COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Mount Notre Dame basketball team will play for its sixth state championship Saturday night.
MND defeated Canton McKinley 51-33 in an Ohio Division I state semifinal Friday night. It also marked the 200th win for MND coach Dr. Scott Rogers (200-37) at the school. He is 277-54 overall.
The Cougars (25-4) play Toledo Notre Dame (25-3) at 8:30 p.m. Toledo Notre Dame handed Newark its first loss 75-59.
This is the first state final appearance for MND since 2009 when the Cougars won it all.
"Our girls right now are just playing special," Roger said. "They're locked in and focused on one game at a time.
"The girls have taken it over. I can't take credit at this point."
The Cougars played well defensively all night, including holding McKinley to just five points in the third quarter.
GALLERY: Mount Notre Dame Cougars advance to state basketball championship
MND was led by senior guard Madison Marcum's career-high 19 points. She was 5 of 9 on 3-pointers. Junior Abby Voss added 12 points and 10 rebounds. Senior forward Maria Pisciotta had 10 points and nine rebounds.
Voss, the sister of Moeller senior forward Riley Voss, had 12 points and nine rebounds by late third quarter. She had 10 points in the first half.
"Abby Voss has been playing at a different level this tournament," Rogers said
Sophomore guard Gabbie Marshall had two steals to help key MND’s 8-0 run to start the third quarter.
MND limited Canton McKinley sophomore guard Kierstan Bell to 11 points (4 of 17 from the field). Bell was named Ohio Ms. Basketball earlier this week.
McKinley went 8:29 without a field goal, starting with 3:25 to go in the second quarter.
“Our coaching staff has challenged our girls in that our schedule is going to prepare us for our run,” Rogers said earlier this week.
Rogers coached five years at MND in his first stint starting with the 2001-02 season through the 2005-06 season. He spent four years at Indian Hill – from 2007-08 through the 2010-11 season (77-17).
Rogers returned to MND in the 2013-14 season and is in his fourth year with the program.
"I'm taking this one in because you never know if you'll be getting back here [to the state tournament]," Rogers said.
"You don't win that many games unless you have really great players. Those are the people that got 200 wins."
Friday was the eighth state tournament appearance for MND. The Cougars won state basketball titles in 2004 and four straight from 2006 to 2009.
Rogers was the head coach for the 2004 and 2006 titles and an assistant to Dante Harlan for the ’07 team.
