Margaretta slips past Norwalk in battle of SBC leaders

NORWALK — Raegan Heck struggled from the free throw line early. She wasn't the only one as Margaretta missed the first three free throws it attempted. But when the game mattered the most in the fourth quarter, Heck was clutch. The Polar Bears senior knocked down five straight free throws including four in the final minute of the game, lifting Margaretta to a 41-38 win over Norwalk in a battle of Sandusky Bay Conference division leaders. "Honestly, I just locked in," Heck said. "It was the end of the game. We were down late and that's when free throws count the most. I took a deep breath and went to the line and knocked them down." Three times in the first quarter Margaretta (10-3) scored and drew a foul. But each time, the Polar Bears missed. Margaretta responded by making 11 of 14 attempts in the fourth quarter. "I liked everything tonight," Margaretta coach Ray Neill said. "We came in here and competed our tails off against an undefeated team that's ranked in the top 10 in the state of Ohio. We had it on the board — let's have some fun tonight and let's try to knock off one of the top 10 teams in the state of Ohio." The Polar Bears were up 35-34 when Norwalk (10-1) took a timeout with 1:55 to play. Abby Koenig missed a 3-pointer out of the break and the Truckers fouled Cassidy Lane. She split two free throws with 1:04 remaining. On the other end, Emmie Leber's shot was no good down low and Heck splashed in a pair of freebies with 52.4 seconds left. Kenzie Smith's 3-pointer was off for Norwalk, but Koenig grabbed the rebound and was fouled. She split the pair to cut the Margaretta lead to 38-35 with 27.3 seconds to go. After a pair of Polar Bears timeouts, Heck was fouled and again cashed in at the line. Lane added another split around a Smith 3 as Margaretta was able to fend off Norwalk. "I didn't think our effort was quite where it needed to be," Norwalk coach Kyle Brubaker said. "Our attention to detail wasn't quite there. As a coach, you always guard against those types of games in a 22-game season. There are times where it feels most of the time you are who you are. Then there's games where you're not quite as good as you are." It was the second straight huge win for the Polar Bears. Last Saturday, Margaretta went to Willard and escaped with a 36-30 SBC Bay Division win to remain in first place. "Getting that win on Saturday, that was a big conference game," Neill said. "It gave us a lot of confidence and a lot of energy. We're the defending league champions. We've won two big games on the road recently." Norwalk was coming off just as big of a win. The Truckers beat Bellevue on Saturday for the first time since 2017. "I think there's a challenge getting up from that emotional high, but we tried to use it as momentum," Brubaker said. "That senior group has never beat Bellevue. We've been telling them to play confident and play free hoping that getting the Bellevue monkey off their back would do that." The biggest lead either team had the entire game was five points by Margaretta on Heck's late free throws. Norwalk led 4-0 early, but the Polar Bears got going and went up 12-11 after one quarter. An offensive rebound and score by Leber gave Norwalk a 18-17 advantage with a minute to go in the first half, but Grace Paseka made two free throws and Lane scored for a 21-18 lead at halftime. "They're good," Neill said. "Coach Brubaker has them playing really, really hard. We talked about it, but it's really hard to simulate in practice. We persevered. Both teams were getting after it and putting some people on the floor." Margaretta went ahead by four points twice in the third quarter including on a Julia Berg basket following a Heck offensive rebound. But Koenig made a free throw and Lucy Schlotterer canned a 3 to tie the game at 26 heading to the fourth. Norwalk led 34-32 lead when Trinity Lazzara fouled out with 3:03 left. Heck missed the first free throw — putting her at 1 of 4 for the game to that point — before making the second. Kenadie Saylor knocked in a pair after that, giving Margaretta a 35-34 lead with 1:55 to play. "At times it didn't feel like it was consistent," Brubaker said. "You didn't know to expect when you heard the whistle. All these types of experiences are going to be good for us down the road. "I told the girls if we're going to accomplish the rest of the goals that we have out in front of us, how we respond to this game is going to dictate the rest of our season for us." Smith led Norwalk with nine points while Schlotterer had seven. The Truckers lead the SBC Lake Division as the second half of play gets underway. "The reality is the last three games we played a Division I St. Joseph Academy, Bellevue, which speaks for itself, and Margaretta, which speaks for itself," Brubaker said. "If you would've told me before that we'd take two out of three, the competitor inside of me would've said why didn't we go 3-0? But, that's a pretty good stretch." Heck finished with 13 points and 15 rebounds while Ellyse Schafer and Saylor each contributed eight points. Margaretta outrebounded Norwalk 33-24. "They're very good and very fundamentally sound," Heck said. "They're a great team to go up against. This is the kind of teams we'll see in the tournaments and this is preparing us early." MARGARETTA (10-3)Cassidy Lane 2 2-4 6, Ellyse Schafer 3 0-1 8, Kenadie Saylor 2 4-5 8, Raegan Heck 3 6-9 13, Grace Paseka 0 2-2 2, Julia Berg 2 0-0 4. TOTALS 12 14-21 41NORWALK (10-1)Alyssa Gruhlke 2 0-0 5, Abby Koenig 1 3-6 5, Kenzie Smith 3 1-2 9, Emmie Leber 2 2-4 6, Trinity Lazzara 2 2-2 6, Lucy Schlotterer 3 0-0 7. TOTALS 13 8-14 38Margaretta 12 9 5 15 — 41Norwalk 11 7 8 12 — 38Three-point goals: Margaretta 3 (Schafer 2, Heck); Norwalk 4 (Smith 2, Gruhlke, Schlotterer)