Margaretta moves to 7-0 in SBC Bay

HURON — It's rare for a potential league champion to make everything look easy all the time. And it sure wasn't easy for Margaretta on Saturday in Huron. Good shots were hard to find, and even some of those didn't fall. But the teams that wind up at the top of the standings find ways to win those games, and that's what the Polar Bears did. "You're gonna play a close one, and today was hopefully our one close one," Margaretta coach Ray Neill said. "We got out on top and are still unblemished in conference." Margaretta held on, 34-31, to sweep the season series with Huron and move to 7-0 in SBC Bay Division play (11-5 overall). The Polar Bears scored just two points in the final quarter but got one final stop when they needed to go home victorious. "At the end of the day, we know what our goal is," Margaretta junior Lilly Edwards said. "It's just important to get a dub." Edwards found really the only offensive groove of the night. The 5-foot-5 guard finished with 13 points, all in the first half, 10 in the first quarter. She nailed a couple 3-pointers from the wing, then a righty scoop shot and a lefty layup off a steal in the first quarter. Then she drilled a left wing 3 off a dime from Raegan Heck in the second. "I think I'm just fired up," said Edwards, who has played strong first halves for much of the season. "... I just felt like the left side today was my spot." Otherwise, Huron played the defense it wanted to play. The Tigers switched when they needed to and stayed tight when called for. They rotated on the help side and cut off passing lanes. "We played a great defensive game," Huron coach Darius Schaeffer said. "We did a nice job of taking away their driving lanes." Senior guard Mia Hurst was mostly a distributor for Huron early, assisting on opening buckets for Addie LaCivita and Caylin McCormick. And an Annabelle Herzog 3-pointer to end the first pulled Huron within 13-9. The Tigers pulled within 17-16 on a Jess Holsapple triple, assisted by Hurst, before Margaretta scored the final five points of the half, including Edwards' last bucket. "Lilly got off to a great start again, as she has pretty consistently for us," Neill said. "... It was a Rock 'em, Sock 'em Robot game from then on." Margaretta went up by nine early in the third quarter when Edwards dished to Jaelle Keller (nine points) for a 3-pointer, but then McCormick (10 points), Hurst and McCormick scored again to get within four. Eden Palomo drove for two late in the third, and Margaretta led 32-25 after three. The Polar Bears' focus in the fourth quarter was on sealing the win. Their only points came on free throws from Keller with 1:31 left after running 96 seconds off the clock. That left the door open for Huron, which pulled within three on a 3-pointer from Hurst, then got the ball back on a steal by Hurst. "To their credit, they got some defensive stops and made some shots," Neill said. The Tigers drew up an offensive set to free Hurst with 24.5 seconds left, but the only shot they got was a contested deep one as Margaretta locked down until the buzzer. "That's probably the best defensive possession we had all day," Neill said, "and it's when we had to have it." Remaining in the league for Margaretta are a home game against Edison, then trips across the bridge to Port Clinton and Oak Harbor. The defending SBC Bay Division champions clinch at least a share of a title with one more win, and would be outright champions again with two more. And if the Polar Bears can close it out, people won't look back on this bumpy win in Huron as anything more than one of the steps along the way to the crown. "We persevered," Neill said. "This one counts just as much as any other victory we've had in the conference." --- MARGARETTA Lilly Edwards 5 0-0 13, Jaelle Keller 3 2-2 9, Julia Berg 1 0-1 2, Eden Palomo 3 0-0 6, Jennifer Patrick 1 2-4 4. TOTALS 13 4-7 34 HURON Mia Hurst 3 1-2 10, Annabelle Herzog 1 0-0 3, Jess Holsapple 1 0-0 3, Addie LaCivita 2 1-2 5, Caylin McCormick 5 0-0 10. TOTALS 12 2-4 31 Margaretta 13 9 10 2 — 34Huron 9 7 9 6 — 31 Three-point goals — Margaretta 4 (Edwards 3, Keller 1); Huron 5 (Hurst 3, Herzog 1, Holsapple 1)