Madison Greene's big second half helps lead Pickerington Central to regional final win over Marysville

WESTERVILLE, Ohio – Madison Greene was eager to make a big impact for Pickerington Central in the second half of its Division I regional final against Marysville, after the senior point guard had to sit out most of the second quarter because she was in foul trouble.

The Central District Player of the Year – who didn’t even score a point or take a shot in the entire first half -– had to patiently bide her time on the bench after she was called for a second personal foul early in the second quarter of the final, which was held Friday at Otterbein University’s Rike Center.

When the Vanderbilt University recruit finally did reenter the game at the start of the second half, she more than made up for lost time by scoring 12 points, making four steals while applying intense on-ball pressure, and utilizing slick ball-handling and deft passing to set up teammates with prime scoring opportunities.

And with Greene serving as a lightning rod for her team, both offensively and defensively in the second half, the Tigers seized control of a close game with the Monarchs and gradually pulled away for a 54-39 victory in front of a sold-out crowd of 3,100 fans.

Central improved to 24-4 overall, and captured its first regional title since 2019 and 14^th overall in the program’s storied history. The Tigers - who last won a state title in 2018 - will face Holland Springfield or Olmsted Falls in a state semifinal 8 p.m. March 10 at the University of Dayton.

“I was excited to get back in, but my mindset was to come out and do what I do every game,” Greene said. “I was looking to be a threat on both ends of the court. Defense is my priority, so I tried to pressure the ball and come up with steals and cover their open shooters. I’m always watching the ball, and when I have the opportunity to go for a steal, I’m aggressive and I take it.

“When my shots weren’t falling, I had to drive to the basket and get to the free throw line.”

With Central clinging to a three-point lead coming out of halftime, Greene had seven points and two steals, and was 5-for-5 from the charity stripe, in the third quarter alone. With less than a second on the clock, Greene converted a three-point play to help the Tigers extend their advantage to 35-29 heading into the fourth quarter.

“Madison gave us a big lift,” senior forward Olivia Cooper said. “Whenever she’s hot and on fire, and brings that kind of energy, we do well.”

The Tigers opened the fourth quarter with a 9-0 run, as Greene stole the ball and converted another three-point play to put her team up 44-29 with 5:57 remaining.

“Madison had a lot of energy after sitting out a quarter, and she came back ready to go,” junior forward Berry Wallace said. “She got us going with good on-ball pressure and we played really well, defensively, as a team.”

Greene, a finalist for Ohio's Ms. Basketball award, also scored a layup to make it 48-32 and dim any realistic comeback hopes for Marysville with under four minutes left.

“(Greene) gave us a spark in the second half, and our entire team played well,” said Central coach Chris Wallace, whose squad beat Dublin Coffman 60-52 in a regional semifinal on Tuesday. “When she picked up her second foul, we didn’t panic, because we’ve been here before, having to play almost the whole first half of our regional semifinal without Cooper.

“We play for the second half, and we trusted in all of our girls that they would keep us in the game, because we have great depth.”

The Tigers also used their trio of 6-foot-1 players – Cooper, Berry Wallace and Blossom Wallace – to dominate inside the paint the majority of the game against a Marysville team that doesn’t have any players who are over 5-10 on its roster.

Cooper scored a game-high 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting. The Columbia University recruit scored 10 points in the second half, including six points in the fourth quarter.

“All of Marysville’s players were shorter than me, so I definitely had to take advantage of my size and go hard in the post,” Cooper said.

Coach Wallace’s daughters both had big games, as Berry scored 11 points and Blossom had seven points.

“We had a major size advantage today, so we had to at least work from the inside-out,” said Berry, as she cradled the regional championship trophy in her arms, before pausing the interview and handing it off to a teammate so she could clap as her father cut down the net at the Rike Center. “My older sister was on Pickerington Central’s team that won state (in 2018), so we got to experience it because my dad was an (assistant) coach on that team, and now me and my little sister want to win one, too.”

Rylee Bess and Trinity Jackson also each had four points to cap Central’s scoring.

“We tried to take advantage of our size by spreading them out, because both (Cooper and Berry Wallace) are being recruited to play wing in college, so they are capable of putting the ball on the floor and driving to the basket,” coach Wallace said.

Playing against Central’s combination of man-to-man defensive pressure and a hybrid zone, Marysville made only four of its 21 field goals attempts in the first half.

“We’re very versatile, defensively,” coach Wallace said. “There’s no way they saw our defense on film, because we hadn’t shown it all year. We just wanted to stay disciplined.

“JoJo (Eberhart) is fast and gets to the rim well, so we made her take jumpers. The rest of their girls are good shooters, so we met them at the rim.”

With Greene out of the game, Marysville opened the second quarter on a 6-0 run, as Ava Krutowskis made a jump shot to tie the score at 11.

Leah Brown also made two foul shots and Eberhart made a free throw in the waning moments of the second quarter to pull the Monarchs within 20-17 going into halftime.

“I felt good about where we were at by halftime, because we had missed some shots that we would normally make and we were playing hard and defending well,” said Marysville coach Klarke Ransome, whose team finished 25-3 overall. “We didn’t shoot it great, but give credit to Pickerington Central. They are long and athletic, and they do a good job of defending.”

Eberhart made two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and scored eight of her team-high 11 points in the second half.

Cam Lee and Krutowskis each scored nine points, Ava Wilkerson had nine points and Brown four points for the Monarchs, who were making their regional tournament debut.

“It’s weird that I’m not crying right now, but I’m overwhelmed with contentment, because our team accomplished so many good things,” Brown said. “We won our league and our first district championship. More importantly, we never lost sight of who we were as a team. We stay connected as a team from the first game until this last one.”

Photo Gallery (photos by Gabe Haferman)