Medina Gazette 02/13/2012

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Big timeMcKennaBaluch helpsMedina’sgymnastics teamwin the MedinaDivision I Sectional.Page B5

SSppoorrttssSports BMonday,

February 13,2012

Section

W W W . M E D I N A - G A Z E T T E . C O M

In this section:

World and nationPage B6

JUDD SMERGLIA / GAZETTE

Wadsworth coach John Gramuglia, standing, celebrates Mathias Zollinger’s 120-poundtitle win over Green’s Ryan Kaminski at the Suburban League Tournament.

HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING: SUBURBAN LEAGUE TOURNAMENT

Brad BournivalThe Gazette

BATH TWP. — What started with Rex Ran-dolph and the 1993 Wadsworth wrestling teamis still going strong.

That is not only a credit toGrizzlies coach John Gramuglia,but to the 112 Suburban Leaguechampions that have comethrough the program over thelast two decades, as Saturday theschool won or shared its 20thconsecutive conference title.

It happened at the SL Tourna-ment as Wadsworth lapped thefield, beating Nordonia by 83½ points.

It came with champions in Connor Gray(106 pounds), Jordan Schleigh (113), MathiasZollinger (120), Brandon Jones (126), Kagan

Squire (132) and Nick Tavanello (285).It came with 10 finalists and 12 placers, and it

came with the Grizzlies once again remindingeveryone why they are the lead dog.

It also came with Wadsworth winning27 of 33 matches for an alarming 82 percentratio, and it came with the Grizzlies claiming13 of those matches by pin or technical fall.

That it also came with returning state alter-nate Chris Baughman (illness) out at 145 showsjust how solid a win it was for Wadsworth.

“This was one of the big goals,” Gramugliasaid. “We made the league championshipimportant this season.

“This shows how far we’ve come. These guyswrestled with their guts today. It was seven(schools) against one and it prepared us fordown the road.”

Make that 20 straightWadsworth crowns six champions to win by 83 1⁄2

Jones

See SLT, B4

HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS BASKETBALL: WADSWORTH 57, HILAND 45

Ho HoffmanThe Gazette

WADSWORTH — Wads-worth finished the storied his-tory of girls basketball in itsWest Gym on Saturday with anexciting 57-45 win overstate-ranked Berlin Hiland.

While the pregame hypefocused around the past threedecades of fantastic team andindividual accomplishments,the currentGrizzlies (16-3)used their timein the spotlightto add theirown stories tothe gym’s finalchapter.

“This was agreat late-sea-son gameagainst a top-quality teamplayed in a tournament-likeatmosphere,” Wadsworth coachAndrew Booth said. “It was agreat way to close the history ofthis gym, and everyone whoplayed tonight contributed inthis final victory here. It was agreat team victory.”

Although all 10 Wadsworthplayers were involved, RachelGoddard, Kara Long and JessieGearhart really stepped up.

Goddard played perhaps thebest game of her career and fit-tingly brought back memoriesof previous great guards.

In over 30 minutes ofnon-stop action, the junior had10 points on 5-of-9 shooting,dished out six assists, grabbedthree rebounds, took a chargeand, most importantly, com-mitted only one turnover.

“The game was reallyimportant to both me and theteam,” Goddard said. “It wasthe last game in the West Gym

A perfect send-off

Long

Rick NolandThe Gazette

CLEVELAND — The Cavaliers aregoing to be without Anderson Vare-jao for a while.

The 6-foot-11, 260-pound centersuffered a non-displaced fracture tohis right wrist Friday in Cleveland’s

113-112 overtimeloss to the Milwau-kee Bucks, an MRISaturday at theCleveland Clinic’sCenter for SportsHealth revealed.

“It’s terrible,”Varejao toldreporters Saturdayafter sitting out theCavs’ 99-84 loss tothe Philadelphia76ers at QuickenLoans Arena. “Ican’t believe thishappened.”

The Cavs won’tannounce a time-line for the29-year-old’s returnuntil sometime thisweek, but fracturedwrists normallytake at least fourweeks and often sixto heal. If surgery isrequired, it couldbe even longer.

“There’s notmany guys in thisleague that playwith the energy

Andy does,” Cleveland coach ByronScott said. “That’s what makes himspecial.”

Wanting to continue using rookieTristan Thompson off the bench,Scott started Semih Erden at centeragainst the Sixers. Erden had zeropoints, three rebounds, zero assistsand four fouls in 14 minutes.

Scott didn’t commit to Erden longterm, but hinted the 7-footer wouldstart again Wednesday against Indi-ana, which features 7-2 All-Star RoyHibbert in the middle.

Thompson, Ryan Hollins andSamardo Samuels are the other pos-sibilities to start in place of Varejao,who was on the floor for the openingtip in the first 25 games of the season.

RON SCHWANE / GAZETTE

Wadsworthguard

RachelGoddardputs up a

shotbetween

BerlinHiland’sKendra

Schlabach,left, and

McKenzieMiller.

Grizzlies wingym finalebehind greatthird quarter

See GRIZZLIES, B3

CAVALIERS

Mop-topdisasterVarejao to miss timewith a broken wrist

NEXT UPWHO:Indianaat ClevelandWHEN:Wednesdayat 7:30WHERE:QuickenLoans ArenaTV/RADIO:FS Ohio;WTAM1100-AM

JUDD SMERGLIA / GAZETTE

Medina’s Nicole Sposet works to get aroundBrunswick’s Cassi Bowen.

HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS BASKETBALL:MEDINA 51, BRUNSWICK 35

Matthew DoyleThe Gazette

BRUNSWICK — The Medinagirls basketball team had alreadyclinched a share of its secondstraight Northeast Ohio Confer-ence River Division title Wednes-day, but the Bees weren’t satisfieduntil they won it outright.

Standing in their way Saturdaywas Medina County rival Brunswickand 6-foot-4 Gabrielle Bulic, clearlyintent on playing spoiler.

Brunswick made a strong state-

ment early with aseries of inside lobpasses to Bulic, butMedina coachChris Hassingermade an adjust-ment by spreadingthe floor and ErinPacholski took overto help the Beeswin 51-35.

The opportunities for Pacholski(game-high 17 points) to attack therim were enhanced when Has-singer called for a “pause” play,which moved Bulic (14 points,9 rebounds) away from the basketto open a lane to the hoop.

Adjustments matter

Pacholski

Bees spread floorto win River Divisionin outright fashion

See BEES, B3

HIGH SCHOOL BOYS BASKETBALL:TOURNAMENT DRAWS

County flavorBrunswick, Wadsworth or Medinawill reach Copley District semifinals

Albert GrindleThe Gazette

COPLEY TWP. — MedinaCounty boys basketball fans willget their money’s worth at theCopley Division I Sectional afterwhat transpired at Sunday’s draw.

To kick it off, Medina willsquare off with Wadsworth inthe sectional semifinals Feb. 29.Even better, the winner gets sec-ond-seeded Brunswick threedays later.

In other words, an area

school is guar-anteed a berthin the March 8district semifi-nals againstH u d s o n ,Twinsburg orthird-seededNordonia.

“It’s great forthe county,” Blue Devils coachJoe Mackey said. “Look at itthat way.”

Mackey

See DRAW, B3

Varejao

See VAREJAO, B5