COLUMBUS — As the only two seniors on the Cardington girls basketball team, Casey Bertke and Hannah Wickline did what they have done for the Pirates all season long. They led them to victory.
Bertke had 15 points, nine rebounds and four blocks and Wickline added 14 points, 12 rebounds and three steals to lead the Pirates to their first district championship with a 44-42 win over Worthington Christian in Division III Friday night at the Columbus Convention Center.
Wickline’s put-back with 5:08 remaining gave second-seeded Cardington the lead for good. She added a step-back 3-pointer with 4:26 remaining to push the lead to 41-36.
Bertke scored the final three points on a basket and a free throw — the latter of which gave the Pirates (24-1) a 44-39 lead with 1:15 left and they held on from there.
Katherine Weakley went around a Blessing King screen at the top of the key and knocked down a 3-pointer to cut the Warrior deficit to two with 44 seconds left.
The third-seeded Warriors had three chances to tie or take the lead from there. The last came on a Libby Dalton corner 3 attempt that was just off the mark.
Dana Bertke pulled down the rebound and dribbled out the final couple of seconds to preserve the win, and the celebration was on.
“I just looked at the clock and thought, ‘The game’s really over … we did it,’” Wickline said.
“I think I tore my ACL again from jumping around,” Cardington coach Jamie Edwards said.
Edwards, who was an assistant at Olentangy under John Feasel, couldn’t help think of his mentor before the game. Feasel’s teams made the district title game six out of seven years and never took home the top prize. Edwards was on his bench until taking over at Cardington before the 2015-16 season. Feasel’s run came to end after that season when he moved over to coach the boys program.
“One time we missed the front of a one-and-one with seven seconds left against Pickerington North (in 2013),” Edwards said. “They kicked the rebound out to the coaches’ kid, who banked in a half-courter at the buzzer and we lost. There were a couple of moments where I thought, ‘It’s over — we got this.’ And then something would happen.”
Edwards was afraid he brought some bad mojo with him. Cardington had lost three district final games in four years leading up to this win.
The Warriors seemed poised to continue that futility — especially early with four 3-pointers in the first quarter alone, including long balls on each of their first three baskets.
Megan Weakley buried a pair and Meghan Mayotte and Katherine Weakley each added 3s of their own to help the Warriors build a 16-7 lead with 2:10 left in the opening quarter.
Beth Hardwick knocked down a 3 to start a 19-5 rally that saw Cardington push the lead to 26-21 with a little less than two minutes left in the half.
Megan Weakley buried her third 3 of the half with a couple of seconds left to help WC pull within 26-24 at the break.
Weakley knocked down a fourth 3-pointer during a 7-0 rally to start the second quarter.
Casey Bertke scored to end the run and Dana Bertke fed Hannah Wickline for a 3 to tie the game at 31 with 4:35 left in the third and it stayed a one-possession game until the final stretch.
Dana Bertke had six assists, six rebounds, three steals and a pair of blocks and Hardwick finished with nine points — all on 3s — to back Casey Bertke and Wickline.
Katherine Weakley had 14 points and Megan Weakley finished with 12 to lead WC. Blessing King had nine rebounds and four blocks; Mayotte had four assists and three reobunds and Mianna Hartings had six points, four steals and three assists for the Warriors (19-6).
Cardington faces the winner of tonight’s Berlin Hiland-Zoarville Tuscarawas Valley game in a regional semifinal Wednesday night at 6:15 p.m. at Logan.
