Margaretta stops Norwalk win streak

NORWALK — In the grand scheme of things, the loss doesn't mean that much. Getting up to that emotional high for the second time in just a few days proved to be too tough for the Norwalk girls basketball team Tuesday. Three days removed from beating Bellevue, the Truckers just didn't quite have enough in a 41-38 loss to Margaretta in a battle of Sandusky Bay Conference division leaders. "I didn't think our effort was quite where it needed to be," Norwalk coach Kyle Brubaker said. "Our attention to detail wasn't quite there. As a coach, you always guard against those types of games in a 22-game season. "There are times where it feels most of the time you are who you are. Then there's games where you're not quite as good as you are." The win over Bellevue was the first for Norwalk (10-1) since 2017. It puts the Truckers in first-place in the SBC Lake Division as the second half of the regular season begins. "I think there's a challenge getting up from that emotional high, but we tried to use it as momentum," Brubaker said. "That senior group has never beat Bellevue. We've been telling them to play confident and play free hoping that getting the Bellevue monkey off their back would do that." The Polar Bears (10-3) were up 35-34 when Norwalk took a timeout with 1:55 to play. Abby Koenig missed a 3 out of the break and the Truckers fouled Cassidy Lane. She split two free throws with 1:04 remaining. On the other end, Emmie Leber's shot was no good down low and Raegan Heck splashed in a pair of free throws with 52.4 seconds left. Kenzie Smith's 3-pointer was off for Norwalk, but Koenig grabbed the rebound and was fouled. She split the pair to cut the Margaretta lead to 38-35 with 27.3 seconds to go. After a pair of Polar Bears timeouts, Heck was fouled and again cashed in at the line. Smith hit a 3 for the Truckers, but Lane drew an intentional foul with 2.5 seconds to go. She split the pair and Margaretta was able to run out the final few seconds as Norwalk came up just short. "I liked everything tonight," Margaretta coach Ray Neill said. "We came in here and competed our tails off against an undefeated team that's ranked in the top-10 in the state of Ohio. We had it on the board — let's have some fun tonight and let's try to knock one of the top 10 teams in the state of Ohio." The biggest lead either team had the entire game was Heck's free throws late to put Margaretta up by five points. Before that, Norwalk led 4-0 early, but the Polar Bears got going and went up 12-11 after one quarter. An offensive rebound and score by Leber gave Norwalk a 18-17 advantage with a minute to go in the first half, but Grace Paseka made two free throws and Lane scored for a 21-18 lead at halftime. "They're good," Neill said. "Coach Brubaker has them playing really, really hard. We talked about it, but it's really hard to simulate in practice. We persevered. Both teams were getting after it and putting some people on the floor." Margaretta went ahead by four points twice in the third quarter including on a Berg basket following a Heck offensive rebound. But, Koenig made a free throw and Lucy Schlotterer canned a 3 to tie the game at 26 after three quarters. Norwalk was able to take the lead and was up 34-32 when Trinity Lazzara fouled out with 3:03 left. Heck missed the first free throw — putting her at 1 of 4 for the game to that point — before making the second. Kenadie Saylor knocked in a pair after that, giving Margaretta a 35-34 lead with 1:55 to play. "At times it didn't feel like it was consistent," Brubaker said. "You didn't know to expect when you heard the whistle. All these types of experiences are going to be good for us down the road. We need to learn from it. We really do. "I told the girls if we're going to accomplish the rest of the goals that we have out in front of us, how we respond to this game is going to dictate the rest of our season for us." Heck finished with 13 points and 15 rebounds while Schafer and Saylor each contributed eight points. Margaretta outrebounded Norwalk 33-24. "On top of some of the things we can control, we missed a ton of shots," said Brubaker of his team that made just 13 of 49 shots. "We weren't good from the free throw line (8 of 15). It was a good game against a close opponent." Smith led Norwalk with nine points while Schlotterer had seven. The Truckers lead the top of the SBC Lake Division as the second half of play gets underway. "The reality is the last three games we played a Division I St. Joseph Academy, Bellevue, which speaks for itself, and Margaretta which speaks for itself," Brubaker said. "If you would've told me before that we'd take two out of three, the competitor inside of me would've said why didn't we go 3-0? "But, that's a pretty good stretch." Norwalk looks to bounce back Thursday night vs. Lexington (5-6), the team that eliminated it in a sectional title game last season. The Truckers head to Perkins (5-7, 1-2) on Saturday in league play. MARGARETTA (10-3)Cassidy Lane 2-2—6, Ellyse Schafer 3-0—8, Kenadie Saylor 2-4—8, Raegan Heck 3-6—13, Grace Paseka 0-2—2, Julia Berg 2-0—4. TOTALS 12-14—41.NORWALK (10-1)Alyssa Gruhlke 2-0—5, Abby Koenig 1-3—5, Kenzie Smith 3-1—9, Emmie Leber 2-2—6, Trinity Lazzara 2-2—6, Lucy Schlotterer 3-0—7. TOTALS 13-8—38.Margaretta 12 9 5 15 — 41Norwalk 11 7 8 12 — 383-point FGs: (M) Schafer 2, Heck; (N) Smith 2, Gruhlke, Schlotterer