SHELBY — Despite having a young team this season, Colonel Crawford girls coach Kyle Fenner said that the year has been a success.
“We’re really happy with the run, we’re really happy with the last three or four weeks that we’ve had,” Fenner said. “Our young kids have come along and made strides. So, we’re happy with it. We have to keep working in the off-season.”
The young Eagles struggled with Margaretta’s full and half-court pressure and dropped a 53-34 decision to the Polar Bears in the semifinal of the Division III district tournament.
With the win, the district’s top seeded Polar Bears will face Upper Sandusky on Saturday at 3 p.m. for the district crown. Crawford, which entered the tournament as the seventh seed, finished the season with an 11-14 record.
But Crawford got to the district with wins over 10th-seeded Willard, 38-36, and 45-38 over fifth-seeded Huron.
And, in the process, Crawford senior guard Kaylyn Risner reached the 1,000-point club at the school. Fenner said that Risner was tough and aggressive in her career.
“All year long they have double and triple-teamed her and she has just found a way all year long to put a young team on her back,” Fenner said of Risner. “She has big shoes for us to fill.”
The Eagles held an early 8-3 lead on two Allison Weithman 3-point games and a Risner jumper from the free throw line.
From that point, the Polar Bear defense took over, limiting the Eagles to just four points over the final 13 minutes of the first half and held a 28-14 lead at the half.
Margaretta coach Eric Kochendoerfer felt that his team got off to a slow start.
“We got comfortable in our environment,” Kochendoerfer said. “We got comfortable in our surroundings. We let our emotions settle down. Anytime you come to a district game, you have to remember we have high school athletes out here.”
From that point, the Polar Bears led by as many as 19 points in the third period, 38-19, on a Lilly Edwards basket and the Eagles never got the lead under 10 the rest of the way.
“The one thing that we talked about is that we wanted to be chaotic,” Kochendoerfer said of his defense. “The thing that we stressed our last game was we wanted to bring chaos, and tonight was the sequel. I thought the girls brought it. We got in their heads a little bit and that carried over to the second half. Now it’s time for the trilogy Saturday (against Upper Sandusky).”
Fenner said that Margaretta has not changed from a year ago, when the Polar Bears edged the Eagles, 55-54, in the district.
“They’re strong,” Fenner said. “They’re strong, they’re physical and they’re aggressive and they just hurt us on the glass, especially in the first half.”
Because of the defensive effort, the Polar Bears took 20 more shots than the Eagles. Margaretta hit 17 of 48 shots from the floor to just 10 of 28 for the Eagles.
Weithman, a sophomore, knocked down five 3s and finished with 17 points to pace the Eagles.
“(Weithman’s) a really good shooter, she’s had a really good year shooting the ball from behind the arc,” Fenner said. “I’m gonna tell her that now we got to go to work getting a pull-up jump shot.”
Kylie Leibacher led the Polar Bears with 14 points, Edwards scored 12 and Jenny Patrick added 11.
“It starts with Leibacher and (Devyne) Eisenhower and they’re really good players, they can both shoot the 3 and put the ball on the floor and post you up,” Fenner said. “They can play all five positions on the floor.”
I thought (Margaretta) did a great job coming out in the second quarter,” Kochendoerfer said. “Devyne Eisenhower, the girl that has been banged up for us, did a really good job getting us motivated, gave us that spark we needed, she’s a senior, that’s what you want, what you expect and she provided that for us tonight.”
Fenner said that her team played well, despite the loss.
“We played hard, we played physical, we battled,” Fenner said. “They’re good. They have more than one or two players that can score, put it on the floor, and make plays and we’re trying, we’re happy with it.”
Box score
Colonel Crawford 10 4 9 11 — 34
Margaretta 11 17 10 15 — 53
Colonel Crawford (11-14): Shots 10-28; 3-pt. shots 6 (Allison Weithman 5, Kaylyn Risner); Free throws 8-13; Rebounds 18; Turnovers 17. Scoring: Emma Valentine 0 2 2, Allison Weithman 5 2 17, Corin Feik 1 1 3, Gabby Roston 1 0 2, Kaylyn Risner 3 1 8, Lynae McKibben 0 2 2.
Margaretta (17-7): Shots 17-48; 3-pt. shots 3 (Lilly Edwards 2, Eden Palomo); Free throws 16-21; Rebounds 26; Turnovers 9. Scoring: Lilly Edwards 3 4 12, Joelle Keller 1 1 3, Eden Palomo 3 0 7, Kylie Leibacher 4 6 14, Devyne Eisenhower 2 2 6, Jenny Patrick 4 3 11.