stretch of 8-63 overall and 3-39 in the Firelands Conference before rebounding this season to a current mark of 11-12 and 7-7 in the FC. "We've been very happy with how our seniors have responded by taking our younger kids under their wing," Frazee said. "They have helped them out in just about every way, right down to simple drills in practice." The Flyers also held Old Fort to single digits in three of the four quarters. "I told them we were going to win this game on defense, and when we were down four, I wanted nothing but layups," Frazee said. "Then we came out and shot three jumpers. But they came back and did the things we wanted them to do, and I'm just so proud of them." Raeleigh Friend finished with 14 points, while Endsley had nine and Vazquez scored eight for the Flyers, who also limited their turnovers in Saturday's win. "That's our biggest thing in the last two years, and I thought we handled it pretty well today," Frazee said. "We got the ball to the post, and we rebounded well until the third quarter, but we got some key rebounds when we needed them after that." SMCC beat Danbury, 38-32, in its sectional game on Saturday. Frazee said it's hard to put too much stock in the November win over the Panthers, other than it's a team the Flyers faced and defeated. "That game was a long time ago, and they're young, but they were even younger then," he said. "I thought that was a game we could have played better in, but we didn't know how to finish. "It's going to be a tough rematch, but it will be fun to play them a second time. Not many teams get to win a tournament championship in their gym, and now we have a chance to win a district game, which we haven't done here for nine years." OLD FORT (11-12) Lucy King 4-2—13; Adelyn Dick 5-4—14; Carly Fortner 3-0—7; Ally Quaintance 1-0—2; Nakiah Wall 1-0—2. TOTALS 14-6—38. ST. PAUL (11-12) Georgia Crabbs 0-1—1; Morgan Endsley 1-7—9; Raeleigh Friend 6-0—14; Annie Friend 1-0—2; Aubrie Bogard 1-2—4; Ella Kalizewski 1-1—3; Deanna Vazquez 3-2—8. TOTALS 13013—41, Old Fort 7 13 9 9 — 38 St. Paul 9 12 9 11 — 41 Three-point FGs: (OF) King 3, Fortner; (SP) R. Friend 2.