Norwalk bounces back, beats Lex

NORWALK — Success can often be the thief of joy. After winning its first 10 straight games of the season, the Norwalk girls basketball team suffered a 41-38 loss against local power Margaretta on Tuesday. Two nights later, the Truckers pulled away from visiting Lexington in a 65-46 win in a non-league game Thursday night at NHS. The game was a rematch of last year's Division II sectional title game loss to Lex, which ended Norwalk's season in its own gym. But after Thursday's win, first-year coach Kyle Brubaker felt at a loss for words. "We definitely controlled the game and getting off to a big start was big," Brubaker said. "But I'm a little bit at a loss for words at the moment, because it just didn't feel like a 19-point win. It didn't feel good, to be honest. "We were hoping to have a championship level response from the loss and that wasn't quite there," he added. "But we'll regroup ahead of a big one on Saturday (at Perkins)." Leading 15-12 after one quarter, the Truckers (11-1) went on a 12-3 scoring run to open up a 27-15 lead. After Lex (5-7) cut the deficit to single-digits, Norwalk went back up double-figures when Trinity Lazzara scored at the 1:28 mark, then Kenzie Smith made a 3 with 48.6 seconds left in the half for a 32-19 lead. But Lex was able to answer with a 3, then scored with just 2.8 seconds left in the half for a 33-24 deficit. When Carliann Hughes made her only basket of the game — a 3-pointer at the 7:11 mark of the third quarter — Lady Lex was within 33-27. Abby Koenig stopped the Lex run with a basket, and off a miss, Lazzara also scored with a short jumper inside to put the lead back up to 37-27. Still, Lex didn't let the game get out of reach throughout the rest of the quarter. After a pair of free throws with 23.2 seconds left, the Norwalk lead was down to 46-40. "We talked as a team that we had not played up to our standard for the first three quarters, and the only thing that matters right now is having a good fourth quarter," Brubaker said. "For the most part, we did that at the defensive end." The Truckers did not allow Lexington to score over the first 4:38 of the final quarter. In that span, they went on a 9-0 scoring run. Much of that was Koenig, who scored the first seven points of the run at the free-throw line and two layups. Alyssa Gruhlke added a free throw, then Koenig scored again with 4:26 left to put the Truckers up 55-40. Lexington drew to within 56-45 with 2:57 left on a 3 by Makaree Chapman. But the Truckers put the game away with a basket by Leber — then Lazzara made four straight free throws and a layup to close out the Norwalk scoring. Koenig finished with 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting and added three rebounds and three assists. Lazzara had 12 points and seven rebounds, while Gruhlke added 12 points and six rebounds. Leber was a fourth player in double-figures with 12 points and five rebounds. Alone in first place in the SBC Lake Division, Norwalk (4-0 Lake) travels to Perkins (5-7, 1-2) for a league game on Saturday. "We've talked to the girls about learning lessons from that loss, but if you look at the first half of the year, we went 10-1 and beat Bellevue with a winnable game we lost to Margaretta — we'll take that," Brubaker said. "Now, the responsibility as a team is a bit higher. "We have something in front of us that is realistic, but we have to make it happen," he added. "The schedule feels like we play a game, have a day off, and repeat that cycle. It's different for us right now, and we just have to do it one more time, then there is a little bit of a break." LEXINGTON (5-7) Aniyah Monica 1-0—3; Zoe Borowicz 5-1—11; Avaia Francis 1-0—2; Lauren Risser 1-0—2; Makaree Chapman 2-12—17; Carliann Hughes 1-0—3; Tatum Stover 3-0—8. TOTALS 14-13—46. NORWALK (11-1) Alyssa Gruhlke 5-1—12; Delaney Illuzzi 2-0—4; Abby Koenig 7-5—19; Kenzie Smith 1-1—4; Lucy Schlotterer 1-0—2; Emmie Leber 3-6—112; Trinity Lazzara 3-6—12. TOTALS 22-19—65. Lexington 12 12 16 6 — 46 Norwalk 15 18 13 19 — 65 3-point FGs: (L) Stover 2, Monica, Chapman, Hughes; (N) Gruhlke, Smith