Margaretta routs South Central to kickoff new era

CASTALIA — A new era in Margaretta girls basketball got started on the right foot Friday as the Polar Bears routed visiting South Central 79-29 on opening night.Eric Kochendoerfer, taking over for longtime coach Tim Tucker, earned his first win in the process.Margaretta (1-0) led 23-10 after the opening quarter, then built a 60-25 advantage heading into the final quarter."The girls played really well, but more importantly, they played as a unit," Kochendoerfer said. "I was happy with how unselfish they were. Our defense led to our offense."Faythe Smetzer tallied a game-high 22 points for the Polar Bears. Taylor Malson chipped in 15 points and Jayden Moore added 11 as Margaretta had nine players reach the scoring column.Kaycee Burton led the Trojans with 11 points.SOUTH CENTRAL (0-1)Bailey Mitchell 0-1—1, Holly Hale 1-0—2, Sarah Oney 4-0—8, Lilly Antoinio 0-2—2, Kaycee Burton 4-3—11, Courtney Shepherd 1-3—5. TOTALS: 9-9—29MARGARETTA (1-0)Kennedi Hilton 1-2—4, Jennah Yost 3-0—8, Taylor Malson 6-1–15, Faythe Smetzer 10-2—22, Elliana Schaefer 3-0—6, Jayden Moore 5-0—11, Rebekka Wobser 2-0—4, Cassidy Cheek 2-0—4, Grace Bias 2-1—5. TOTALS: 34-6—79.South Central 10 9 6 4 — 29Margaretta 23 15 22 19 — 793-point FGs: (M) Yost 2, Molson 2, Moore; (SC) Oney 2.Bellevue 81, Mansfield Senior 15At Bellevue, siblings Casey and Cory Santoro combined for 42 points Friday as the Lady Red routed the Tygers in a non-league contest to start the year.Casey, a sophomore, led all scorers with 23. Cory had 19 points for Bellevue, which also got 11 points from Riley Mohr.The Lady Red led 37-11 at halftime, then held Mansfield Senior to four second-half points.MANSFIELD SR. (0-1)Tal Catching 2-0—5, Jordan Thompson 2-0—4, Kia Mathews 1-0—2, JJ Feagin 2-0—4. TOTALS: 7-0—15.BELLEVUE (1-0)Cory Santoro 6-7—19, Gabby Turner 2-2—6, Payton Vogel 1-5—7, Casey Santoro 8-5—23, Beyah Garcia 1-0—2, Kami Hay 1-0—3, Marley Ruffing 1-0—2, McKenna Davis 3-0—6, Alex Fiske 1-0—2, Riley Mohr 4-2—11. TOTALS: 28-21—81.Mansfield Sr. 2 9 2 2 — 15Bellevue 20 17 25 19 — 813-point FGs: (B) Casey Santoro 2, Mohr (M) Catching.Edison 49, Monroeville 39At Milan, the Chargers outscored the Eagles in all but one quarter Friday, earning a win in the non-league contest.Mariah Medina's 10 points paced Edison (1-0), which had eight girls reach the scoring column. Alana Fidler followed with nine points, while Aliyah Caporinin had eight.Ashlyn Tommas led all scorers for Monroeville (0-1). Amelia Dalton added 11 points.MONROEVILLE (0-1)Amelia Dalton 4-0—11, Ashlyn Tommas 5-3—17, Taylor Reer 0-7—7, Camryn Hedrick 0-4—4. TOTALS: 9-14—39.EDISON (1-0)Ashley Sneider 0-1—1, Sab Downey 0-2—2, Catie Houser 2-2—6, Mariah Medina 4-1—10, Aliyah Caporini 4-0—8, Molly Houser 3-0—6, Alana Fidler 4-1—9, Hannah Vitaz 2-2—6. TOTALS: 19-9—49.Monroeville 8 6 10 15 — 39Edison 13 11 15 10 — 493-point FGs: (E) Medina; (M) Tommas 4, Dalton 3.Fremont Ross 62, Clyde 38At Fremont, the Fliers trailed 27-18 at halftime before a 19-10 third quarter proved too much to overcome in an opening-night loss to the Little Giants.Heidi Marshall tallied a team-high 15 point for Clyde (0-1), which also got 11 from Jackie Smith and 10 from Alayna Barrera.Jazmin Bulger had a game-high 17 points for Fremont Ross (1-0).CLYDE (0-1)Heidi Marshall 3-9—15, Alayna Barrera 3-2—10, Jackie Smith 4-3—11, Haley Salazar 1-0—2. TOTALS: 11-14—38.FREMONT ROSS (1-0)Jazmin Bulger 7-0—17, Olivia Baptista 3-2—11, Rachel Gore 2-0—4, Ahlia Simms 6-0—12, L. Szymanowski 1-0—2, B. Baptista 2-1—6, Jasannah Sabiers 2-0—4, Marissa Overmyer 2-0—6. TOTALS: 25-3—62.Clyde 9 9 10 10 — 38Ross 13 14 19 16 — 623-point FGs: (FR) Bulger 3, O. Baptista 3, Overmyer 2, B. Baptista; (C ) Barrera 2.Vermilion 46, Brookside 42At Vermilion, new coach Yvonne Craigo earned her first win in charge of the Sailors in a victory over the Cardinals.Vermilion (1-0) trailed 14-9 after eight minutes, then went on a 16-3 scoring surge in the second quarter to take a 25-17 halftime lead.CeCe Dillon and Clara Smith each had 12 points for the Sailors, followed by Skyler Myers with 11.Brookside 14 3 14 11 — 42Vermilion 9 16 9 12 — 46Norwalk 47, Westlake 35At Westlake, the Truckers opened the year with a non-league win over the Demons Friday.Norwalk (1-0), which got 12 points from Bethany Cring and 10 more from Kaelyn Harkness, led 27-14 at halftime, then pulled away in the third quarter, opening up a 40-18 lead.Harkness also chipped in four assists and three steals. Jada Thomas pulled down eight reboundsNORWALK (1-0)Bethany Cring 5-1—12, Kaelyn Harkness 4-2—10, Jada Thomas 3-0—6, Jasmine Thomas 3-2—8. TOTALS: 17-12—47.Norwalk 14 13 13 7 — 47Westlake 6 8 4 17 — 353-point FGs: (N) Cring.Woodmore 53, Port Clinton 21At Elmore, the Redskins dropped their opener to the Wildcats.No further information was available.