Canton South falls, West Branch roars in OHSAA girls basketball Division II district semis
MACEDONIA — Adam Hall has seen it all in the four corners of the basketball world.
He never saw anything like the Laurel Gators, who beat his Canton South Wildcats 58-25 Wednesday in the OHSAA Division II girls district semifinals. Laurel breezed to Saturday's 1 p.m. district title game against West Branch, which clobbered Chagrin Falls 70-19 in Tuesday's second game.
Hall came close to a state championship as a senior at Dover High School. He played 28 of a possible 32 minutes in the 2004 Division II boys state semifinals, a 61-60 loss to Ottawa-Glandorf, which, a day later, crowned Northwest 75-42 to take the gold.
He grew up as head boys coach at Strasburg. staying in the game even as his day job shifted from high school principal to district superintendent.
After eight years in "The Burg," Hall took his talents to Canton South as an administrator and head girls basketball coach. In this, his second season with the Wildcats, he reached the Division II district semifinals against Laurel.
Laurel School is at 1 Lyman Circle in Shaker Heights, 10 miles east of 1 Center Court in Cleveland, address of Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. Laurel sophomore Saniyah Hall's future address is wherever she wants it to be.
In a Premier Basketball ranking of the nation's top-25 Class of 2026 high school players, Hall is No. 3 behind Californian Jerzy Robinson and New Yorker Olivia Vukosa.
Laurel has lost a few games amidst a tough schedule, but Hall always gets noticed. When the Gators fell 71-70 to Anthony Wayne in the Classic in the Country at Hiland High School on Jan. 14, she amassed 43 points and 18 rebounds.
Adam Hall contended with the formidable Hiland Hawks when he coached at Strasburg. Coaching against Saniyah Hall was a different beast. She scored a fairly modest 24 points but dominated game flow.
"I was really impressed," he said. "She can shoot, stretch the floor, handle the ball. She didn't force anything and made it look effortless.
"Sometimes with kids like that, they're a little bit selfish and maybe don't play as hard as they should, because they don't have to. She was so unselfish."
By the time the Wildcats got a grip on what they were up against, Hall had positioned herself for five layups in the first five minutes. Laurel's lead reached 35-9 by late in the second quarter.
The Wildcats dug in. Summer Hastings-Peterson face-guarded the 6-foot-1 Hall as she ran the show out front. South filled gaps and stopped Hall from driving. The sophomore sagaciuously read the floor and hit as open teammates who kept sinking 3s.
"She's an excellent team player," Laurel head coach Terrina Robinson said. "She's completely humble. If you talked to her you would never know who she was. She's the No. 3 player in the country but she doesn't act like it."
Hall is being recruited coast to coast.
"I have an idea when I might decide," she said, "but I'm keeping that within my family. I'm just trying to make the most of the season with my teammates right now."
South bowed out at 15-10, faring better than Laurel's two sectional opponents, who fell by a combined 183-19 score.
"It was a big moment for our girls," Adam Hall said. "We had great practices and great prep. We kind of got shocked early on."
West Branch girls basketball continues dominant tournament run
West Branch must deal with Saniyah Hall next. But then, Hall and a Laurel rotation full of freshmen and sophomores must deal with West Branch.
The Warriors are 23-2 after overwhelming Chagrin Falls in Wednesday's second game at Nordonia High School.
West Branch played like a program that produced a state championship in 2004 and final four trips in 2015 and 2020.
Head coach Walt DeShields sees his current team potentially on par with the school's best, depending on how the tournament plays out.
"We've had teams that have had 25, 26, 27 wins," DeShields said. "This year we have a great senior class and a team that plays together. It's been a lot of fun to coach 'em.
"We've got one of the tallest teams I've ever had. We're probably not as good offensively as some of the other West Branch teams, buit defensively we're giving up 26.4 points a game.
"The school record had been 30.9 by the 2018 team that was ranked No. 1 in Ohio. Prior to that, the 2004 state champions gave up 32.9.
"To give up 26.4 points a game against the schedule we play has been remarkable. On the first possession tonight, Chagrin Falls couldn't find any room to breathe. That set a tone."
It was a long first half for Chagrin Falls, which trailed 30-2 at one point. The Tigers had big trouble with 6-2 senior point guard Sophie Gregory, who led a balanced attack with 18 points.
"She sees the floor," DeShields said. "She's led us in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals the last three years. She presents a problem for a lot of teams."
Gregory, the Eastern Buckeye Conference Player of the Year, and first-team All-EBC standout Olivia Showalter give the Warriors two 6-2 starters. Senior Mikalyn Woods is 6-1, adding to the tall rotation. Another senior, Chloe Dennison, made second-team All-EBC.
The offense got three 3-pointers from freshman Audrey Eaton in the first half.
The No. 3 sophomore in the USA stands in the Warriors' way.
"We've got a really good team," DeShields said. "We've got to beat that great player with our team."
The West Branch program actually has some history facing major players.
The 1997 Warriors reached the regional finals against a Garfield Heights Trinity team led by Sameka Randall. A year later, Randall played on a Tennessee team that won the NCAA national championship with a 39-0 record.
Against West Branch, Randall's team fell 52-48. The Warriors advanced to the school's first girls basketball final four.
DeShields recalls then-head coach Chuck Campbell's approach.
"They've got the best player on the floor. We have the best team. We play better together."
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Saniyah Hall leads Laurel girls basketball past Canton South
