Upper Arlington coach: 'We’re blessed with 15 kids who love each other and love playing together'

By Aaron Blankenship | Photo courtesy of Alyssa Gest

It would have been easy for Alyssa Gest to shift her focus toward the future, after the Upper Arlington senior guard recently committed to play basketball at Kenyon College.

Instead of getting caught looking too far ahead, Gest scored a career-high 28 points to fuel the 13th-seeded Golden Bears’ 44-34 victory over 17th-seeded Northland in the second round of the Division I district tournament.

With the home victory Thursday night, UA improved to 15-8 overall. The Golden Bears will face seventh-seeded Marysville or 19th-seeded Hilliard Bradley in a district semifinal Wednesday at a neutral site.

“My high school team is very important to me,” Gest said. “I’m excited about going to Kenyon, but our entire team loves being together, and none of us are ready for this season to come to an end. We’re focused on playing for each other and not just ourselves, and so I just did what I could to help us win this game so we can continue playing in the tournament together.”

Gest scorched Northland’s zone defense by making six 3-pointers in the first three quarters. She also was deadly accurate at the charity stripe, making eight of nine foul shots.

After UA fell behind 13-8 early in the second quarter, Gest made a 3-pointer and four consecutive free throws to spark a 10-0 run by the Golden Bears, as they rallied to tie the score at 18 going into halftime.

Gest made three of her 3-pointers in the third quarter to help UA take a commanding 30-20 advantage heading into the fourth, and she scored five more points in the last two minutes of the final quarter to ice the game.

“Our sophomore point guard, Quinn Buttermore, has been playing well, and we were able to beat their zone and set up great shots,” Gest said. “I mostly was open for 3s because they played a lot of zone, and so I just kept shooting.”

While Gest carried the load offensively, the Golden Bears played strong team defense while forcing the Vikings into 30 turnovers.

The Golden Bears applied full-court pressure throughout the contest and used an effective 1-3-1 trap, as the Vikings made just four of their 15 second-half field-goal attempts and turned the ball over 12 times in the final 16 minutes.

“We mixed our defenses to keep them off-balance and out of rhythm offensively,” UA coach John Wanke said. “We wanted to defend them the entire 94 feet of the court and to ensure the game was up-tempo, and I think we were able to use our depth to wear them down some in the third and fourth quarters.”

Forward Charia Smith, a Marquette recruit, scored 12 points to lead Northland. Brianna Hamilton added eight points, including a layup that put the Vikings ahead 13-8 early in the second quarter.

“Northland’s super athletic, so we dug in defensively and made not just stops, but consecutive stops,” Wanke said. “(Smith) is special, so we defended her by committee. Vivian Lawless did a really good job on her most of the game, and Ceylone (Reighard-Brooks) defended her well when Vivian needed a break.”

Northland coach Jay Bee Bethea said the Vikings couldn’t match the Golden Bears’ depth after losing starting point guard Jaya Sheppard (in preseason) and starting shooting guard Nahdia Alcorn (on Jan. 22) to season-ending knee injuries.

“Upper Arlington played good defense, and we didn’t control the ball or run our offense the way we needed to,” Bethea said. “Losing Jaya Sheppard and Alcorn really hurt us, but we fought through those injuries and won the City (League-North Division) and had an overall good season.”

Rounding out UA’s scoring were Reighard-Brooks (five points), Buttermore (4), Lawless (3), Abigail DiMickele (2) and Evie Sanford (2).

In his first season as UA’s head coach, Wanke has far exceeded expectations, especially considering the Golden Bears finished 3-14 a year ago.

“We just have great players who believe in this team, and they just needed someone to believe in them,” Wanke said. “Our seniors have become good leaders, and all of our players are making plays. We’re blessed with 15 kids who love each other and love playing together.”