SHELBY — Colonel Crawford head coach Zac Bauer knew his team was up against a monumental challenge here Saturday night.
Top-seed Margaretta came out of the gate firing, built an 11-0 lead after three minutes and defeated the Lady Eagles 41-26 in the Division III district championship Saturday night.
“That’s a great program with a storied history that’s been here before. They’re a high-quality team and have girls that are high-level players that really, really work at it,” Bauer said.
“We knew we were in for a dogfight. It’s the district finals. You’re not going to have an easy road to the district finals.”
Colonel Crawford (19-6) was bitten by the turnover bug (20 total), but many were caused by a relentless trap and full-court pressure applied by the Lady Bears.
Lexi Rush hit a 10-footer in the lane as the first quarter expired with Crawford trailing 14-7.
“We got it to 14-10 to start the second quarter and we go turnover, turnover and they get a couple of offensive rebounds and they capitalized on it. And that’s what good teams do,” Bauer said.
At halftime Crawford trailed 20-10 following a 6-0 Margaretta run.
“That’s every coach’s wish to get off to a good start in a big game. That’s something we talked about in the locker room, and we were fortunate enough and blessed to have that happen for us tonight,” Lady Bears head coach Ray Neill said.
Margaretta (24-2) got 24 rebounds, including 14 on the offensive end. That, along with the relentless defense, kept the Lady Eagles off balance all night.
“It’s hard to prepare for that because it’s something you don’t always see in games. They have a lot of success with that pressure. We talked about slowing our minds down and not being overwhelmed as we get across half-court. I thought we did a good job of getting the ball into our side of the court,” Bauer said.
“We just turned it over on our end. But that’s what a good press does. It doesn’t always turn you over in the backcourt. It goes on your side too. Turning the ball over and giving up offensive rebounds were two things we wanted to eliminate, and we didn’t do that.”
Margaretta was led by Raegan Heck with 12 points. Lily Edwards and sophomore Ellyse Schaefer had 9 points each. Edwards added a pair of rebounds, an assist and two steals.
Cassidy Lane, a 5-foot-11 sophomore post, controlled the glass and pulled in 6 rebounds, 5 of them offensive, to go along with 8 points.
The Lady Bears take on Harvest Prep Thursday at 6 p.m. in the Elida regional. Harvest Prep, out of the Central District, beat Mechanicsburg 63-59 to advance.
The Lady Eagles played Margaretta evenly in the third quarter, each team scoring 8 points.
Lynae McKibben, one of four seniors on the roster, hit a three-pointer at the buzzer and added another to open the fourth quarter as Colonel Crawford cut the margin to 7 at 28-21.
“They’re well coached and they have tradition in their locker room as we do. I applaud them for that. To our girls’ credit we withstood those punches and gave some punches back,” Neill said.
Margaretta loses just two seniors in Edwards and Eden Palomo, the leading returning scorer who has been sidelined with a torn ACL in her knee since December.
Bauer pointed to a trait that his team has shown all year — resilience.
“That’s something that they’ve gained a lot this year. Our program has grown this year in its resiliency. We’ve faced injuries or getting down or losing some games. Our girls have been very resilient, especially in the last month,” he said.
“We’ve been down, and it’s been tight late in big spots and it’s good to see some poise and that’s a bright spot. That’s a credit to our leadership.”
Lexi Duré had three 3s for 9 points. McKibben added 6 points and 4 rebounds.
Freshman Robin Ehmann came off the bench and contributed 4 points, 2 rebounds and helped guard Lane in the paint.
Turnovers led to several transition baskets in the fourth quarter as Margaretta built a 14-point lead at 37-23 with 1:12 to play.
Colonel Crawford forced 13 Margaretta turnovers and hit 9-of-20 field goal attempts.
But the Lady Eagles only went to the line twice, with Rush converting on both of those in the first quarter. In the semifinal win over Clear Fork on Thursday the team hit 11-of-16 tries.
“We’ve done a lot of mind work about when the moment comes you’ve got to be ready and we were ready,” Bauer said.
The program loses Lynae and Ayla McKibben, Allison Weithman and Rush. But plenty of talent returns, including some young players yet to see the spotlight.
“When you lose four seniors the quality that we have, it’s who’s up next. We’ll be as good as we want to be next year. Are you going to play because there’s a spot open or do you want to play because you’re ready? If you play because you’re ready, then we’re not going to miss a beat next year.
“You saw Robin Ehmann play some big minutes in the district finals as a freshman tonight. She’s another kid, like Carly Zender, who is going to show up and put in the work. Our point guard Lila Plesac has got a bright future in front of her. She’s another one that likes the gym,” Bauer said.
“We said that in the locker room today. Are you ready for your turn to shine? Because when the lights come on in November there’s no hiding.”
Box score
Colonel Crawford 7 3 8 8 — 26
Margaretta 14 6 8 13 — 41
Colonel Crawford (19-6): Shots 9-20; 3-pt. shots 6-13 (Lexi Dure 3, Lynae McKibben 2, Mira Holt); Free throws 2-2; Rebounds 10 (Allison Weithman 2, Lynae McKibben 2); Turnovers 20. Scoring: Mira Holt 1 0 3, Allison Weithman 0 0 0, Robin Ehmann 2 0 4, Lexi Rush 1 2 4, Lexi Dure 3 0 9, Lynae McKibben 2 0 6.
Margaretta (24-2): Shots 14-34; 3-pt. shots 4-14 (Ellyse Schaefer 2, Lily Edwards, Raegan Heck); Free throws 9-17; Rebounds 24 (Cassidy Lane 6, Kenadie Saylor 6); Turnovers 13. Scoring: Lily Edwards 3 2 9, Grace Paseka 0 1 1, Cassidy Lane 3 2 8, Ellyse Schaefer 3 1 9, Kenadie Saylor 1 0 2, Raegan Heck 4 3 12.