Willard falls at No. 1 Bellevue

BELLEVUE — A time to reset. Willard started the season with a loss to Ashland, but followed it with eight straight wins. Now, the Crimson Flashes have to refocus after two straight losses. After a loss to Division VI No. 2 Margaretta last Saturday, Willard was overmatched in a 61-40 non-league loss to Div. IV No. 1 Bellevue on Wednesday. "They're a physical team and that's good for us to play against," Willard coach Alanna Bedingfield said of Bellevue. "I thought at times we matched their physicality. I think that's good for us to play against going into the second half of the season. "Playing in the SBC, I think it's good to play against teams like that. They took away things that we wanted to do, so we had to adjust." It was a fast start by the Lady Red that put Div. V No. 13-ranked Willard (8-3) behind the 8-ball. Bellevue (11-0) was up 6-4 three minutes in when it got a big run. Mazie Gracemyer scored before two free throws from Ellie Freitag made it 10-4. Then, Freitag hit a 3 and Kaitlyn Turinsky scored off of an offensive rebound. In just 52 seconds, the Lady Red lead went from four points to 11 points. "We say there's 12 minutes in a basketball game you've got to win," Bellevue coach Kory Santoro said. "The first four minutes, the first four minutes after halftime and then the last four minutes of the game. Those are 12 crucial minutes of the game we feel like we have to win. I thought we did that." That proved to be enough difference the rest of the night for the Flashes. The closest Willard got the rest of the way was eight points. Corrin Gettys scored to bring the Flashes within 19-11, but Turinsky answered on the other end. Ava Jakubcin-Theis and Gracemyer scored early in the second quarter to extend the lead. After a bucket from Willard's Leah Weiss, who missed Saturday's game against Margaretta, Bailey Nichols scored on a putback. Tallies from Jakubcin-Theis and Turinsky gave Bellevue a 32-15 advantage. "They're 8-2 and they're trying to compete for a conference championship," Santoro said of Willard. "They have a nice basketball team. We knew coming in we were going to take their best shot. We were a little off tonight for whatever reason. That might have been partially how they played defense, too." Bellevue led 36-19 at halftime and pushed the lead thanks to buckets from Nichols and Jakubcin-Theis. Willard kept fighting, but found it difficult against a Bellevue team that has now won 27 straight games dating back to last season. "I think we bounced back well," Bedingfield said. "I don't think we came out of the gate playing as well as we could have. That put us in an early deficit. I thought we bounced back and realized they're people just like us. We had to go out and play our game and not worry so much about everything else." Gracemyer led the way for Bellevue with 14 points while Turinsky added 13 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks. Nichols and Jakubcin-Theis each scored 12 points while Freitag finished with 10 points. "They have really good shooters and (Turinsky) on the inside," Bedingfield said. "That makes it really difficult. Everyone is a good shooter so you can't double down without leaving a shooter open. It's definitely an advantage for them. One reason they're so good is they are hard to guard. A lot of times they were driving and we weren't helping." Bellevue outscored Willard 13-7 in the third quarter to take a 49-26 lead into the final eight minutes. Turinsky and Nichols each scored early in the fourth quarter. That put the finishing touches on a tough night for Willard. Gettys topped the Flashes with 17 points. Willard (4-1 SBC Bay Division) is back in action Saturday when it travels to Huron (4-7, 1-4). "I think our girls are mentally tougher than they have been in the past," Bedingfield said. "A lot of times in the past when we came against tough teams, we have not given it our all. We've folded under the pressure. I didn't feel like we did that tonight. "I thought we did a good job of staying focused on getting ourselves better." WILLARD (8-3) Camryn Weirs 1-0—2, LaMya Hicks 3-1—7, Reese Bedingfield 1-1—3, Emelia Tallman 2-1—5, Corrin Gettys 7-3—17, Leah Weis 3-0—6. TOTALS 17-6—40. BELLEVUE (11-0) Ellie Freitag 3-2—10, Ava Jakubcin-Theis 5-2—12, Kaitlyn Turinsky 6-1—13, Mazie Gracemyer 6-2—14, Bailey Nichols 3-5—12. TOTALS 23-12—61. Willard 13 6 7 14 — 40 Bellevue 21 15 13 12 — 61 3-point FGs: (B) Freitag 2, Nichols.