On Thursday, the Girls Basketball Team won the district title for the first time since 2000. The last team in the way of the unbeaten Bulldogs before a district title was Ursuline, who was also a highly touted team, coming into the district tournament.

The Bulldogs came out the gates strong, creating six first quarter turnovers and taking a double digit lead early.

“We knew if we came out strong; they would shut down and start to give up on each other. We saw that start to happen in the first quarter and knew we had to keep it up,” said Senior Sarah Bury, who had a team high 17 points.

Senior Kat Partika added, “Ursuline is known for going on hot streaks led by (Dayshannete) Harris, who is a very good player. Once we got out ahead we took that confidence and ability away from them.”

Poland’s early lead gave them a lot of momentum especially with the amazing crowd turnout from the Bulldog faithful.

Bury said, “Walking out and seeing the big crowd was amazing. Just knowing that this district title is what we’ve put so many hours and so much commitment into and our fans were there to give us all the extra support.”

Partika said, “I was definitely nervous at first knowing this was the district finals. This game was our main goal since day one.”

As mentioned before, this is the Lady Bulldog’s first district championship since 2000, which dates back to before the majority of this team was born. The seniors both agreed that this title meant a lot to the program.

Bury and Partika said that for years they have been talking about cutting down the nets and to do it their senior year is what Bury described as “surreal.”

If you ask any member from this team what makes them so good, each one of them would probably say team chemistry.

This team takes pride in their relationships with each other and says that this is what makes them so hard to beat.

Partika said, “We hang out all the time after school and going out to eat after games; it really makes us a close group of friends and it helps out a lot.”

Bury added, “We all love each other as a team and as a family and we all play for one another on the court, and it shows.”

The first regional game will be tonight, Tuesday, March 5 at 8:00 PM at Barberton High School against Akron Buchtel.

The school has announced that there will be a spirit bus available to all students trying to make their way to the game.

Students can buy a $10 package that includes a ticket and bus fee. This kind of support ensures that there will be plenty of support much like the district final game.

When asked about the fan support, Bury said, “The crowd was amazing against Ursuline and very loud which definitely helped us.  If I was on the other side, I would have been very irritated and flustered. Hopefully, we bring even more to the next game.”

Partika said, “The crowd support means a lot. It’s very cool to see people who aren’t normally at basketball games coming out and supporting us. It shows that the community really cares a lot.”

Come out and support the Lady Bulldogs Tuesday at 8 PM at Barberton High School as they hope to advance to the regional final game.