by Frank Aceto

Associate Sports Editor

Akron — Humbled and frustrated, the Lady Explorers seemed destined to leave a postseason game in tears.

They did.

Oddly enough, they turned out to be tears of joy.

The third-seeded Hudson girls basketball team advanced to a Division I district championship game with a come-from-behind 67-63 victory over second-seeded Wadsworth March 3 at Ellet High School in Akron.

With the win, the Lady Explorers (17-6) earned a date with top-seeded Green (20-3), a 53-33 winner over Akron Firestone, March 6. Results were not available at press time.

Hudson, which reached the district final for the first time since 2003 when it was the state runner-up, rallied from a 15-point deficit en route to the win.

The Lady Explorers trailed 27-14 at halftime and 35-20 with 5 minutes, 25 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

Those margins were erased rather quickly.

Hudson exploded for a season-high 32 points in the third quarter to take a 46-44 lead heading into the final eight minutes.

The Lady Explorers weren’t done.

They put the finishing touches on a startling 36-9 run to take a commanding 56-44 advantage.

The Lady Grizzlies (18-4), who scored a buzzer-beating 64-62 win over Hudson Dec. 2, made things interesting in the final minutes.

But the Lady Explorers’ masterful second-half performance proved to be too much for Wadsworth to overcome.

“I challenged our kids a little bit at halftime,” Hudson fifth-year head coach Dennis Lawler said. “We knew we needed to step up and we did what we needed to do.”

Lawler’s star player sure did.

Guard/forward Jessica Monsman carried the Lady Explorers on her back with a career-high 37 points. She also had 13 rebounds and blocked six shots.

Monsman did her best work when her team needed her most.

She scored 29 points in the second half and made 16-of-23 shots from the floor.

Monsman scored most of her points in the painted area on drives to the basket, short jump shots in traffic and putbacks on offensive rebounds.

“Jessica played a great game,” Lawler said. “The girls did a good job of finding her.”

The first 16 minutes didn’t look anything like the second half.

Hudson committed 14 turnovers and were outrebounded 23-4. In fact, the Lady Explorers didn’t even get their first offensive rebound until early in the third quarter.

Although the Lady Grizzlies had a comfortable lead at halftime, they probably should have had an even bigger advantage.

Wadsworth gave the ball away a mind-boggling 20 times in the first half and committed 31 miscues on the evening.

While Monsman did most of the damage, Hudson had plenty of players step up. Forward Laura Mummey drained jumper after jumper in the second half and finished with 10 points, including eight in the third quarter.

“Laura Mummey hit some big shots,” Lawler said. “Laura and Jessica play really well together. It was a nice win for the program.”

E-mail: faceto@recordpub.com

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