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Three girls in contention

Local Sports

By MICHAEL S. BURICH Assistant Sports Editor COLUMBUS — Columbiana County’s top girls contenders took care of business on Friday on the first day of the girls state wrestling tournament at the Schottenstein Center. East Liverpool junior Paige Cowan, United senior Auston Brown and Salem senior Paige Menough all won their first matches to advance to the championship quarterfinals. Cowan opened the tournament with a 20-0 win over Definace’s Isabela Jordan at 106 pounds. Cowan, ranked fifth in the state by DubStat, is slated to take on second ranked Kendleigh Dowalter in the ...

Six have title hopes

Local Sports

By MICHAEL S. BURICH Assistant Sports Editor COLUMBUS — Six area Div. II wrestlers won their opening-round matches on Friday during the first day of the state boys wrestling tournament at the Schottenstein Center. Beaver Local freshman Jordan Bates, East Liverpool junior Kyle Ingram, Beaver Local senior Bobby Buchheit, West Branch senior Beau Nezbeth, Beaver Local sophomore Jake Hughes and Beaver Local junior Evan Ours all won to advance to the championship quarterfinals. Bates, ranked first at 106 pounds by DubStat, bested Streetsboro’s John Bollinger with a pin in 2:30. ...

Sacrifices pay off for area grapplers

Local Sports

By MICHAEL S. BURICH Assistant Sports Editor The road to the state tournament for area wrestlers isn’t always a smooth one. Adversity of all kinds can pop up. This season a snowstorm on Jan. 24 into Jan. 25 produced more than a foot of snow for many places in the area. That meant ...

BASKETBALL ROUNDUP

Local Sports

Heartland’s next test on Friday BARBERTON — The Heartland Christian basketball team is making history as the first Columbiana County boys team to capture a district title since Columbiana in 2008. The Lions can add a regional title with one more win. Heartland (22-4) will play Jeromesville Hillsdale (19-7) in a Division VII regional championship game at 7 p.m. Friday at Barberton High School. It is a rematch of last year’s district championship game that saw the Falcons overpower the Lions in the second half for a 73-54 win. Hillsdale’s top player is sophomore point guard ...

Lions roar into regional final

Local Sports

BARBERTON — When the game is on the line, the Heartland Christian boys basketball team has all the faith in junior Collin Kalaher. “He’s our guy,” Heartland coach Josh Scott said. “These kids know to get the ball in his hands. I’m sure the other teams know by now.” Kalaher ...

Horizon just out of reach for Penguin women

Local Sports

INDIANAPOLIS — In Monday’s Horizon League semifinal against Cleveland State, a big fourth quarter propelled the Youngstown State women’s basketball team to victory. However, the Penguins couldn’t replicate that feat in Tuesday’s championship game against Green Bay. After trailing at halftime, the Phoenix flipped the script on the Penguins and controlled the second half to pull away late, handing YSU a devastating 57-49 defeat and capturing their third straight Horizon League tournament championship, as well as the league’s NCAA tournament autobid at Corteva Coliseum in ...