WHITEHOUSE, Ohio — Napoleon High School girls basketball head coach Corey Kreinbrink knows what it's like to have a season cut short. One of his best teams was on a deep tournament run in 2020, going 27-0 and making it all the way to the state semifinals before the pandemic canceled the remaining games.
Now, the team is experiencing a postseason rebirth.
Last Saturday, Central Catholic beat the Wildcats in the sectional finals. But on Wednesday, the Irish were removed from the postseason for recruiting violations.
On Wednesday night, OHSAA Executive Director Doug Ute called Kreinbrink, telling them they were headed to the district semifinals instead.
Kreinbrink had approximately 24 hours to reassemble his staff and players, some of which were already practicing for the softball season, and prepare them for the game against Oak Harbor High School.
"Got in for a practice at about 7 p.m. Wednesday evening to try and get prepared and get ourselves ready to go for an Oak Harbor team," Kreinbrink said.
Wildcat supporters showed up in numbers ready to support their team's second tournament run. Former Napoleon basketball coach Gregg Merrill was in attendance and isn't taking the team's new lease on life for granted.
"To all of a sudden take their spot and stay alive, it's exciting," Merrill said. "This is the last place I expected to be tonight, but I'm here."
Senior Sophie Chipps thought her high school basketball career was over. Instead, she got another chance.
"It was definitely crazy," Chipps said. "I was really surprised when I got the text from him. I couldn't believe it at first."
When the game tipped off, Chipps scored the first bucket. She ended up scoring the first 11 points of the game.
Chipps went into halftime with 20 of her team's 29 points, while the Wildcats held Oak Harbor to just seven points. When Chipps exited the game for good, she posted a season-high 25 points.
She had played like there was nothing to lose.
When Chipps played what would have been her final game against Central Catholic, she tallied only three points.
When the final buzzer sounded, Napoleon had won 55-12.
"We got another day, which we didn't think we had 24 hours ago," Kreinbrink said. "We'll take it. Nothing to lose is the best way to put it."