The freshman guard finished with a career-high 17 points — scoring 15 in the second half — as Badin (11-13) advanced to a D-III district championship game. Senior star Braelyn Even was limited to eight points but grabbed a team-high 14 rebounds, while Addi Marshall added 11 points. The Rams went 14 of 30 from the free-throw line.
“I’ve been working in practice all week,” O’Hara said. “They’ve been telling me I need to drive, I need to shoot, to be confident in myself. And I just went out there and played.
“It’s definitely nerve-wracking. But once you just get out there and play like you know how to, it’s fun.”
Neither team found an offensive rhythm early. The two combined to shoot just 21% from the floor in the first half and missed all 16 3-pointers. Talawanda led 12-6 after one quarter, but the Rams clamped down defensively in the second, allowing just one point to take a 16-13 lead into halftime.
O’Hara knocked down three 3-pointers, including the deep buzzer-beater that sent Badin into the fourth quarter with momentum. Hailey Weber added another from beyond the arc.
“I was just like, ‘We need to win,’” O’Hara said. “That’s all I wanted to do — go on to the next round. I wanted to get there.”
The Rams then broke the game open with a decisive 21-2 run fueled by defensive pressure and transition offense. Talawanda (19-5) shot 7 of 31 (22.6%) from the field and went 0 for 15 from 3-point range while committing 20 turnovers.
“You’re not going to beat good teams when you shoot 22 percent from the floor,” Talawanda coach Zach Stapleton said. “We turned the ball over 20 times, and when you do that with Braelyn Even on the other side, it’s going to be a problem.”
Still, Stapleton credited his team’s defensive effort against Even, who averages a Greater Catholic League Coed-best 20.5 points a game.
“We held her to about eight points, and that was a goal for us,” Stapleton said. “I was really proud of our kids for that. But they had another player step up and knock down shots. We knew they had shooters, and they made them. We just didn’t get it done offensively.”
Badin coach Tom Sunderman said the Rams anticipated Talawanda focusing on Even and spent much of the last week preparing other scoring options.
“We’ve been working on not passing it to Braelyn, getting it to other people, opening up, being confident, driving to the basket,” O’Hara confirmed. “Basically just finishing and scoring and being selfish.”
Sunderman said the Rams also adjusted offensively after a 47-42 loss at Talawanda 16 days earlier.
“It was a lot of similarities in the first game,” Sunderman said. “We were getting good looks at the basket. We just weren’t finishing. We’ve been working on a new offense for the last three weeks. Once we reversed it once or twice, the middle opened up. We got everything we wanted.”
He credited the Rams’ half-court “run and jump” defense for sparking the decisive surge.
“I think we turned them over six or seven times in the last three minutes and converted on probably 80% of those,” Sunderman said. “Your best offense is your defense.”
When O’Hara came off the court after her third-quarter dagger, Sunderman greeted her with a bear hug.
“It was more to show the girls we’re here — we’re going to put this thing on,” Sunderman said. “Somebody else has got to step up and score. It can’t be Braelyn every game. And today, Ava stepped up and hit some huge shots.”
For O’Hara, the moment was unforgettable.
“I was over the moon,” O’Hara said. “As soon as I walked off the court, my coach was hugging me so tight, I couldn’t even breathe. I just felt so happy.
“This game meant so much to us. This season hasn’t been the easiest for us. We didn’t have the best record, but we wanted to make a run in the tournament, and this definitely showed that we could.”
Talawanda, powered largely by underclassmen, got 11 points and six rebounds from sophomore Janna Cary and nine points with 16 rebounds from freshman Bella Cobb. The Brave graduate just one senior, Grace Richardson.
“I’ve said it a million times — she’s the heart of our team,” Stapleton said of Richardson. “Her effort and energy are top-notch, and I couldn’t be more thankful for the way she’s helped teach our younger players how to play with that kind of intensity.”
With four freshmen among his top six players, Stapleton viewed the season as a stepping stone.
“We learned a lot. I thought it was a good year,” Stapleton said. “That game will give us some fuel. They’ll go back to work, practice and get better. Losing Grace is going to hurt. But we return a lot of youth, and they’ll be a year more experienced.”
Badin, which has won four of its last five games, will face Chaminade Julienne for a district title at 1 p.m. Saturday at Lakota West.
“We’ve got a one-game tournament on Saturday,” Sunderman said. “We’re trying to qualify for a two-game tournament next week.”
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