STATE FINALS NOTEBOOK: Bellevue defense helps deliver championship

DAYTON — Kettering Alter was 1 for 21 from the field in the first half. One for 21. Championship game jitters? Maybe a little bit. But Bellevue prides itself on defense, and the Lady Red limited a program that has won five state championships to six points in the first 16 minutes. Bellevue never trailed and won 40-29 in front of 3,234 fans — way more than half from Bellevue — to claim the Division IV state championship. "They're a good team, they play very good defense, too," Bellevue coach Kory Santoro said. "Offense is for kind of for show, but I think defense wins championships, and they know that. We pride ourselves in doing that. It's actually kind of fun. Incredible effort by these girls." The Lady Red led 13-6 at halftime — an incredibly low score, but it was apparent from the outset that it was going to be one of those games. "When it started out we were both trying to feel each other out," Santoro said. "Middle of the first quarter, end of the first quarter I said, 'OK, this is gonna be one of those games. We're gonna have to battle till the end.' "I know they didn't shoot very well and we didn't shoot our best, but defense wins championship." Bellevue stopped opponents all season. The Lady Red finished with a 28-1 record and limited 12 opponents to 30 points or fewer. Bellevue 6-foot-3 junior Kaitlyn Turinsky was the biggest line of defense. She was tasked with guarding 6-1 Maddie Moody, who is Alter's all-time leading scorer and rebounder. Moody will play college basketball at Northern Kentucky. "She added her size inside. It was hard to get those easy layups," Moody said. "It was a matter of spreading our offense out and moving and trying to move her out of the paint. She impacted that aspect of the game majorly with her length and her size." Turinsky finished with eight points, eight rebounds and seven blocked shots and thanked her teammates for their help. "I had to stay on No. 30 so just trusting that we communicate and moved through it and just playing solid defense was good teamwork," Turinsky said. "To get blocks, I had good help side so I helped them and they helped me." Moody finished 4 for 12 from the field and the Knights (19-9) shot just 22 percent for the game (10 for 46). "You make one shot in the first half, we probably shouldn't have even been in the game," Alter co-coach Kendal Peck said. "We were lucky to be down seven. Our defense gave us a chance. "Their defense was outstanding; they've been good defensively since Kory's been coaching there. Some of the credit goes to them, they had a good game plan. We did have a couple easy looks that we just missed. It happens. It was a combination of we didn't play great and they're really good." Peck said it was Bellevue's year. "I want to congratulate Bellevue," he said. "We've been scouting them since about 2013 when Kory started coaching them. They had to get over the Toledo Rogers hump for a long time. They've had a great program for 12, 14 years here running. It was kind of their year. It's an awesome accomplishment."Quick fouls Bellevue star senior Hailey Rees picked up her second foul with 5:44 left in the first quarter and sat out several minutes. Rees did play 26:16 and finished with only three fouls. "Hailey knows how we feel about that," Santoro said. "She got a little shoutout on the sidelines from us. To her credit she finished the game playing very well. They had a nice post player we put her on and I thought she did what she needed to do." Rees clinched the game by hitting eight straight free throws in the fourth quarter. "She hit big-time free throws and had a big three-point play I thought was a huge momentum breaker there," Santoro said. "Hailey's been an incredible player for us for four years. She'll go down as one of our all-time greats." TV timeouts A so-called media timeout was called in the middle of each period. They lasted more than two minutes, much longer than a normal timeout. Santoro said the breaks were fine with him. "It was actually more just catching your breath," he said. "It was actually kind of nice to have a couple extra timeouts. It was nice to catch your breath, talk, and relax talking. I'm a fast talker. I couldn't slow it down there." Bellevue takes over UD Arena Bellevue's fans showed up big-time at University of Dayton Arena. Lady Red supporters easily outnumbered fans from Alter, which is located six miles south of the arena in the suburb of Kettering. "When I talked to Hometown Ticketing on Tuesday, she said we had sold over 1,000, more than twice as many as Alter," Bellevue athletic director Cody Cramer said. "Obviously, looking in the stands we had more than double than the school we played who is 10 minutes away. "The pride in our community is amazing. We've been hearing that the last couple of weeks. I'm so glad to say I live in Bellevue and I'm from Bellevue. Everybody's down here supporting our kids who do such great things. This community loves to support its kids." Cramer said a community celebration will take place at 8 a.m. Monday in the school gym. Purcell Marian wins 4th straight Purcell Marian routed Avon Lake 72-44 in the Division III final — the first of three state championship games Friday. Dee Alexander scored 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Cavaliers, who won their fourth straight state title. Alexander won her third straight Ms. Basketball award. Purcell Marian became the first school since Hathaway Brown (2009-2012) to win four straight championships. Tourney history Huron is the only Erie County school to win a girls state championship. The Tigers won it all in 1983. Among schools from surrounding counties, Hopewell-Loudon won a state title in 1999 and Avon Lake was a state champion in 1994.