Rees, Turner lift Bellevue to OT win over Perrysburg

BELLEVUE — For the second time Saturday, Hailey Rees absorbed enough physical contact to be knocked down. A hard-nosed senior who can bang with the best, Rees didn't let it affect her. After gaining her composure, Rees stood up and knocked down both free throws to give Bellevue a two-possession lead late in overtime. The Lady Red, playing in their girls basketball season opener, limited Division I Perrysburg to just two points over the final eight-plus minutes of the game, picking up a 49-42 overtime win over the Yellow Jackets. "We play a lot of tough teams and know we have to match the intensity," Rees said. "We have to just play through it. You're going to have that in games like this. Just make the free throws." Bellevue's defense was key down the stretch. The Lady Red (1-0) trailed 40-33 with 4:42 to play, but kept Perrysburg (1-1) off the board for 8:31 to go from down by seven points late in regulation to up seven in the final seconds of overtime. "We focus on defense so much in practice," Bellevue senior Audrey Turner said. "We actually have our coaches get in with us and we practice against them. It's a communication thing. In our presses and our zone defenses, whatever we do, we're non-stop communicating with each other." In between, Rees and Turner paced the Lady Red offense. Bellevue was down 40-33 when Rees connected on a 3 and was fouled with 2:35 to play. She made the free throw to cut the deficit to 40-37. Both teams had opportunities, but the Lady Red and Turner seized the chance. She nailed her fourth triple of the game after Perrysburg turnover to knot the game at 40. The Yellow Jackets missed on a triple on the other end, giving Bellevue the chance to get the final shot of the game. After a timeout, Rees' runner was no good, sending the game to overtime. Turner picked up where she left off, nailing a 3-pointer just nine seconds into the extra frame. Once Bellevue got a stop on the other end, that gave the Lady Red the chance to milk clock and force Perrysburg to foul. "Coach always talks to us about the biggest 12 minutes of the game," Turner said. "We want to come out in the first four minutes, the first four minutes of the second half and the last four minutes of the game. With it going to overtime, I told the team that that was the most important four minutes of the game. "We were a little nervous, but as soon as that shot went in, it felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders." With three fouls to give, the Yellow Jackets played tight defense until Rees was trucked to the ground with 43 seconds remaining. Her two makes extended the Bellevue advantage to 45-40. A steal by Ellie Freitag led to a score by Rees with 24 seconds to go. Chloe Kilbridge broke the Yellow Jackets' scoring drought with 10 seconds left on the clock, but two more free throws by Rees gave the Lady Red a nice opening night win. "We had to make some adjustments to what we were doing," Bellevue coach Kory Santoro said. "I thought we slowed them down and I thought that was key. Then we got some timely baskets." After 11 turnovers in regulation, Bellevue didn't commit a turnover in overtime. "That's huge," Santoro said. "We knew we had the momentum. They were playing man and we went to our fist offense. We knew they had foul and we did a good job taking care of the ball." Bellevue got triples from Turner and Rees and a bucket by Kaitlyn Turinsky to open an 8-0 lead just 67 seconds in. Perrysburg settled in and went up 13-11 before a 3 by Carrington Savage helped the Lady Red to a 14-13 edge after one quarter. Turner began the second quarter with a 3-pointer and Bellevue went back up by as much as 23-16 on a Savage triple. A score by Turinsky put Bellevue ahead 25-21 at halftime. Two free throws early in the third quarter by Rees made it 27-21 and her triple kept Bellevue up 30-25. Perrysburg answered with the next eight points, but Rees' 3 evened the game at 33-all after three quarters. Rees finished with 24 points while Turner hit five triples for 15 points. Savage added six points and seven rebounds. "Everybody knows who our leaders are," Santoro said. "Hailey was Hailey tonight. Hailey has been doing this for four years for us. I'm happy with her play and I'm happy she plays for Bellevue." Bellevue as a team made 11 of 32 3-pointers. "Perrysburg is a good opening game," Santoro said. "That's a tough team and they're going to win a lot of games this year. We're thrilled to come out of here with a win tonight." PERRYSBURG (1-1)Hayden Siebenaler 2 0-1 4, Chloe Kilbride 6 2-2 17, Sydney Evert 3 4-4 11, Addy Byrne 2 3-4 7, Carly Friar 1 0-0 3. TOTALS 14 9-11 42BELLEVUE (1-0)Hailey Rees 5 10-11 24, Audrey Turner 5 0-0 15, Kaitlyn Turinsky 2 0-0 4, Carrington Savage 2 0-0 6. TOTALS 14 10-11 49Perrysburg 13 8 12 7 2 — 42Bellevue 14 11 8 7 9 — 49Three-point goals: Perrysburg 5 (Kilbride 3, Evert, Friar); Bellevue 11 (Turner 5, Rees 4, Savage 2)