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Tim Revell/ThisWeek

Morgan Taylor and the Grandview Heights girls basketball team will open the Division III district tournament against Heath on Feb. 16 at New Albany. Buy This Photo

Randy Darst knew the situation and hoped for the best.

The Grandview Heights High School girls basketball coach arrived at Olentangy Liberty on Feb. 5 for the Division III district tournament draw representing a team with only two wins in 18 games. Darst could envision an opening-round game against top-seeded Africentric, a matchup no one wanted.

“It was the elephant in the room no one wanted to talk about,” he said.

The Bobcats drew an opening-round contest against Heath at 7:45 p.m. Feb. 16 at New Albany. The Bulldogs are 5-13.

“It wasn’t a bad draw,” said Darst, whose team selected 21st of 23 teams. “This at least gives us a competitive game.”

The winner will play Africentric at 7:45 p.m. Feb. 24 in a second-round game at New Albany. The Nubians are 16-3 overall.

The Bobcats, who played Ready on Feb. 8, complete the regular season and MSL-Cardinal Division schedule Friday, Feb. 10, at Harvest Prep. Grandview lost to the Warriors 44-31 on Jan. 7.

“We played them tight the first time and we were down by eight or so with two minutes to go,” Darst said. “But these kids never give up. They keep playing hard and never say never. They go into each practice working to get better every day.”

In the first game against Harvest Prep, junior Abby Riggs scored eight points and junior Connor Skeen added seven points.

“Connor and Abby have done a great job as captains and have made sure the girls have a ‘we’re-all-in-this-together’ attitude,” Darst said. “They have helped to keep the spirits up for our younger players and help them learn the life lessons that come from this season. They keep working hard to get better.”

On Jan. 31, the Bobcats lost 57-19 to Liberty Union, which is unbeaten in the MSL-Cardinal. Grace Palmer scored 10 points and Riggs added four points.

Megan McCauley scored eight points and Palmer added seven points as Grandview lost to West Jefferson 41-23 on Feb. 4 to fall to 2-11 in league play.

“Grace and Megan have really been playing well and keep improving every game,” Darst said. “I’m excited to see where these two can take us in the future.”

•The bowling teams will compete Saturday, Feb. 11, in the MSL tournament at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl.

“It’s a meet they added for teams in all three divisions of the Mid-State League,” coach Tony Thivener said. “It will be good to get back to competition after close to a couple of weeks with only practice.”

Thivener was pleased with the sectional tournament draw because both the boys and girls teams will be competing in their home venue, Columbus Western Bowl. The boys sectional is Feb. 17 and the girls compete Feb. 18.

“I figured the boys would be able to make it there because we had an early selection, but I wasn’t so sure about the girls,” he said. “But we were able to get one of the final two spots at Western, which I think is great.

“Not only are the kids familiar with the lanes, but it’s close to our school and the parents know where they have to go for sectional. It was just the best site for us (over Eastland Lanes).”

The top nine teams and the top nine individuals not on qualifying teams from both the boys and girls sectionals advance to district at HP Lanes. The girls will compete Feb. 24 and the boys will compete Feb. 25.

Conner Sarich leads the Grandview boys with an average of 193 per game as well as a high game of 261 and a high two-game series of 489. Ryan Grinstead (224 high game, 374 series) was next with a 149.1 average, followed by Joe Nichols (190, 220) at 136.6 and Jacob Bottorf at 136.2 (176, 326).

The boys tied Columbus Academy, Hartley and Watterson for seventh (7-7) in the 15-team Central Ohio High School Bowling Conference-Central Division behind St. Charles (14-0), Brookhaven (12-2), DeSales (11-3), Centennial (10-4), Northland (10-4) and Ready (9-5). The Bobcats finished ahead of Columbus West (4-10), Beechcroft (4-10), Mifflin (2-12), Linden-McKinley (1-13) and Haugland Learning Center (0-14).

Maddie Gibbons (188, 364) leads the Grandview girls with an average of 136, followed by Anna Fields (135, 238) at 104.5, Daniela Pichardo (117, 197) at 88.8 and Hannah Jones (111, 213) at 87.5.

The girls tied Beechcroft and Centennial for eighth (3-8) in the 12-team COHSBC-Central behind Ready (11-0), Northland (9-2), Watterson (8-3), Hartley (8-3), Academy (8-3), Brookhaven (6-5) and Mifflin (4-7). The Bobcats finished ahead of West (2-9) and Linden (1-10).