Ellet defeats Loudonville in Ohio girls high school basketball, stars shine on both sides
AKRON, Ohio - After picking up her third foul early in the third quarter against Loudonville on Thursday night while only having scored six points so far and with Ellet trailing, junior guard Caitlyn Holmes had a decision to make, one she had faced before.
She could fight through and finish the game strong, or she could give up and call it a night. The Kent State commit did the latter, and turned it on for 20 points in the second half - 16 in the fourth quarter alone - to help lead Ellet to a 73-64 win.
But that wasn't the decision she would have made, or did make, last season.
"Last year I would have just tried to foul myself out, to be honest," Holmes said. "I remember the first game against Wadsworth, we're losing by like 28 and I purposely fouled out because I didn't want to be in the game. I didn't do that this year. I could have done it, but I didn't want to leave my teammates like that."
Part of what made Holmes decide she wanted to try to turn the game around and finish is Ellet head coach Nick Harris. Instead of putting her on the bench with three fouls, Harris took her out of the game, pulled her aside, had a chat with her and put her right back in at the next dead ball.
"I reminded her of how much work she's done and how confident I am in her, and how there was no doubt how she was going to finish the game," Harris said. "I told her to shoot the next one to go back in and blow the game open. Like I've seen that kid in the gym. I know what she's capable of. I know how hard she's worked and how pure and real the work is. So that was more of a let's just circle back. Let's calm down together. Let me remind you I love you, let me remind you how confident I am of you and then go take care of this."
With Ellet trailing 42-39 late in the third quarter, Holmes scored four of Ellet's last six points in the quarter, starting with her first 3-pointer of the game with 1:15 remaining.
She then scored 16 of the first 25 points for the Orangemen in the fourth quarter as they raced back from a 5-point deficit and turned it into a 13-point lead at 68-55 on Holmes' last 3-pointer of the night.
With Ellet leading by six and on a 12-2 run midway through the fourth, Holmes caught an inbounds pass about 30 feet from the basket on the left wing and waited for the defense to approach. When they did with a double team, she split the defenders with her dribble, spinning through them, changed direction as a third defender approached, and then threw up a shot over yet another defender as the fifth was fouling her from behind. The ball went in and she made the free throw to complete the 3-point play.
"I'm just like, like, wow, I can't believe that she can do that and it's amazing that she's my teammate, and I really enjoy playing with her," Ellet junior Sanaiiya Gray said. "And I know that like she can turn it up. Even if she having off half or an off quarter, I know that eventually she can turn it up and she can basically do what she wants."
Ellet guard Caitlyn Holmes attacks the defense in a game against Loudonville on February 8, 2024. Photo credit: Jeff Harwell, SBLive Sports
Jeff Harwell, SBLive Sports
But that wasn't the case earlier in the game for Holmes. Her shots just weren't falling, not even on fast break layups. But when she was down, her teammates were there to pick her up, specifically Gray.
The junior scored a team-high 27 points on the night, including 17 through the first two-and-a-half quarters as Holmes was struggling.
"It's good to have her with me, she helps me," Holmes said. "She did the same thing against Walsh, she hit a couple of shots right off the bat. So having her is a lot, a lot of help, and I really appreciate her coming (to Ellet from St. Vincent-St. Mary)."
It's a give-and-take kind of thing for the two juniors, as when one is struggling, the other steps in to help out.
"I kind of felt like it was my job to step up," Gray said. "I feel like she does the same to me, so I owe that to her and the rest of the team because when I'm having my off games, they step up for me."
And for Gray, she also wanted to atone for the night before, when Ellet lost 59-30 to Jackson and she felt like she didn't play a good game personally.
"(The Jackson game) was hard because our defense was good but offensively we didn't really know what to do against (them)," Gray said. "And I had an off game myself, I didn't really play well. And yeah, it just wasn't a good game."
While Holmes and Gray combined for 53 points for Ellet, it was one of their opponents who had the best individual performance of the game.
Loudonville's Corri Vermilya led all scorers with 47 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. She was on all night, scoring 10 points in each of the first two quarters, 15 in the third and 12 in the fourth. She showed Thursday why she surpassed 2,000 points in her career a little over a month ago.
"I am never surprised by anything she does, she always wants to win," Loudonville head coach Tyler Bates said. "She did the best she could tonight to try to get us to the finish line."
Vermilya did it from everywhere, whether she was shooting 3-pointers, mid-range jumpers, driving for layups or posting up in the paint.
Harris couldn't be more complimentary of Vermilya after the game, and said that there were two things that stand out that he feels makes Vermilya as good as she is - her conditioning and the diversity of her skill set.
"I really think people underestimate what it takes to play the entire game, to shoot it damn near every time, to handle it, to rebound it, to have to guard people and that girl does it at a high level for 32 minutes," Harris said. "She's pulling it from 25 feet. She's showing the ability to post up, she's backdooring for layups, she's finishing with both hands. You know, she she's a special player. We've been lucky enough to play her twice and both times we become a better basketball team because of the challenges that she brings."
And while Harris spoke highly of Vermilya, Bates was equally of complimentary of Ellet's two top players.
"Caitlyn and Sanaiiya put on a show," Bates said. "It's great as a fan of girls high school basketball to see girls who work so hard get rewarded."
This was a non-conference game that both coaches agreed to play for the last two years, one at each home gym. The game was designed to help both teams prepare themselves for the postseason, something both coaches feel it has done.
"We are really grateful for coach Harris and Ellet to give us a home-and-home series," Bates said. "We feel like both games have made us a better program."
And Harris can see Thursday's opponent making a deep run in the Division IV tournament when it begins next week.
"Tyler coaches them up and make sure they're so well prepared," Harris said. "I think Division IV is in trouble. I hate to put the cart before the horse, but I can't imagine who's going to be able to beat them in this area because they're a special group."
-- Ryan Isley | ryan@scorebooklive.com | @sbliveoh
