CADIZ - Before they could officially put a wrap on an OVAC 4A regular-season title, Tony Kovalesky and his Edison Wildcats had some unfinished business.
Consider it a done deal for the Cats, who started slow but finished strong Monday night.
Edison fell behind Harrison Central, 13-6 after one quarter. But the Cats' roared back, pulling away in the second half to post a 53-41 victory.
Coach Nick Yourkovich's Huskies had registered an earlier 43-39 decision at Richmond. But Kovalesky's shorthanded squad successfully reversed that decision in front of a packed house in the John W. Stephenson Center.
"We had a chance to avenge both our losses, so we're obviously pleased about that," Kovalesky said. "Without (injured senior) Kristen Prokopakis, we needed other people to step up and that was the case. That's a good Harrison Central team were just beat."
The Huskies capped a 13-5 regular season and like Edison, will also be postseason players in next week's Wheeling Hospital OVAC Tournament.
Yourkovich, however, was disappointed in the manner his team closed out Monday.
"For whatever reason, Edison wanted this game more than we did," he said. "Maybe it was the emotion of Senior Night or something else, but we just didn't play very well."
Harrison virtually gave itself no chance to prevail, a result of 15 of 67 shooting from the floor. Additionally, the Huskies bricked 14 of their 22 free throw attempts.
"I doubt any team in the valley spends more time shooting (in practice) than we do," Yourkovich said. "(Monday), we had more than a few open looks. (They) just weren't going in."
With the Cats' talented point guard sidelined with a sore thumb, senior Savannah Snyder answered the call, coming through with a clutch season-high, 22-point performance.
Steady senior Kayla Prokopakis played well at both ends of the floor, tossing in 14 points and landing a game-leading 14 rebounds.
Sophomore Katelyn Pollock was also huge, totaling 10 points and nine boards. Before fouling out, junior Molly McCoy also performed well. The winners pulled down 42 rebounds and overcame 26 turnovers.
Harrison's Madison Richards rifled home a team-high 18 points in addition to nabbing 10 rebounds. Point guard Brooke Shultz supported with a 15-point outing. Harrison totaled 32 rebounds and was charted for 15 turnovers.
Harrison maintained a 18-17 halftime lead before Edison took charge, mounting a 32-27 upperhand after three quarters. The winners used a 21-14 final eight minutes to secure the nod.
Edison, at 16-2, is expected to play host to Oak Glen when the OVAC event tips off next Monday. Harrison Central has a prospective Monday night trip to Union Local. Official pairings will be released today.
