Bellevue, Margaretta play for final four berths in Bluffton

Bluffton University is the place to be Saturday. Bellevue and Margaretta will play in back-to-back games with a chance to advance to the girls basketball state semifinals in two different divisions. No. 2 Bellevue seeks its second straight regional championship when the Lady Red face No. 6 Genoa at 3 p.m. in a Division IV regional championship game. No. 3 Margaretta (25-1) faces No. 6 Patrick Henry in a Division VI regional final at 6 p.m. Bellevue, 27-0 this season, has won 43 straight games dating to last season. Genoa (20-6) has won seven straight games since a Feb. 3 road loss to Margaretta. Genoa and Bellevue had the chance to watch each other in person Feb. 24 at Fostoria. The Lady Red opened a district semifinal doubleheader with a 72-34 win over Vermilion before the Comets defeated Shelby 66-38. Genoa won Wednesday's first regional semifinal at Bluffton. The Comets led 26-11 at halftime only to see London get within two points in the third quarter. Genoa was able to fend off London and advance with a 49-42 win. Genoa is in a regional final for just the second time in school history. The Comets were runners-up in 1990. Genoa is paced by sisters Addisyn and Makenna Moritz. Makenna scored 34 points in the Comets' district final win over Liberty-Benton. "Genoa is playing very well right now," said Bellevue coach Kory Santoro, who is 269-43 in his 12th season. "They have some nice players with the two sisters. They go through them. They're going to be ready. They're going to scout us hard. "We scrimmaged them in the summer, so we know them well. We're going to be ready to go." Bellevue jumped on Lutheran East early in a regional semifinal. The Lady Red led 27-2 before coasting to a 60-39 victory. Senior Kaitlyn Turinsky, freshman Ava Jakubcin-Theis, junior CJ Savage and sophomore Mazie Gracemyer are all averaging double-digit points per game for the Lady Red. Margaretta faces Patrick Henry Margaretta has limited each of its first four tournament opponents to fewer than 30 points. The Polar Bears knocked out Ottawa Hills 42-29 in a regional semifinal Thursday in a game that wasn't as close as the final score. Patrick Henry (22-3) will be the Bears' biggest challenge to date. The Patriots defeated defending state champion Columbus Grove in Thursday's first regional semifinal and will send several several athletic 6-foot girls at the Bears. "We get to play Elite Eight basketball," Margaretta coach Ray Neill said. "Patrick Henry is a formidable opponent. They've got a lot of length and athleticism. We get to show up, play and give ourselves our chance." Patrick Henry limited Columbus Grove scoreless in the second quarter of its 48-41 win. "Rebounding's been a strength for us and we switch on defense," PH coach Justin Sonnenberg said. "We have height and length. Sometimes they gotta get out there and guard guards and they do a good job of keeping girls in front." Freshman guard Meyta Hieber led PH in scoring Thursday with 15 points. The Patriots have eight seniors on their roster, including 6-2 Ada Christman and 5-10 Carys Crossland. Senior Cassidy Lane — Margaretta's lone 6-footer — scored 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the win against Ottawa Hills. Sonnenberg, in his seventh season as head coach at PH, called Margaretta a complete team. "They're extremely physical and a well-coached team," he said. "They play great man-to-man defense. They got girls who can shoot, they got athleticism, they got a big. They've got all the pieces." Patrick Henry has kept 11 opponents to fewer than 30 points this season, so points could be at a premium. "We're gonna have to be at our very best defensively and score one more point than they do," Neill said. Perkins boys play Shelby Perkins' boys play Shelby for the second time in 19 days Saturday, this time for a Division IV district title at 2 p.m. at Mansfield Senior. The Pirates defeated the Whippets 60-47 in Shelby on Feb. 17. Last season, the Pirates blasted Shelby 87-55 at Perkins. Shelby (16-7) edged top-seeded Ontario 43-41 in a district semifinal. Perkins, also a top seed, was not challenged in its first two tournament games — a 74-45 win over Genoa and 78-39 rout of Vermilion. Saturday's winner will face the Lake-Lima Bath winner in a regional semifinal at 8:30 p.m. next Wednesday at Bowling Green State University.