DII State Semifinal: (25-1) Vinton County V. (21-4) Laurel

[Dundas]

The Vikings continue to make history as they have advanced farther than any team in school history in postseason play. They will continue their run in Dayton against the (Shaker Heights) Laurel Gators. This state semifinal matchup is scheduled for Friday at 2 pm from UD Arena.

[bsee12345]

Not sure what the attendance numbers are going to be but hope that those from Vinton County who want to go to game get to go to the State Semi-finals. Normally schools get about 1500 tickets for presale at state and since there will no public sale it would be great for schools to get a decent allotment. It expecially be nice to have student bodies ( at least 9-12 kids) to be able to attend and support their classmates. Been involved with a couple schools that have make it the State Tourney and it is a special event and one that years from now the students will remember. Years from now Vinton County will talk about the girls going to state this year and never mention a parents nights not happening or the attendance restrictions. Hopefully the OHSAA will allow this to be a special event for the schools.

[Dundas]

Not sure what the attendance numbers are going to be but hope that those from Vinton County who want to go to game get to go to the State Semi-finals. Normally schools get about 1500 tickets for presale at state and since there will no public sale it would be great for schools to get a decent allotment. It expecially be nice to have student bodies ( at least 9-12 kids) to be able to attend and support their classmates. Been involved with a couple schools that have make it the State Tourney and it is a special event and one that years from now the students will remember. Years from now Vinton County will talk about the girls going to state this year and never mention a parents nights not happening or the attendance restrictions. Hopefully the OHSAA will allow this to be a special event for the schools.

I hope you are right! I know that when the boys made the regional final a few years ago, at the convo, we had nearly 3 thousand people in attendance from VC. I would expect we (if allowed) would be able to bring in somewhere between 3 to 5 thousand for this game. Hopefully we get the tickets. I know I’m waiting patiently!

[formerfcfan]

Not sure what the attendance numbers are going to be but hope that those from Vinton County who want to go to game get to go to the State Semi-finals. Normally schools get about 1500 tickets for presale at state and since there will no public sale it would be great for schools to get a decent allotment. It expecially be nice to have student bodies ( at least 9-12 kids) to be able to attend and support their classmates. Been involved with a couple schools that have make it the State Tourney and it is a special event and one that years from now the students will remember. Years from now Vinton County will talk about the girls going to state this year and never mention a parents nights not happening or the attendance restrictions. Hopefully the OHSAA will allow this to be a special event for the schools.

I know this may sound "weird", but if there were ever a case where fans and community support could play a role then it would be this game. The Laurel School is, how do I say, not a school known for giving a [blank] about sports. Laurel is a really-expensive girls' school that doesn't have a localized following. Not unlike the Hathaway Brown of yesteryear.

[WonderNova]

Us Eastern Brown fans know all about that feeling. 3 Final 4's in a row to get fed to South Euclid Regina, that had no fans, and no support. It was an AAU team basically. Eastern would bring about 2500 fans, and Regina had like 30. Good luck VC! You might want to tell the VC coach to curse at his kids..people in the hallway heard it

[smurray]

I’m sure it will be limited to 25% capacity with equal allotted to each school.
What does the arena hold???

[smurray]

One google search says 13,400. So figuring in the 25% capacity limits, roughly 3,350 seats will be sold.
Split that evenly makes it 1,675 for each school.
Do OHSAA give some of those to dignitaries or just the schools playing???

[formerfcfan]

Us Eastern Brown fans know all about that feeling. 3 Final 4's in a row to get fed to South Euclid Regina, that had no fans, and no support. It was an AAU team basically. Eastern would bring about 2500 fans, and Regina had like 30. Good luck VC! You might want to tell the VC coach to curse at his kids..people in the hallway heard it

And we saw where that got Regina in the end. Unfortunately, the school's creditors in 2009 chose not to accept Girls Basketball titles as payment -- for they preferred to be be paid in money.

[fbhs74]

Here is an old thread on Laurel High School with some background info and recent posts:

http://yappi.com/forum/index.php?thread ... ol.328930/

[Ironman92]

To run through the regional so easily tells me this game should be a good one.

Not a reason in the world to think for one second that you shouldn’t be there. Intimidate them.

[Raider6309]

VC made a huge improvement from last year to this year. Good luck VC

[vcgrad]

Way to go VC---now lets go win it all!!!

[hawkeyepierce]

Here is what I have been able to ascertain about Laurel through some basic research...

Laurel is a private all girl school located in Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland. They are arguably one of the best private schools in the state, and they are at the top or the most expensive schools when it comes to tuition. They have an enrollment of two-hundred girls. Their website is very impressive.

https://www.laurelschool.org/

As far as the team, the Gators have an McDonald's All-American nominee in Taylor Thierry, who is an Ohio State commit. She has a twin sister, Haley, and they are the daughters of John Thierry. John Thierry was a first round draft pick of the Chicago Bears from Alcorn St.

https://www.nfl.com/players/john-thierry/

Unfortunately, Mr. Thierry suffered a heart attack in 2017.

The Gators also have another young lady garnishing division I offers from around the midwest, Mari Bickley. The coach's daughter, Kendall Braaten also is a contributor to a well balanced team.

I believe that the Gators are probably more athletic at every position than the Lady Vikings. But, from the one film I saw, they are not well-coached. They had a proven winner as coach and he was not renewed within the last year or two, their new coach as the philosophy of an AAU coach. I am fearful that Laurel will become the next Euclid Regina.

However, I believe that if the Lady Vikings continue to play defense they way they have been, they can definitely win this game. It will be interesting to see how the Lady Vikings handled the Gators full court pressure and their ability to get back in transition defense. Both teams have similar styles and may come down to overall athleticism, those that handle the moment the best, and those who catches the breaks.

Nevertheless...Go Vinton County!!!!

[vcgrad]

The big question --How do we get tickets?

[Dundas]

[bbjunky81]

Here's an interesting factoid for you.

The average cost of tuition at Laurel for one student is $35,000 per year.

The median income for a FAMILY in Vinton County is $34,371.

Pretty crazy to think about.

[91raider97bobcat]

One google search says 13,400. So figuring in the 25% capacity limits, roughly 3,350 seats will be sold.
Split that evenly makes it 1,675 for each school.
Do OHSAA give some of those to dignitaries or just the schools playing???

OHSAA release says that at least 650 tickets per school will be available. Did not specify a maximum number.

[VetteMan]

Good luck to the Lady Vikings in their State Semi-Final matchup with Laurel.

[vcgrad]

Looks like tickets are going to hard to come by.. Any idea if it will be on tv or online?

[mhs95_06]

Looks like tickets are going to hard to come by.. Any idea if it will be on tv or online?

LIVE COVERAGE: All 12 games of the state tournament will be covered by Spectrum. The semifinals and finals will be live streamed (free for Spectrum subscribers; $9.99 per game for non-Spectrum customers, at www.ohsaa.tv) and the finals will also be televised live on Spectrum News 1.