REPEAT: Willard is back in the Sweet 16

SHELBY — Mckenna Stephens has shed her fair share of blood this week.Stephens was busted up early in Thursday's district semifinal win over Carey, and again in the fourth quarter of Saturday's game against rival Margaretta.But, the blood lost, the dried tears, and the sweat it took was all worth it.Stephens was one of four Crimson Flashes that scored at least 14 points, lifting top-seeded Willard to a 65-56 win over the No. 3 Polar Bears in a Division III district championship game at Shelby High School."Margaretta is a great team with great coaches," Stephens said. "We knew we had to come out and play tough defense as well as execute on the offensive end. Defense wins championships and we knew we had to focus on that."The Flashes improved to 21-3 and advance to Wednesday's 5:30 p.m. regional semifinal at Lexington High School against Columbus Africentric (10-2)."I told them at the beginning of the game and again at halftime that every possession was a war," Willard coach Barry Pfahl said. "We had to fight every one of them and there was not going to be anything easy happen. I felt like we kept banging and fighting."Layla Dials and Tristin Buurma each scored 16 points while Buurma hauled in a game-high 12 rebounds."It came down to heart and what we wanted to put into it," Buurma said. "We wanted it so bad. We knew exactly what they were."Stephens and Grace Hall both scored 14 points. Hall knocked down four big 3-pointers after struggling against against Carey."When you have a Grace Hall out here who can just throw daggers at you when you need one, that is really key," Pfahl said. "That is exactly what she did. She put the ball in the hoop when it needed to go in the hoop. Those were all critical when she does that."Kylie Leibacher nailed a pair of free throws to get Margaretta (20-6) within 32-30 early in the third quarter. Willard had an empty possession, but Kalli Sowers stole the ball and scored for the Flashes. After another Margaretta turnover, Hall hit a 3-pointer for a 37-30 advantage.Leibacher scored for the Polar Bears, but Hall made another 3-pointer and Stephens scored off of a steal for a 42-32 Willard lead with 4:13 left on the third quarter."It was not just Mckenna Stephens scoring 33," Pfahl said of Stephens' career-high outing against Carey. "It was a whole bunch of kids doing their roles. That is characteristic of us all the way though. We have a great group of kids who really care about each other."The Polar Bears got within seven points when Leibacher made a 3. Margaretta cut the margin to six points after three quarters when freshman Eden Palomo tallied a three-point play.But, as they seemingly did all game, Willard had the answer. Hall was good from 3 to open the fourth quarter and Buurma hit a jumper for a 53-45 edge. After a Margaretta timeout, Stephens scored after a nice assist by Sowers, who had grabbed the offensive rebound on the play. Suddenly, the Flashes again led by 10 points."That is a great team right there," Margaretta coach Eric Kochendoerfer said of the Flashes. "That is a team that went to the Division II regional finals last year and brought a lot of key people back. That is why Willard is as good as they are. That is why they are the district champs. They had some great depth and we saw that today."The Polar Bears made one last push. Elliana Schaefer hit a 3 and Devyne Eisenhauer scored to slice the Willard lead to 57-53, but Stephens scored on a nice out-of-bounds pass from Hall with 1:41 left.After Margaretta came up scoreless, Willard milked the clock as the Polar Bears had to foul. Buurma hit two free throws and Dials scored for a 63-53 lead with 42 seconds left."Willard is one of the best defensive teams we have played all year," Kochendoerfer said. "They are well-coached and they are aggressive. They have a great motor and they don't take a play off. We had to make sure we matched that."It is the second straight district championship for the Flashes, who pushed past a season-ending injury to 6-foot-2 Presley Feltner to persevere."We miss her a lot," an emotional Pfahl said. "The kids have stepped up. Tristin Buurma has stepped in to fill her role. It is just what good kids do. This is sweet."The two teams had split two regular season meetings and the Sandusky Bay Conference Bay division title. Willard won 62-42 at home on Jan. 8 while Margaretta bounced back at home on Feb. 11, 55-38."We call a lot of offense for us," Pfahl said. "We changed a lot of things based on Margaretta switching defenses. A lot of what we did today was more to what they did."Willard jumped out to an 18-8 lead in the first quarter after field goals by Stephens and Buurma, but Margaretta finished the quarter strong. Palomo hit a 3, Schaefer scored off a steal, Schaefer scored on a putback, and Eisenhauer hit a triple to tie the game at 18 after eight minutes.The Polar Bears took their first lead of the game after Eisenhauer opened the second-quarter scoring. Margaretta maintained a 22-20 lead later, but Syana Sivongsak made a triple to give Willard the lead back. Sivongsak was forced into minutes early as Sowers was on the bench with foul trouble."Sy Sivongsak is a really good player," Pfahl said. "On a lot of teams, she would probably be a starter. She is just small and we get in trouble with people posting her up onside. She is incredibly quick and she has great instincts."Back-to-back tallies by Buurma boosted the Flashes' lead to 27-22. Willard led 32-28 at halftime.Schaefer paced Margaretta with 20 points, but was consistently forced left away from her strong hand by the Willard defense. Schaefer torched Willard for 28 points back on Feb. 18."You have to love Kalli Sowers and her defense," Pfahl said. "I don't know how many Schaefer had, but Kalli Sowers makes people work to get their points. If she had 100, she is probably pretty tired right now because Kalli Sowers made her earn all of those." MARGARETTA (20-6) Lily Edwards 0-2—2, Elliana Schaefer 7-5—20, Kylie Leibacher 4-3—12, Eden Palomo 2-3—8, Devyne Eisenhauer 5-0—12, Phoebe Dreschel 1-0—2. TOTALS 19-13—56. WILLARD (21-3) Kalli Sowers 1-0—2, Layla Dials 6-4—16, Mckenna Stephens 6-2—14, Grace Hall 5-0—14, Tristin Buurma 7-2—16, Syana Sivongsak 1-0—3. TOTALS 26-8—65. Margaretta 18 10 14 14 — 56 Willard 18 14 16 17 — 65 3-point FGs: (M) Eisenhauer 2, Schaefer, Leibacher, Palomo; (W) Hall 4, Sivongsak