{"id":5620,"date":"2026-02-18T20:18:54","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T20:18:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=5620"},"modified":"2026-02-18T20:18:54","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T20:18:54","slug":"lady-stangs-end-season-with-61-41-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/?p=5620","title":{"rendered":"Lady ‘Stangs end season with 61-41 loss"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Miramonte’s pressure defense too much for Middletown to handle in playoff opener<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lake County Sports on Facebook<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MIDDLETOWN >> Miramonte\u2019s unrelenting back-court pressure took its toll on a young Middletown High School girls basketball squad in the opening round of the North Coast Section Division 3 playoffs Tuesday night at the Tallman Gym.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though the Matadors (15-13) suited up only seven players, they came at Middletown with everything they had on the defensive end, forcing numerous turnovers that led to easy baskets in a 61-41 win that sends them into the Division 3 quarterfinals Friday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miramonte\u2019s opportunistic offense took care of the rest, the Matadors generating enough of an inside game to compliment and outside game that featured six 3-pointers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey are a disciplined team, polished,\u201d Middletown head coach Roxi Holt said. \u201cThey had only seven players, but they used them all. They run a good defense. We haven\u2019t seen anything like that all season.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting the ball across halfcourt proved to be a challenge for the Mustangs (18-8), the three-time defending North Central League I champions, but a squad that simply didn\u2019t have the ballhandlers to solve the Matadors\u2019 trap. Miramonte backed off slightly after piling up number team fouls in the first quarter \u2013 Middletown was in the bonus midway through the opening period \u2013 but it turned out to be only a short-time reprieve for the Mustangs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey were just a better team than us,\u201d Holt said of a Middletown program clearly on the rise, one that secured another league title during a transition season, one in which the Mustangs were without their head coach in the opening weeks (maternity leave).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m definitely happy with where our future is headed,\u201d Holt said. \u201cWe\u2019ll get rolling again in our summer program. The talent is there, we\u2019re just not at the level yet,\u201d Holt said with an eye toward Miramonte. \u201cWe tried, but it just wasn\u2019t going to happen tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ally Rogin, a 6-foot-1 sophomore center, led the Matadors with 18 points while sophomore guard Ava Noga finished with 17. Senior guard Maegen Eichenberger added 14 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miramonte led 17-11 after one quarter, 31-24 at halftime and 48-32 through three quarters. Middletown never held the lead in the game, but the Mustangs were able to tie it at 20-all with five minutes left in the first half when the Matadors temporarily lifted their half-court pressure. Unfortunately, an 11-0 Matadors run followed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was very happy with our first half of play,\u201d Holt said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middletown sophomore Izzi Hoogendoorn capped her second varsity season with 11 points Jordyn Harbison and Autumn Clark added seven points apiece, and Harley Holley and Thaly Rodriguez had six each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Mustangs lose Clark and Holley to graduation, they return the bulk of their squad while also inheriting a junior varsity team that went undefeated in league play, including several players who got their feet wet at the varsity level during the course of the season. One of those, Chloe Pulido, had four points on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Miramonte’s pressure defense too much for Middletown to handle in playoff opener Lake County Sports on Facebook MIDDLETOWN >> Miramonte\u2019s unrelenting back-court pressure took its toll on a young Middletown High School girls basketball squad in the opening round of the North Coast Section Division 3 playoffs Tuesday night at the Tallman Gym. Though the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,12,17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5620"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5620"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5622,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5620\/revisions\/5622"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}