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This one’s for Kelly; Fairmont rewind
FAIRBORN - Kelly Hart is the only senior on Fairmont High School’s loaded girls basketball team. And at a generous 5 feet, 6 inches, she’s also the smallest.
But she played a big part in Fairmont’s 55-51 defeat of Springboro in Friday’s night’s D-I regional final at Wright State University.
“I just wanted to make sure this wasn’t Kelly’s last game,” said sophomore Alona Skipper, who nailed 6 of 7 treys and accounted for a game-high 18 points.
Fairmont (25-1) returns to the state “Final 4” for the second straight season. The Firebirds will play the winner of today’s Region 2 regional final at Perrysburg between Toledo Start (22-2) and Middleburg Heights Midpark (22-2) at 6 p.m. Friday, March 18 at OSU’s Schottenstein Center at Columbus.
In the other state semifinal it’s Pickerington North (21-5) vs. Twinsburg (25-0). North defeated Lakota East 52-40 on Friday at Otterbein College. Twinsburg overcame top-ranked and previously unbeaten Canton McKinley in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown also Friday, 48-39 in the Region 1 final at Canton.
The state final is the last of four games at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 19 at the Schott.
Hart hit just one bucket, but it was big and at the halftime buzzer. Her three pushed the Firebirds’ lead to 33-23 at the break. Although Springboro would eventually regain the lead, that shot seemed to make the difference.
From Fairmont teammate Chelsea Welch: (Returning to state) means a lot. I want to try and make it to state as much as I can in my high school career. I want to do it for our only senior Kelly (Hart). She’s a really good friend of mine.
From Fairmont coach Tim Cogan: For (Hart) to hit that shot was so special. She’s such a small kid and she’s not the best basketball player and she knows that, but her last name says it all. Kelly Hart, she’s got a big heart, big time.
From Springboro coach Tom Benjamin: The one shot that they hit at halftime, that was brutal. I thought that we were fortunate to be only down by seven the way the second quarter went. I thought our kids did a great job of being gutsy. I’m not sure that didn’t take more out of us than maybe meets the eye. It looked like to me offensively we kind of lost focus.
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By Mark Ewald
March 12, 2011 10:06 AM | Link to this
Every great team has great teammates. Kelly has embraced her roll with passion and intensity. She is a great credit to her mother Terri and her deceased father Dean, to Coach Cogan and his staff. We love you and our proud of you Kelly. Keep pounding the rock all the way to a state champion! Go Firebirds!!!!!!