North Ridgeville girls basketball: Rolling Rangers embrace underdog mentality for potential postseason run

North Ridgeville may be a 14th seed in the upcoming Division I state tournament, but it isn’t playing like one.

The Rangers are rolling. They’ve ripped off seven wins in their last eight games after a 48-41 win over Medina, a sixth seed in D-I.

North Ridgeville vs. Medina girls basketball: Grace Kingery becomes Rangers’ all-time leading scorer in close win

North Ridgeville's season was a roller-coaster ride of ups and downs. Like how Rodney Dangerfield got no respect, the Rangers could relate and plans to use it as motivation.

"I feel like we were trying to get respect all year," North Ridgeville coach Amy Esser said. "I said that we are a second-half team, and we are going to hit our stride heading into the tournament. This was a big game.

"Medina is a phenomenal team, a physical team and knew that it was going to be a battle tonight. I worried that we had five games in the last 10 days that it was going to affect us, but we clamped down on defense. That was probably the best defense we've played all season (against Medina)."

The winning started after a 59-37 loss to Midview to tip off the new year. They defeated Berea-Midpark (49-31), Avon Lake (44-39), Shaker Heights (50-22), Amherst (70-35), Lakewood (42-32), Avon (58-50) and now Medina to reach this point.

Its lone loss during the stretch was to Olmsted Falls (61-30), a team that was ranked inside the top five in the state poll for D-I.

They are led by Grace Kingery, the Rangers' all-time leading scorer who averages a Morning Journal coverage area-high 21 points per game.

The difference has been the ascending players stepping up such as freshman guard Reyna Balderas coming off the bench, Kat Crevda in the post, along with Payton Palcisko and Brooke Lime.

"They are coming together," Esser said. "They are starting to trust each other. There are a lot of really good players that don't get a lot of recognition that do really good things that aren't in the stat book. I thought Kailey Schultz played phenomenal (against Medina). ... Payton (Palcisko) has come in and done all of the point-guard roles, and Brooke (Lime) has been consistant from start to finish."

North Ridgeville aims to finish the year strong as it hosts Elyria on Feb. 4, but the big challenge will be against the Middies at home Feb. 8.

"I feel like we are going to be that team again. This group of girls (makes coaching) fun," Esser said. "We are excited to finish the season strong. We have two more regular-season games, and we are excited to make a run for the playoffs."

North Ridgeville chose to play in the Northeast 6 District (Medina) and will square off against 17th seed Wooster for a spot in a district semifinal Feb. 16. The winner will most likely play second-seed Magnificat if it can defeat the winner of (26) Akron Firestone and (22) Lorain in its sectional final.

Magnificat (15-3) appeared in a 2021-22 district final and looks better than it was the year prior. The Blue Streaks weren't in the state's top-10 ranking, but received 25 points from voters.

"We like to be the underdogs, so we will ride that into the postseason," Esser said.

North Ridgeville went to Medina's court the year prior and fell to Medina Highland in a district semifinal. However, it defeated Magnificat in the 2020-21 season en route to the program's first district final appearance. The Blue Streaks were also a second seed that year.