Margaretta hangs tough before falling to Willard in district final

SHELBY — Margaretta and Willard split a pair of regular-season games and shared the SBC Bay Division title. Round 3 — and the big trophy — went to Willard. The Crimson Flashes dominated the boards, shot the basketball well and used hard-nosed defense to turn back the Polar Bears 65-56 in a Division III district championship game Saturday at Shelby High School. "That's a great team," Margaretta coach Eric Kochendoerfer said as the Flashes celebrated. "They went to a Division II regional final (last year) and brought back a lot of people. "Willard's one of the best defensive teams we've played. They've got a great motor and don't take plays off." That was the only way to approach this game because Margaretta kept coming back after the Flashes appeared to be headed for an easy victory. The Bears trailed by 10 points in the first quarter, the third quarter and the fourth. But there they were, still in it when Devyne Eisenhauer scored off a nice Kylie Leibacher pass to cut Willard's lead to 57-53 with 1:55 to play. The Bears spent much of the next minute fouling to put Willard in the one-and-one. A Mckenna Stephens basket and two Tristin Buurma free throws with 55 seconds to play gave the Flashes a 63-53 lead, finally putting away the smaller, younger Bears. "They showed an incredible amount of grit and perseverance," Kochendoerfer said about his team's multiple comebacks. "I felt confident we would come back, but we just ran out of time." Elliana Schaefer, Margaretta's only senior starter, finished her high school career with 20 hard-earned points. Leibacher finished with 12 points and seven rebounds and Eisenhauer added 12 points. Willard (21-3) used balanced scoring to keep the Bears at bay. Point guard Layla Dials and Buurma led the way with 16 points each. Buurma grabbed 12 rebounds to help the Flashes to a 33-20 edge on the glass. Dials controlled the pace of the game and effectively penetrated Margaretta's defense to find open teammates. She also helped hound the Margaretta guards when the Bears had the ball. "We played a really intense game and we knew we had to play with intensity and fight for every single loose ball," said Dials. "Every possession is a war." Grace Hall and Stephens each finished with 14 points for Willard. Hall made four 3-pointers. Stephens gave Willard a 55-45 lead with 4:37 to play on one of many second-chance buckets. Margaretta trailed 14-6 early but went on a 12-0 run to take a 20-18 lead early in the second quarter when Schaefer found Eisenhauer for an easy basket. The Bears' last lead was 22-20 on two Schaefer free throws. Stephens' steals and layup gave Willard a 42-32 lead midway through the third quarter before the Bears got close again. Eden Palomo's three-point play with 10 seconds left in the third got Margaretta to within 48-42, but Willard was too physical and ended up hitting 26 of 51 shots from the field and eight of nine from the line. Willard's starters played most of the game and were ready for a break as they celebrated afterward. "Personally, I was a little worn out, but adrenaline carries you," Dials said. "We wanted that trophy and that helped get us through the pain and exhaustion." The Crimson Flashes will now face powerhouse Africentric -- which is able to draw talent from the entire city of Columbus -- in a regional semifinal Tuesday in Lexington. Margaretta finished 20-6 in Kochendoerfer's fourth season as head coach. The Bears made the district finals in each of those seasons, going 2-2. "This is a special group and we've been through a lot," he said before thanking his coaching staff and captains. "These seniors were the first group I had and there's a special connection." MARGARETTA (20-6) Lilly Edwards 0 2-2 2, Elliana Schaefer 7 5-5 20, Kylie Leibacher 4 3-4 12, Eden Palomo 2 3-3 8, Devyne Eisenhauer 5 0-0 12, Phoebe Dreschel 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 19 13-14 56 WILLARD (21-3) Kallie Sowers 1 0-0 2, Layla Dials 6 4-4 16, Mckenna Stephens 6 2-3 14, Grace Hall 5 0-0 14, Tristin Buurma 7 2-2 16, Syana Sivongsak 1 0-0 3. TOTALS 26 8-9 65 Margaretta 18 10 14 14 — 56Willard 18 14 16 17 — 65 Three-point goals — Margaretta 5 (Eisenhauer 2, Schaefer 1, Leibacher 1, Palomo 1); Willard 5 (Hall 4, Sivongsak 1)