TOLEDO — If you want to win during tournament time, you must be good on the boards along with being able to change turnovers into easy baskets.
Evergreen did both, roaring out to a 20-5 first quarter lead and kept expanding as the night went on to post a 69-39 Division III sectional final win over Elmwood at Toledo Christian High School Saturday.
“We talked all week about being dominant on the boards on both ends of the floor,” Evergreen coach Brittaney Cymbolin said. “I thought we did a really good job doing that especially at the defensive end.
“Then we used our trap to create some turnovers and get us good looks offensively.”
Despite 16 points from Elmwood’s Cara Frank, the Royals see their season end with a 9-15 record.
The Vikings forced eight first stanza miscues and converted them into a 12-0 run to take a double-digit lead.
Brooke Sintobin converted two steals into layups then Macy Chamberlin hit three straight shots, including a top of the key triple to put Evergreen up, 14-5.
Addie Ricker’s jumper and another from Kennedy Emmitt off yet two more Royal turnovers helped balloon the bulge to 15 after eight minutes.
Chamberlin’s stick-back and Lucy Serna’s steal and dish to Brookelyn Gleckler for a score gave the Vikings their biggest lead at 26-7 with 4:48 left in the half.
Frank’s eight second quarter points along with an Aubrey Johnson long range bomb brought Elmwood within 34-20 but that was as close as the Royals got the rest of the night.
Chamberlin stuck a foul line jumper to take Evergreen into the locker room up 34-18, then Evergreen used a 10-point burst in the last 2:21 to put the game away.
Sintobin scored twice in tight, them Emmitt and Gleckler nailed three pointers from the left wing for a 52-28 margin heading into the fourth.
Chamberlin led a trio of double figure scorers for Evergreen with 17. Ricker added 15 and Sintobin 14 for the Vikings who head to the district with a 14-9 record.
The Vikings shot 26-for-61 from the floor and had a huge 39-24 advantage on the glass. Elmwood was 11-for-50. The Royals had 23 turnovers compared to 16 for Evergreen.
