Marysville wins first district title with 55-35 victory over Reynoldsburg

COLUMBUS, Ohio – When Marysville needed her the most, JoJo Eberhart put together one of the best all-around games of her career while leading the Monarchs to a 55-35 victory over Reynoldsburg in a Division I district final Saturday at Ohio Dominican University.

The junior point guard ball-handled her way through the Raiders’ man-to-man defensive pressure, made accurate passes to open teammates, applied suffocating pressure defense to her opponents and scored a team-high 13 points.

But after Eberhart led the second-seeded Monarchs to their first district championship in program history over the sixth-seeded Raiders, she was more concerned with talking about her team’s success than her individual performance.

“I always come ready to play and I just did my role, which is to take care of the ball and give it to an open teammate,” Eberhart said. “None of us on this team care who scores the most points. We just want to win.

“I’m just so happy for my team, because we’ve been working for this for three years. These girls are my best friends and we’re just so happy and excited to be district champions.”

Eberhart’s unselfish attitude was reflected in the way her entire team played, as the Monarchs patiently passed the ball across the court until they found open looks at the basket and played high-energy man-to-man defense.

Marysville, which improved to 24-2 overall, will face fifth-seeded Westerville South in a regional semifinal at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at Westerville North.

“What’s special about this group is they care about making plays and winning games, and they aren’t worried about box scores,” Marysville coach Klarke Ransome said. “These girls love each other and they selflessly put aside their individual goals for the good of their team.”

This was an especially-satisfying victory for the Monarchs, after they had lost in district finals in each of the past two seasons, falling to Pickerington Central 58-39 last year and losing to Dublin Coffman 37-28 in 2021.

“We’ve been here the last two years, remembered those experiences, learned from it and were ready to go,” Ransome said. “We’ve grown and matured… and we finally got this monkey off our back.

“Winning our first district championship is special, but it’s not about me. The girls deserve the credit because they worked their tails off. And our community is phenomenal. They really packed the stands supporting us this entire season.”

Junior power forward Addy Tweed came off the bench to also score a team-high 13 points, including seven points in the second quarter alone, to help the Monarchs jump out to a 31-19 halftime advantage.

“We came out with intensity and never let up,” Tweed said. “When I come off the bench, I want to prove myself and show what I can do, so I gave it my all.

“I’m so happy for our (six) seniors because they’ve been working for this for the past two years. I love our seniors and they feel like family to me.”

Ava Wilkerson, a Baldwin Wallace University recruit, scored half of her 10 points in the first quarter to help Marysville pull ahead 13-6.

Ava Krutowskis (8 points), Cam Lee (6), Gab Lee (3) and Leah Brown (2) rounded out a balanced scoring effort for the Monarchs.

“What’s special about this team is you can’t just guard one individual because we’re very balanced,” Ransome said. “We preach daily about the importance of making the extra pass and the right play, but it’s a credit to our girls that they want to play that way, and aren’t worried about their individual stats.

“Leah Brown scored just two points in each of our past two games, but she had seven assists and five rebounds in our semifinal win (63-33 over eighth-seeded Gahanna Lincoln on Feb. 22) and played a big role in both games with her leadership.

“Defensively, Cam Lee has been phenomenal for us. Cam was tough and extremely physical while guarding Reynoldsburg’s guards early in the game, and against (6-foot-1 post player Daniya McDonald) later in the game when we needed her.”

McDonald led all scorers with 16 points, and she scored the first basket of the game to put the Raiders ahead 2-0, for their only lead.

The junior also made a 3-pointer to pull Reynoldsburg within 38-29 with 3:15 remaining in the third quarter, before the Monarchs responded with a 13-0 run to put the game out of reach.

Also scoring for the Raiders, who are the defending Division I state champion, were Samara Savoy (8 points), Sa’Mahn Johnson (5), Aubree Price (5) and Jayla Ross (1).

“Marysville’s really well-coached and they deserved to win this game,” said Reynoldsburg coach Jack Purtell, whose squad finished 18-7 overall. “They screen well and our press didn’t bother them a bit. They doubled Samara in the post and we had a hard time scoring.

“But we were young this year, and we have better days ahead of us.”

Photo Gallery (photos by Gabe Haferman)