Margaretta, Norwalk, Bellevue all win at Midwest Live

SANDUSKY — Ray Neill only had one thing on his mind Saturday. The Margaretta girls basketball coach was thrilled about going 3-1 at Midwest Live at Cedar Point Sports Center, but one thing stood out above that. "I feel very good about leaving this weekend healthy," said Neill after the Polar Bears topped Copley 36-34. "We played four games against four really good programs. Fortunately, we were able to win three games. That says we played well. More importantly, we're leaving here healthy. It's good to see that." Margaretta had to fend off the Indians late. The Polar Bears led 35-31 after a free throw from Ellyse Schaefer. Copley hit a 3, but Cassidy Lane split two free throws for a 36-34 lead with 7.1 seconds left. Copley had a chance for the win, but the Polar Bears stood strong defensively. "We return three girls that were a big part of what we did last year," said Neill of Lane, Schaefer and Kenadie Saylor. "Lillian Belak is one of the other seniors that has stepped in and been really good for us on both ends of the floor. Lilly is someone that is very cerebral and knows the offensive playbook at any position. "Those four had a really good weekend for us. We're trying to find the other pieces of the puzzle and see who can fill this role or fill that role and who's ready to compete for those roles." Copley scored the first eight points of the game before Margaretta settled in. The Polar Bears clawed within 20-18 at halftime following two points from Saylor. Margaretta finished off a 6-0 run early in the second half and went up 31-27 after two points from Ellaynah Schaefer. Later, Saylor scored to make it 33-30. Saylor paced Margaretta with 10 points while Lane contributed nine points and Ellyse Schaefer had eight. Neill noted that Lane hasn't played basketball in a few months while Ellyse Schaefer is playing "completely different" without a knee brace. Both were banged up during Margaretta's regional semifinal appearance this past winter. "This is a great event in a great facility," Neill said. "It's good for the girls that have an opportunity to play at the next level to showcase their skills. It's good for us to get some younger girls in here and for them to start to learn our playbook. "It's good for them to see what the speed and the strength of the varsity level is like. Good weekend for us." The Polar Bears battled Huber Heights Wayne earlier in the day, losing 46-37. The Warriors hit six 3s in the first half, but Margaretta was within 24-23. Wayne used its athleticism to wear down the Polar Bears in the second half, leading by as many as 17 points. Lane led Margaretta with 11 points while Ashlyn Kingsborough and Ellyse Schaefer each scored six points. "That's a Division I program that's sending 10 athletes out there and we were within one at halftime," Neill said. "It got away from us in the second half, but we competed and got it back under 10 at the end. You learn something from losing also." Norwalk picks up first win The Truckers played in a tournament-like atmosphere against Elyria Catholic. Norwalk got two late buckets from Emmie Leber, then fended off the Panthers to pick up a 34-33 win. "It's nice getting out with a win," Norwalk coach Kyle Brubaker said. "It's also nice that we played a little bit better basketball today than we did (Friday). We weren't happy with what we put on the floor. We came back and bounced back. We must have a little bit of mental toughness to do that." The Truckers lost to Solon (60-43) and Genoa (39-38) on Friday before dropping their first game Saturday to Berea-Midpark (52-33). Norwalk responded by leading most of the way against Elyria Catholic. Leber put the Truckers up 32-31 with 49.1 seconds left with a bucket. After getting a defensive stop, Leber scored again to make it a three-point game with 24.6 seconds to go. Elyria Catholic scored and after a missed free throw by Norwalk had a chance to win. But, Norwalk got the stop it needed to leave the event with a victory. "Anytime you can get yourself in those types of situations or atmospheres, that's always a good thing," Brubaker said. "Hopefully, we do more than look at the end of the game. We want to look at what we could have done differently where we could have pulled away from them instead of it being a one-possession game." Leber carried the offensive load Saturday for the Truckers. Against Elyria Catholic, she scored 20 points. Earlier against Midpark, she tallied 16. "I think Emmie has definitely gotten better," Brubaker said. "That's saying something for a first-team all-league and first-team all-district player. With who we brought this weekend, our offense had to run through her. We're hoping to be more versatile once the season starts." Norwalk played the weekend without senior Trinity Lazzara. The Truckers' third-leading scorer a year ago behind now-graduated Abby Koenig and Leber, Lazzara was on the bench in street clothes. "It's a very short-term thing," said Brubaker of Lazzara's injury. "It was just an unfortunate timing thing for us for the summer. It's going to allow other people to step up and hopefully experiment with some roles they're not used to." In the opener against Midpark, Norwalk led 18-16 at halftime. The Titans heated up from 3 in the second half, knocking in eight triples. The Truckers were within 31-28 after a score from freshman Josilyn Jackson before Midpark pulled away with the bombs from deep. The Titans knocked in four straight triples to extend the Norwalk deficit to 43-28. That started what became a 18-2 run by Midpark. Bella Hernandez added six points for Norwalk against the Titans. "The biggest thing I hope the girls take away is last year we went 4-0 in this event," Brubaker said. "This year, we were 1-3. Hopefully they realize we're not where we want to be and where we need to be. It creates a little bit of hunger when we get them into the gym a little more consistently." Bellevue bounces back After a tough opening two games Friday, the Lady Red went 2-0 on Saturday, defeating Wheeling Central 41-34 and Newark 42-29. "Like I said before, either we stay the same or we get better," Bellevue coach Kory Santoro said. "I thought today we were a lot more disciplined and had a little more fight to us. Over the last 15 years, we've always been one of the tougher teams on the floor. "We have young kids we have to bring along and get used to the varsity physicality of the game. I thought today was a better day for us." In both games, freshman Ava Jakubcin-Theis led Bellevue with 17 points. She's settling in nicely after transferring from New Riegel late in the school year. "I think it was really good to get us playing together and be able to build more chemistry," Jakubcin-Theis said. "We're a bit of a new team with the girls we lost from last year. We have a lot to learn, but I think we did really good this weekend. We learned a lot. We stayed positive and learned each other's game." Against Wheeling Central, the Lady Red opened a 16-8 lead after four straight points from Kaitlyn Turinsky. Bellevue led 18-12 at halftime and 27-16 in the second half after two points from Jakubcin-Theis. Wheeling Central rallied to knot the game at 32 with five minutes to go, but Jakubcin-Theis hit a 3, Maize Gracemyer picked a steal and scored, and Jakubcin-Theis scored two more to put the game away. "She's a strong and talented kid for a freshman," said Santoro of Jakubcin-Theis. "She's going to do some nice things for us. You mix her with KT, Ellie (Freitag) and CJ (Savage), we're going to have a nice backcourt this year along with our post play. We're real happy with her." Bellevue made it two wire-to-wire wins when it knocked off Newark. The Lady Red sprinted out to a 12-2 lead and took an 18-8 advantage into halftime. Jakubcin-Theis was hot from the outside in the second half. She nailed back-to-back triples to push Bellevue up 26-14. Later, she scored and then bombed in another triple for a 32-16 edge. "I think we got into the mindset that they put us here for a reason," Jakubcin-Theis said. "We're good enough to be here, so we wanted to show everybody that. I thought it went really well. Playing against better competition is always good." Bellevue faced Division I heavyweights Olentangy and Kettering Fairmont on Friday. Turinsky played in the class of 2026 all-star game Friday night. The Lady Red have a couple more events this summer before beginning the defense of their Division IV state championship in November. "They said they'd put us in a loaded bracket and that's what we want," Santoro said. "We have to see where we're at as a program. We got to see a little bit (Friday) and that's a good start. We have work to do and we know that this is no different than any other year we've had. "We've had teams come into the summer and blow it up. We've had teams come in and we've had to work at it. I think that's where we're at. I think at the end, we're going to be right where we need to be."