Bellevue slugs past Margaretta to stay undefeated

BELLEVUE — Not every win is going to be pretty. With two teams so evenly balanced, it came as no surprise that Bellevue's non-league game with Margaretta on Saturday came down to the final minute of the game. The Lady Red were able to knock down free throws late — something they struggled with in the first half — to slip past Margaretta, 44-39. "We say that smooth seas never make a good sailor," Bellevue coach Kory Santoro said. "I think that's the kind of game we had tonight. There were a lot of things that could have went the other way, but we held the ship tight and got through it." After making just 2 of 7 free throws in the first half, Bellevue (11-0) made 11 of 13 attempts in the second half. How the Lady Red shot in the first half wasn't the only concern for Santoro. "We got on them at halftime pretty good about our free throw shooting and our defensive rotations," he said. "When we put people in games, they have to know what we're doing, too. We gave up a driving layup in one our defenses and that should never happen. We have girls that didn't know what they were doing." Bellevue was ahead 38-35 in the fourth quarter when it decided to take time off the clock. The Lady Red ran off more than two minutes before Kenadie Saylor picked a steal and scored for the Polar Bears (7-3). After a pair of timeouts, Kaitlyn Turinsky was fouled and split a pair. Margaretta missed a good look at a 3 on the other end that would've given the Polar Bears their first lead since the opening minute of the game. "With a minute left in the game, we had possession on our end down by two," Margaretta coach Ray Neill said. "We got an open look. We just missed it." Instead, Hailey Rees took more time off the clock before being fouled and making both free throws for a 41-37 lead with a minute to play. Margaretta committed a turnover on the other end and Audrey Turner cashed in with two free throw makes. Raegan Heck scored for the Polar Bears, but it was too late. Rees split two free throws and the Polar Bears' 18th turnover of the game ended it for the Lady Red. "I'm really proud of the way the girls played today," Neill said. "We're playing a very good team at their place and we had some foul trouble in the early going. We worked our way through that. We're getting through some injuries and flu situations, but I thought our girls showed some mental toughness and conditioning to compete the way we did." Bellevue built an early lead before Margaretta got within 18-16 before the Lady Red scored six points in a row. Those were the last points Bellevue scored in the first half as Rees and Turinsky both were on the bench with three fouls before the quarter ended. That allowed the Polar Bears to get buckets from Cassidy Lane and Heck to get as close as 24-22 at halftime. "We were up by eight points a couple times and had to take Hailey and KT out," Santoro said. "I thought that was a time where we could have increased the lead and made this a little easier of a game." Rees' stay in the game lasted just over a minute into the third quarter before she picked up a fourth foul. The teams played even most of the quarter as a 3 by Margaretta's Ellyse Schaefer tied the game at 33. Turinsky was able to get a three-point play with 1.3 seconds to go in the third quarter, then opened the fourth quarter scoring to put Bellevue up 38-33 with 7:27 to play. The two teams will rematch in Castalia on Feb. 4. "We play these games to prepare ourselves for winning conference championships and making tournament runs," Neill said. "I think today was good for all of that." Heck paced Margaretta with 13 points. The Polar Bears (2-0 SBC Bay) jump back into league play Monday when they host Edison (5-4, 0-3). It will be Tim Tucker Day as Margaretta honors the former Polar Bears head coach who will be inducted into the Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in April. "One thing we don't get to do is think about this one or sulk about this one or have any negative thoughts," Neill said. "For us to be able to get right back out there and hopefully go have some success Monday is something we're looking forward to." Bellevue was led by Turinsky's 16 points and seven rebounds. The Lady Red will get a regional semifinal rematch Monday when they host Copley (8-1). The Indians eliminated Bellevue from the postseason last year. "We tell them that we don't care what kind of win it is — good, bad or ugly," Santoro said. "A win is a win at the end of the day. We know there's things we can do and we know we can play a lot better than tonight." MARGARETTA (7-3)Grace Paseka 0 2-2 2, Cassidy Lane 4 0-0 8, Ellyse Schaefer 2 2-4 8, Raegan Heck 6 0-0 13, Kenadie Saylor 1 0-4 2, Dani Grunden 3 0-0 6. TOTALS 16 4-10 39BELLEVUE (11-0)Ellie Freitag 1 0-0 2, Hailey Rees 3 3-6 9, Audrey Turner 2 4-4 9, Kaitlyn Turinsky 6 4-8 16, CJ Savage 2 2-2 8. TOTALS 14 13-20 44Margaretta 10 12 11 6 — 39Bellevue 18 6 12 8 — 44Three-point goals: Margaretta 3 (Schaefer 2, Heck); Bellevue 3 (Savage 2, Turner)