Elida girls win regular-season district title

ELIDA — There will likely be bigger games to come for Elida’s girls basketball team. But Thursday was about as big as it gets in the regular season.

Elida hosted Melrose while trying to win the regular-season district A title and stay undefeated in district play at that. And on the strength of Kasyn Creighton’s three-point play with seven seconds to go in the fourth, Elida pulled out a 40-38 vistory, ran the 10-game table in district competition, won the regular-season title, and headed into the postseason district tournament with lots of momentum.

Not a bad haul for one victory.

“Absolutely, man, it was a big one to win the regular-season district title,” Elida head coach Jaden Isler said. “And that goes a long way in the state rankings because they take that into account. The district tournament doesn’t have as much weight (as the regular-season standings).”

Elida had entered Thursday’s game at 9-0 in district, Melrose at 8-1. The stakes there, obvious.

And in that final showdown at Elida High School, the Lady Tigers led almost the whole way, until Melrose slipped ahead by one, 38-37, during the last minute of the fourth quarter. Seven ticks remained on the clock as Lacey Ferguson inbounded the ball. She found Creighton, who drove for a layup on the left block, made it to give Elida the lead again, and was fouled in the process.

Creighton stepped to the line and calmly sank the and-one, giving Elida a little insurance in the form of a 40-38 lead.

Melrose inbounded, moved quickly to half-court and called timeout with three seconds to play. After the next timeout, a three-point attempt to win it from between half-court and the three-point line was off, and Elida prevailed.

The Lady Tigers (20-6 overall) get the No. 1 seed in next week’s postseason district A tournament. Melrose (18-7 overall) still gets No. 2 for its efforts, and both teams receive byes for Monday night’s first round.

Grady (15-10, 6-4) beat San Jon 57-39 on the road Thursday and will be seeded third. The Lady Bronchos will host that same San Jon team in Monday’s opening round. Clovis Christian, which beat Floyd 47-29 at home Thursday, will get a rematch in the same gym for Monday night’s first round (6 p.m.). Clovis Christian head coach Mike DeGroot wasn’t sure how long it had been since the Lady Eagles had a home district game, but estimated it was around five or six years.

As for Elida, Ferguson led the champs Thursday with 17 points, also a game-high.

Creighton added 13 points, including those big three in the waning seconds.

Landry Widener paced Melrose with 11 points, followed by Natalie Mondragon with 10.

The other district teams may well have something to say about it, but Elida and Melrose could be meeting again within the next week.

“Melrose is the No. 2 team in the state for a reason,” Isler said. “We know every time we see them it’s going to be a tough matchup. These games are all going to be tough, hard games. But it was good to get that win and get (the possible rematch) on our home floor.”

Elida 40, Melrose 38

Melrose (18-7, 8-2) — Hailey Martin 3, Landry Widener 11, Natalie Mondragon 10, Brett Devaney 7, Avette Sanchez 7. Totals 14 6-14 38.

Elida (20-6, 10-0) — Lacey Ferguson 17, Cambree Bargas 4, Madison Ferguson 4, Kasyn Creighton 13, Thanya Banda 2. Totals 16 7-16 40.

Melrose 5 8 8 17 — 38

Elida 10 6 14 10 — 40

3-pointers — Melrose, Widener 3, Mondragon 1. Elida, L. Ferguson 1.