DAYTON, Ohio — Gabby Plair scored a team-high 13 points and Blossom Wallace added 10 as Pickerington Central held off Cincinnati Princeton’s late rally to win 47-44 in the OHSAA Division I girls’ basketball state championship game at UD Arena on Saturday.
After trailing for more than 18 minutes and most of the first half, Cincinnati Princeton’s Mari Gerton hit a jump shot to tie Pickerington Central at 27 points at 4:00 in the third quarter.
Two lead changes and two ties later, both teams remained knotted at 40 points after Pickerington Central (25-3) erased a six-point deficit with back-to-back 3-pointers from London Johnson and Zoe Coleman with 3:54 left to play in the fourth quarter.
Kali Fortson drove in a layup inside the paint to give the Vikings (21-7) a 42-40 edge.
Coleman flipped the score with another 3-pointer, giving Pickerington Central a 43-42 lead as 2:06 remained on the clock. Plair added a pair of free throws with 32 seconds to go.
Heaven Sneed laid in a bucket bringing Cincinnati Princeton within one with 15 seconds left, but two free throws from Deyon Smith and a missed game-tying 3-pointer by Erin Thomas allowed Pickerington Central to hold on and clinch the championship.
“It feels amazing,” Plair said. “We worked so hard all season. We’ve had a lot of haters, but we never let them get to us and we just showed that we were supposed to be here today and we were supposed to win. And we never gave up.”
Pickerington Central shot 40% from the field and went 7-for-22 from 3-point distance.
The Tigers moved into a tie with Mount Notre Dame winning eight state championships. Only Africentric is ahead with nine titles in OHSAA girls basketball history.
“It’s surreal because Pickerington is where my heart is, and I’ve always said, I believe that this is the premier basketball program in the state,” Pickerington Central head coach Johnathan Hedgepeth said. “I just am so thankful that our girls were able to just pull it out and represent and get the trophy back to Pickerington.”
Fortson finished with 19 points to lead all scorers. The loss snapped the Vikings’ 19-game winning streak.
“Our kids fought hard all season,” Cincinnati Princeton head coach Dee Davis said. “We had adversity that we had to face in this game, and that’s what it’s about. It’s a game of runs. We’re going to have good moments, not so good moments. Our not-so-good moments got the best of us today, but all in all, I’m proud of these girls.”
