Margaretta girls blow by Willard for SBC Bay title

CASTALIA — Margaretta already had a slice of the pie. The Polar Bears had no interest in sharing the rest with Willard on Thursday. Division IV No. 2 Margaretta dominated the first half, kept the Crimson Flashes off the scoreboard for almost 13 minutes, and rolled to the outright Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division title with a 44-26 win. The Polar Bears (17-5, 10-0) have won seven straight league titles. Margaretta has won 44 consecutive league games and 69 out of the last 70. "It's pretty special to win a conference championship," Margaretta coach Ray Neill said. "It's extra special to be undefeated in doing it. To do it four years in a row? Our seniors are graduating with an undefeated conference record. It was a lot of good stuff." Margaretta played without seniors Raegan Heck and Dani Grunden, but Willard (15-7, 8-2) was down leading scorer Reese Bedingfield, who suffered what is likely a season-ending knee injury Tuesday in a win over Huron. "Our M.O. is defense," Neill said. "We have a little saying we go by that the first team to 40 (points) is going to win because we're not giving up 40. Great game, great crowd." It was Senior Night for the Polar Bears as they honored Julia Berg, Grace Paseka, Mattie Kovalaske, Heck and Grunden. But, it was Willard that played well early. Emelia Tallman hit a 3-pointer and two buckets by Corrin Gettys gave the Flashes a 7-6 lead more than halfway through the first quarter. But, the pressure applied by Margaretta caused numerous turnovers by Willard. The Polar Bears scored the last eight points of the first quarter including a score by Lillian Belak off of one of the Flashes' seven first-quarter turnovers. "We started all of our healthy seniors and one of them, Mattie, was making her first start of the season," Neill said. "She makes our first basket of the night, which I think was exciting for her and for the crowd in the gym. She's a great teammate and it was great for her to get in. I think that set the tone." The Polar Bears were even better defensively in the second quarter. Margaretta forced five turnovers in the quarter and the Flashes missed all five shots they attempted. Willard didn't attempt a free throw in the first half. "That's been in a theme in some of our losses this season is we turn the ball over too much," Willard coach Alanna Bedingfield said. "I thought we did have some good looks at it. We missed a lot of layups and those things happen. We have to come into a championship game with a different mindset and I think we struggled a little bit with that mindset." Meanwhile, Margaretta did enough offensively to distance itself from Willard. Buckets by Cassidy Lane, Kenadie Saylor and Ellyse Schafer gave the Polar Bears a 20-7 lead. Saylor picked a steal and scored before Berg's shot late in the quarter put Margaretta up 24-7 at halftime. "Defensively in the first half, we were really, really good," Neill said. "We executed the game plan outstandingly and credit (Margaretta assistant) coach (Brian) Heck for that. Offensively, we made shots. It was spread out. We had five different girls score in the first half." The Flashes did get the first five points of the third quarter as Gettys scored and Camryn Wiers drilled a corner 3. But, Willard mustered just four points the final 6:14 of the quarter while Margaretta played well. Scores from Schaefer and Ashlyn Kingsborough extended the Polar Bears' lead to 38-15 late in the quarter. "We had to make adjustments because we had different people," said Bedingfield of a 36-30 loss to the Polar Bears on Jan. 4. "I know they're hurting, too, so it was a little different than the first time we played them. I just didn't think we were very aggressive in the first half defensively." Willard finished with 19 turnovers for the game and was outrebounded 28-16. Gettys topped the Flashes with 11 points. Willard will get almost a week to figure out life without Reese Bedingfield before hosting Ashland Crestview (11-8) in a tournament opener at 7 p.m. Thursday. "I'm not really sure," said coach Bedingfield of how her team will adjust. "I think we're still figuring that out. I think we can figure it out. I think this is a team with really great girls and I think they can be successful no matter who is on the court. We have to find a way to do that." Lane paced Margaretta with 12 points while Paseka added nine. Berg had six points and nine rebounds. The Polar Bears are off until next Saturday when they host Bucyrus (2-18) in a tournament opener. "This team has been through a lot of adversity and we're still dealing with it right now," Neill said. "We had girls injured and out in the summer, which is a carryover effect into the season. Then in the second game of the season, we started losing pieces. "To be 17-5 and ranked No. 2 in the state of Ohio in Division VI with the injuries we've had to go through as well as what most locker rooms go through with the flu and colds, it's a testament to our girls' makeup." WILLARD (15-7, 8-2)Camryn Wiers 1 0-0 3, Leah Weiss 2 0-0 4, Emelia Tallman 2 2-3 8, Corrin Gettys 5 1-2 11. TOTALS 10 3-5 26 MARGARETTA (17-5, 10-0)Julia Berg 3 0-4 6, Grace Paseka 2 5-6 9, Mattie Kovalaske 1 0-0 2, Cassidy Lane 5 1-2 12, Kenadie Saylor 2 0-4 4, Ellyse Schaefer 3 0-0 6, Lillian Belak 1 0-0 2, Ashlyn Kingsborough 1 1-2 3. TOTALS 18 7-17 44 Willard 7 0 9 10 — 26Margaretta 14 10 14 6 — 44 Three-point goals: Willard 3 (Tallman 2, Wiers); Margaretta 1 (Lane)