Tigers Revisit 2003 Heartbreaking Loss | News, Sports, Jobs

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The 2003 Shadyside basketball team delivered a run to remember, which ultimately ended in a stunning loss in the state semifinal.

As the shot soared through the air, from some 30 feet away, it felt like time stood still for the Shadyside Lady Tigers.

Fast forwarding to the present, members of the 2003 squad, which advanced to the Division IV state semifinals for the second straight season, still have a tough time wrapping their heads around how it all went down.

“I’ve never watched the tape and I hadn’t even revisited it,” then Shadyside head coach Jim Miller said of his team’s devastating 53-50 loss to Holgate.

Prior to doing the interview for this story, Miller actually looked up the boxscore on the OHSAA’s website and nothing about what occurred on March 13, 2003 had changed. Obviously, the outcome couldn’t, but even his memories of how it all unfolded.

“We were two pretty evenly matched teams overall,” Miller recalled. “I think there were 15 lead changes in the game and we knew going on that Holgate had one girl who was absolutely phenomenal.”

Ironically, it was that senior phenom who did Shadyside in on that day. Vanessa Rothman connected on 10 of 18 shots from the field and all six of her foul shots en route to 28 points. However, it was her shot just before the buzzer sounded that everyone at both schools remembers.

“I can’t remember what was said in any timeout or even at halftime of that game, but I can remember the ball leaving (Rothman’s) hands,” Jenna (Johnson) Coyne, who was a senior on that team, said. “She (shot) it and it was that exact feeling you get when you watch a sports movie. It was like the ball was in slow motion and there was no doubt it was going in the hoop. And it did.”

While the Holgate players rushed the court at the Jerome Schottenstein Center at Ohio State University, Shadyside’s players and droves of fans stood in absolute shock.

“A lot of times, the semifinal game is much tougher than the final,” Miller said. “The kids were devastated. It was one of those things that was like such a shock. In your mind, you’re hoping (the shot) isn’t good and you even try reverse psychology and start saying it is good and it turns out not to be.”

Shadyside, which led by six at halftime, had a chance to take the lead at the foul line. Trailing, 50-49, the Tigers meshed one-of-two with 3.9 seconds to play to tie the game

Miller and his chief assistant Dick Sketel had done plenty of homework on Holgate. Obviously, they knew it wanted to get the ball into Rothman’s hands. Miller was actually on hand two years prior, at the state tournament, when Holgate hit a buzzer beater to beat Worthington Christian on a 40-foot shot.

Using what he recalled from that game as well as what the coaching staff had seen on tape, the Lady Tigers came out of the timeout with a good idea of what to expect.

“They ran the exact out-of-bounds play we expected and ran (Rothman) off a curl, so she caught the ball in the lane on our end of the floor,” Miller said. “She took off on the dribble.

“We knew we had to put pressure on the ball with the hopes to slow them down,” Miller said.

Still, Rothman got the ball into the frontcourt and launched.

“As soon as it left her hand, I turned to Dick and said, ‘boy, it was a great season,’” Miller said. “As soon as it left her hand, I knew. It was just perfect.”

Sophomore Shayla Holenka led the Tigers in scoring with 22 points, while Whitney Brown had 12 points. Tristin Miracle, who was a senior and went on for a solid career at Ohio Dominican, scored only five points, but she handed out nine assists.

The Lady Tigers, who were a year removed from playing for the Division IV state championship, finished that 2002-03 season with a 23-4 record.

“We were basically a school no one had ever heard of,” Miller said. “People asked me, ‘where is this Shadyside from?’ Some coaches give their whole career to get to the state once and we did it in back-to-back years. Just so many quirky things can happen.”

Now almost 19 years removed from the game, Miller still doesn’t plan to watch the tape, but he does let the season’s fonder memories resonate.

“I look back on that group and think what a great bunch of kids that was,” Miller said. “Just really good basketball players and athletes, who could play any style. They were competitive and talented. They really had the whole package. Really, my job was to stay out of the way and not mess them up.”