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Todd Seimer/ThisWeek

Deaunta Williams of Grove City goes up for a shot against Groveport on Jan. 24. The Greyhounds close the regular season Friday, Feb. 17, at home against Pickerington North. Buy This Photo

The Grove City High School boys basketball team has had moments of strong play this season.

Coach Greg Waits is hoping for another leading into the Division I district tournament, which 10th-seeded Grove City opens Feb. 25 against Westland.

The Greyhounds were 12-6 overall before playing Westerville Central on Feb. 14. They are 7-6 in the OCC-Ohio Division as they prepare for their regular-season finale Friday, Feb. 17, at home against Pickerington North.

“We’d like to be a lot better right now because every time our kids stepped onto the court they expect to win and we’ve had some moments where we just haven’t given great effort, and when we don’t give great effort we don’t have a chance,” Waits said.

Against Westerville Central, the Greyhounds were looking to end a two-game losing streak that included a 74-63 setback Feb. 10 at OCC-Ohio leading Pickerington Central.

The losing streak followed a four-game winning streak.

Grove City will be looking for a regular-season sweep of Pickerington North. The Greyhounds won 71-59 on Jan. 13.

“Pickerington North is a great man-to-man (defensive) team and they run their offense to perfection,” Waits said. “They have a really nice post guy in Jake Butt. É We did a decent job on him the first time, but he still scored 20 points. He is an animal inside.”

Through 18 games, Brad Saxton led the Greyhounds by averaging 15.5 points, followed by Brandon Bapst (11.6) and Mitch Stephens (11.2).

“It’s been a great season so far,” senior Tyler Kent said. “We’ve learned from the mistakes we’ve made and are going into the tournament confident.”

•The Central Crossing boys team enters the final week of the regular season at 0-19.

The Comets will play host Friday, Feb. 17, to Westland, which won the first matchup 70-34 on Jan. 13.

The Cougars feature KyJuan Grace and Devan Williamson, who transferred from Central Crossing before the school year.

Central Crossing is last in the OCC-Central at 0-13. Upper Arlington (12-1) has clinched the title.

The Comets lost to Worthington Kilbourne 69-44 on Feb. 7 and Thomas Worthington 61-37 on Feb. 10.

“Our kids are continuing to play hard and work on getting better,” coach Mike Cavey said. “I feel for our six seniors. It’s been a tough year, but they’ve stayed positive.”

•The Central Crossing girls team has set the program record for wins in a season.

The Comets were 17-3 overall before playing Pickerington Central in the first round of the Division I district tournament Feb. 15.

The winner will play Newark or Marion-Franklin in the second round at 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21, at a site to be determined.

Central Crossing’s 46-17 victory over Kilbourne on Feb. 7 was its 16th, eclipsing the previous record for wins set by the 2004-05 team that finished 15-6.

“That wasn’t one of our goals, but we’re happy that we got that far,” senior Kourtney Inks said. “We’ve been like family. We’ve all stuck together as a team and we play together. We work hard together. We never fall apart.”

Through 20 games, Jalynn Graham led the Comets by averaging 15.5 points, followed by Olivia Davis (14.3).

Central Crossing finished third in the OCC-Central at 11-3, behind Dublin Coffman (13-1) and UA (12-2).

The Comets handed Coffman its lone league loss, 43-40 on Dec. 6.

“One thing that we were trying to do was win our league and we didn’t get that, but 17-3 (for the regular season) is a good record,” coach Neil Hohman said. “We played well all season. We only had one bad quarter against UA in December (55-30 loss on Dec. 20) and that’s probably our worst game of the season.”

•The Grove City girls team closed the regular season by losing to Gahanna 64-55 on Feb. 7 and Pickerington Central 65-50 on Feb. 10.

“I told the kids that I’d love to end on a positive note,” coach Dale Corbett said. “I’d like to look at us and say this is a good young team and good things are ahead. After the Gahanna game I felt that way, and against Pickerington Central, for the most part, I felt the same way.”

The Greyhounds were 5-15 overall before playing Watterson in the first round of the Division I district tournament Feb. 14.

The winner will play Hilliard Darby or Dublin Scioto in the second round at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22, at Olentangy Orange.

Grove City finished seventh (2-12) in the OCC-Ohio behind champion Reynoldsburg (14-0).

“You can’t apologize for your league and I hope the right thing is happening, that it’s toughening us up a little bit and making us better. But time will tell,” Corbett said.