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| Zoey Hodge hit one of her three 3-point shots as she finished the game with 12 points. As Pam Davis stands in the foreground. (Photo: Chuck Cordes/Ohsfbmedia.com) |
DAYTON, Ohio - It's been 38 years since the Akron Archbishop Hoban girls basketball program won a state championship under then-coach Vince Gross, who also won a Division II state championship.
Pam Davis put an end to that dry spell by beating Mount Notre Dame 72-64 to win the Division II state championship. "Obviously, they were undefeated coming in, we are, I say this all the time, we are pint size, and we are not big, and we have to use grit and determination to force our will on people," Davis said.
The Knights began the game fast, moving quickly up and down the court. It was a close game for the first three minutes or so, but then they started to get ahead. With 1:38 remaining, they had established an 18-8 lead, thanks to Makenzie Grant and several other Hoban players.
Stevens knocked to big 3-point shots in the period as Hoban looked confident on both ends of the floor. Carine Harris led the way for the Cougars. By the quarter's end, Hoban had a ten-point lead, 18-8. "Out the gate, we like to start strong," said Stevens.
The second period was no different as Hoban continued to play at a fast pace and held the lead, as there was on one lead change, and that was at the 6:33 mark of the first quarter.
Stevens, Grant, and Ella Bockmore kept controlling the game. On defense, they made MND turn the ball over 10 times, which led to 12 points scored just from those turnovers.
Neira Stevens had 13 points going into halftime, going 3 for 4 shooting from behind the arc. They would lead 45-24 heading into the break.
MND couldn't take the lead during this time because Hoban kept applying pressure on the Cougars' backcourt. Also, McKenzie Grant dominated the boards for the Knights, who had 11 rebounds in the game, which took away crucial possessions they needed. "We start to hit shots, which is always good to get a momentum flowing," said Stevens. "We make sure to keep the pressure on them 94 feet."
"We don't do it any other way; we have pressured for the last 27 games," said Davis.
Stevens will continue to stay hot as she scored 12 points just in the third quarter with her masterful shooting from the outside and going 10 for 17 from the field.
Although MND had a high-scoring third quarter, in which they scored 21 points for the quarter, led by Harris, Ava Simpson, and Layla Houpe, who went to the free throw line multiple times down the stretch of the quarter.
Hoban led 64-45 by the end of the third quarter.
As the game entered its final period, MND tried to narrow the score difference by limiting Hoban to only eight points in the fourth quarter. They didn't let the Knights score until there were 5:22 left in the game. MND was down by 8 points, with the score at 60-68, and there were just under two minutes remaining.
All Hoban would muster up were points from the free throw line, unlike how they had been controlling the game up until this period, after a 3-point shot made by Amariya Davis with 2:46 remaining.
But it would not be enough as the Knights would walk off a Division II state championship win. Niera Stevens finished with 25 points and was the Player of the Game.
For Davis, this was not her first rodeo, winning a state championship in 2010, she would win, leading the Canton McKinley Lady Pups to a Division I title led by Ameryst Alston. Davis would coach there for 13 years before being hired at Akron Archbishop Hoban High School; coincidentally, she still is listed as an educator in the Canton City School District, according to district records.
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