Balanced Margaretta sails past Port Clinton

CASTALIA — Margaretta was cruising along early. Once the Polar Bears watched a 12-point lead slip to five, they delivered another big body blow to Port Clinton. The Polar Bears used a run of 10 straight points to open the margin back up at halftime and added the first 15 points of the third quarter in a 62-25 Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division win over the Redskins. "It was fun to watch," Margaretta coach Ray Neill said. "Defensively we were getting after it. We were working Coach (Brian) Heck's defensive game plan to a T. We were jumping the ball when we thought it was appropriate. We had great backside rotation and that led to turnovers and us pushing the ball." Margaretta (12-3, 6-0 SBC Bay) ripped off the first 11 points of the quarter. Kenadie Saylor was hot from the get-go with six points in the run. The Polar Bears pushed the lead to 15-3 before Port Clinton (10-6, 2-5) settled in. A 3-pointer by Olivia Spencer cut the deficit to 15-10. Margaretta went back up by 12 points early in the second quarter, but again PC rallied. This time, it was a triple from Olivia Emerson as the Redskins drew within 22-17. The Polar Bears dominated from there. Dani Grunden and Raegan Heck hit jumpers before a 3 from Ellyse Schaefer made it 29-17. Schafer scored off of a Redskins turnover and Saylor's bucket at the buzzer gave Margaretta a 34-19 advantage at the break. "That was tough," Port Clinton coach Kevin Belden said. "They jumped on us, but we did a really nice job of getting back into the game. We cut it to five points and I think even had possession, but then they flew. They hit that big shot before the half and we just didn't rebound the basketball." The Polar Bears did little to slow down from there. Schaefer and Grace Paseka opened the second half with consecutive 3-pointers. Scores from Cassidy Lane and Saylor from there ballooned the lead to 44-19. "Kenadie's forte is her athleticism and her aggressiveness," Neill said. "Tonight obviously she shot it extremely well and added some offense to her game." Paseka nailed another 3 and Heck knocked down a shot to finish off the 17-0 run. Port Clinton was done in by turnovers. The Redskins committed four of them on their first four possessions and finished with 24 for the game. "Give Margaretta credit," Belden said. "They get up in you and make life very, very difficult. We talked about not lobbing the ball. We had to throw bounce passes. With those athletes, if you do that, it's just going to go the other way." Paseka's fourth 3-pointer of the night gave Margaretta a 54-23 lead after three quarters. The Polar Bears added the first seven points of the fourth quarter to put the game in a running clock mode. "We talked about having leads at halftime," Neill said. "We've been here a handful of times this year and we talked about going out and winning the first three minutes. I don't know if we've done it all year. Tonight we obviously did that." The two played back on Dec. 7 at Port Clinton. That day, Margaretta escaped with a 39-31 win. "What I drew from it was we had a lead in the fourth quarter," Belden said. "We can compete with them. We were much better the first time on the defensive glass. We took care of the basketball much better. Tonight just wasn't our night." Margaretta was balanced offensively. Saylor finished with 16 points while Paseka had 12 points. Schaefer added 11 points and Heck had 10 points. Lane was a beast on the boards, adding six points and a game-high 13 rebounds. "Applaud our girls for sharing it," Neill said. "They don't care who gets the No. 1 glory. I asked them in the locker room tonight to come out and play with a passion and play like they liked the game as much as they did in fourth and fifth grade. I need to say that every game, I guess." Thea Wybensinger paced Port Clinton with 10 points. The Redskins are off until next Tuesday when they travel to Clyde. "We've played a lot," Belden said. "We've had like 13 games in 38 days and that's a lot of basketball. This time of the year you typically don't want a week off, but I'm very excited to have a week off. We have to go back to the drawing board. This should test us. "We should be mad. We should come into the gym tomorrow with an attitude to put some work in and get after it again." Margaretta returns to the court Sunday at Classic in the Country at Hiland High School. The Polar Bears face Marietta (13-0) from southeast Ohio. "I believe they are No. 1 in the state of Ohio in Division III," Neill said. "We'll go play in a great environment and play a very good team. Hopefully we'll mix in a little bit of good Amish food, too." PORT CLINTON (10-6, 2-5)Olivia Spencer 2 0-1 5, Thea Wybensinger 3 2-2 10, Olivia Emerson 1 1-2 4, Christiona Fenton 3 0-1 6. TOTALS 9 3-6 25 MARGARETTA (12-3, 6-0)Grace Paseka 4 0-0 12, Cassidy Lane 3 0-0 6, Ellyse Schaefer 3 3-4 11, Kenadie Saylor 6 2-2 16, Raegan Heck 4 2-2 10, Dani Grunden 2 1-2 5, Julia Berg 0 1-2 1, Maddy Kovalaske 0 1-2 1. TOTALS 22 10-14 62 Port Clinton 10 9 4 2 — 25Margaretta 16 18 20 8 — 62 Three-point goals: Port Clinton 4 (Wybensinger 2, Spencer, Emerson); Margaretta 8 (Paseka 4, Schaefer 2, Saylor 2)