By defeating Newark Catholic 47-34 in the second round of the Division III district tournament Feb. 24, the Columbus School for Girls basketball team advanced to a district semifinal for the first time.

"This means everything to us," guard Enri Small said. "Everything we've worked for during the season paid off."

CSG was 11-11 before playing Mount Gilead - the alma mater of Unicorns coach Stephanie Jones - on March 1. The winner plays top-seeded Africentric or Grandview in a district final at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 5, at Olentangy Orange.

Africentric improved to 19-2 with a 78-43 win over Heath in the second round of the tournament Feb. 22. That same day, Grandview defeated Fairbanks 44-40 in overtime in the second round to improve to 12-10.

CSG did not have much trouble defeating Newark Catholic. The Green Wave scored the first four points before the Unicorns began a 19-0 run, including seven points by post player Ellen Haenszel. A key to the run was stout defense by the Unicorns, as Small and Rosie Connor each force two steals. Also during the run, Newark Catholic missed 15 consecutive field-goal attempts.

CSG had built a 31-12 lead by halftime and would lead by as many as 19 points in the third quarter. Leading 43-25 entering the fourth quarter, the Unicorns were in complete control of the game when the Green Wave went to a full-court trap and started to double team. Though Newark Catholic forced a few turnovers, the Unicorns' lead was too much to overcome.

Small had 26 points and Haenszel scored nine.

"Our defensive intensity has changed big-time," Jones said. "We're keeping people out of foul trouble, and we're rebounding better, so we're not giving teams a lot of second chances like we have all year."

•Ranndi Grubbs competed in three events for CSG at the Division II state swimming and diving championships Feb. 24-25 at C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton.

The junior's highest finish came in the 100-yard butterfly, as she placed sixth in 57.96 seconds. The winner, Sarah Koucheki of Gates Mills Hawken, set a meet record with a time of 55.22.

Grubbs finished 17th (53.5) in the 100 freestyle preliminaries, missing the final by one spot. She also teamed with Laura Hadley, Erin Smith and Meredith Swartz on the 200 free relay that finished 17th (1:42.57) in the preliminaries.

CSG scored 13 points at state to tie Sidney Lehman Catholic for 34th as Hawken (334) won its 13th consecutive state title.

At the district meet Feb. 18 at Ohio State, the Unicorns finished fourth (199) behind Granville (368), Columbus Academy (269) and Hartley (260) with 33 teams scoring. At the sectional meet Feb. 12 at Columbus Academy, CSG finished fourth (160) behind Granville (281), Hartley (204) and Academy (190) with 16 teams scoring.

On Jan. 29 the Unicorns placed third (242) in the CCL championships, behind Watterson (407) and Hartley (301), and ahead of DeSales (184) and Ready (45).

CSG loses three seniors in Hadley (butterfly/individual medley), Taylor Lint (freestyle) and Annie Skoulis (freestyle).

Among those expected to return are Grubbs (butterfly/ freestyle), junior Isabelle Bruner (freestyle), sophomores Smith (freestyle) and Keiko Wilkins (freestyle/IM), and freshmen Regina Andreoni (freestyle), Erin Balasky (backstroke/freestyle), Olivia Beeson (breaststroke/IM) and Swartz (freestyle).