Polar Bears connect in battle of top Bay teams

CASTALIA — Life is good for the Margaretta girls basketball team. Free throws are falling. The Polar Bears' league lead is growing. And they just keep on winning. "We're having so much fun," sophomore guard Ellyse Schaefer said. "Even after bad games, we just come back and answer with a good game. We're just having so much fun." The latest triumph, a 55-45 victory over Port Clinton on Saturday afternoon, pushes the Division III No. 5 Polar Bears (14-1, 6-0) two games clear in the loss column atop the SBC Bay with four to play. Margaretta has won 14 consecutive games since dropping its season opener at Shelby, and the Polar Bears have also rattled off 30 league wins in a row. "We took their best today," Margaretta coach Ray Neill said. "We were able to keep our nose above water and get out of here with a huge W." Saturday's game could in large part be summed up in two ratios: 12-0 and 17-20. The first, a 12-0 run, took the game from 9-9 in the first half to a 21-9 Margaretta lead midway through the second quarter. Schaefer sparked the spurt with consecutive 3-pointers, the second and third she hit in the first quarter. "It's just lots of practice," Schaefer said. "I was never a shooting guard until my freshman year. My JV coach last year, Matt Smith, really pushed me to be the shooting guard, so I took on that role. I like it." Senior guard Lilly Edwards, playing through sickness, dropped in a floater to keep the run going. Schaefer followed with a steal to set up two free throws. "We knew we needed to get a hard start, because if we didn't, Port Clinton would capitalize," Schaefer said. "Going down early in a game is never good. We just really wanted to come out and prove a point." Cassidy Lane capped the surge with an and-1 finish inside, which was set up by a coast-to-coast push from Raegan Heck following a defensive rebound. "We wanted to run the floor and work on our transition game," Heck said. "Just looking for that open person and making that extra pass." That second mark, 17-20, was what Margaretta shot at the foul line, a cool 85%. The Polar Bears were at 61% entering the game. But perfect 4-for-4s from Schaefer and Heck, and a 6-for-8 from Lane, sent Margaretta well on their way. "That's nuts, amazing at the high school level," PC coach Kevin Belden said. "That was a big difference in this game, why we could never quite get over the top of them." Despite all that, Port Clinton never quite went away. "We had a good start," Neill said. "To Port Clinton's credit, they made a run. I just told our girls, we played well today, and kudos to Port Clinton, because they played well also." PC pulled within 27-20 at the half thanks to back-to-back 3-pointers by Olivia Spencer, along with a floater and a 3 from Olivia Emerson. "There's teams that would say, 'We're at Margaretta, state ranked, 13 in a row,' but our girls kept chipping and chipping and didn't stop," Belden said. The margin was single digits almost the entire second half despite Port Clinton using only five players until a late foul out. PC is without starting forward Christiona Fenton, who was on crutches Saturday after injuring her right foot on Jan. 8 against Gibsonburg. A couple 3-pointers, one each from Emerson and Spencer, got Port Clinton within six as the fourth quarter got underway. Heck and Da'Cariya Lanier traded floaters to keep the margin there. An Erieyonna Buckley offensive rebound putback through contact pulled Port Clinton to a four-point deficit with 3:45 left. "We just kept coming and coming, and they just seemed to always have an answer for us," Belden said. The teams traded empty trips before Heck went in attack mode out of a timeout and dished to Lane, who converted a three-point play for a 48-40 lead with 2:16 left. "We had to stay calm and couldn't panic," Heck said. Heck, in addition to 15 points, added five assists and four steals. "Just being an all-around player, looking for the open girl but also looking for my shot," Heck said. "Outside shots, inside shots, just growing as a player." Schaefer, who also finished with 15 points, and Lane, who went for 12 and eight rebounds, pitched in free throws to ice the win. Neill said that Margaretta was well aware on Saturday how big the showdown was for Port Clinton, which could only keep itself in the league race with a victory. That made it a big game for the Polar Bears, too. And as they've done in key games season after season, Margaretta showed up and delivered. "A great team effort," Neill said. "We shared the basketball. We stayed connected on the defensive end… When we really needed a basket, somehow, some way, we found one." PORT CLINTON Olivia Spencer 4 0-0 11, Erieyonna Buckley 2 0-1 4, Da'Cariya Lanier 5 7-8 18, Olivia Emerson 5 0-1 12. TOTALS 16 7-10 45 MARGARETTA Lilly Edwards 1 0-0 2, Julia Berg 1 1-2 3, Cassidy Lane 3 6-8 12, Ellyse Schaefer 4 4-4 15, Dani Grunden 1 2-2 4, Kenadie Saylor 2 0-0 4, Raegan Heck 5 4-4 15. TOTALS 17 17-20 55 Port Clinton 9 11 13 12 — 45Margaretta 15 12 12 16 — 55 3-point goals — PC 6 (Spencer 3, Emerson 2, Lanier 1); Margaretta 4 (Schaefer 3, Heck 1)