Clutch foul shooting keys Margaretta against Patriots

BLUFFTON -- Heartbreak once again. For the second straight year, Patrick Henry played for a regional championship. For the second straight year, the Patriots are going home as runners-up. No. 2-ranked Margaretta made six straight free throws down the stretch to knock off No. 6 Patrick Henry 37-31 in a Division VI regional championship game Saturday at Bluffton University. The Patriots finish the season with a record of 22-4. "I'm extremely proud of them," PH coach Justin Sonnenberg said. "It's not easy to make it to state. I don't think it takes away from the caliber of team that we had this year. We have an amazing senior group and an amazing group of underclassmen. They worked extremely hard. "They did everything they needed to do to give themselves an opportunity to make it beyond this point." The Polar Bears (26-1) finished off the win at the foul line. A ho-hum 8 of 13 to that point, Margaretta hit the final six free throws it attempted. It started when freshman Renna Keller was subbed in for senior Lillian Belak when PH committed its fourth team foul of the fourth quarter. On the inbounds, the Polar Bears were able to waste away 10 seconds before Keller was fouled. She sank both free throws, giving Margaretta a 33-29 lead with 1:05 to play. From there, the Polar Bears forced Patrick Henry to waste some time before even getting a look. When the Patriots did, they missed and Cassidy Lane grabbed the rebound. She got it to Ellyse Schaefer, who was fouled. She added two makes for a 35-29 advantage with 29.1 seconds left. The Patriots then committed one of their 12 turnovers and Lane was quickly fouled. She knocked in two more free throws to make it 37-29. "I think if you ask our girls, we put a lot of time in at the foul line," Margaretta coach Ray Neill said. "I'm sure there's times where they'll say 'foul line again?' Tonight, it's the benefits and the rewards to get it done at the foul line in a pressure situation." Ada Christman scored for Patrick Henry, but Margaretta used up the final 6.7 seconds left after a timeout to eliminate the Patriots. "I feel like our defense was giving us a chance," Sonnenberg said. "(We) battled extremely hard on the defensive end. Points were hard to come by. We did have to rely on our defense. It gave us opportunities. We didn't make shots down the stretch there and that was the difference." It was obvious from the get-go that the Polar Bears wanted to play a more methodical style of basketball. Neither team scored until Lane's bucket with 4:22 to go in the first quarter. Ella Christman answered for the Patriots with a 3, but it was the only score of the quarter for PH. Kenadie Saylor scored and Lane split two free throws to give Margaretta a 5-3 lead after one quarter. Patrick Henry went up 9-7 when Carys Crossland scored on a putback, but the Polar Bears put a run together. Margaretta used a 9-2 sprint to go up 16-11. Lane scored on a putback and Belak tallied a three-point play in the run. "We want to play with tempo, but I feel like we did play with composure for the most part until we got late in the game," Sonnenberg said. "I think we tried to push the tempo at times when it wasn't sure and we had some turnovers, especially after we got some big stops. We tried to press the issue a little bit too much offensively." The Polar Bears led 16-13 at halftime, but Patrick Henry used two free throws from Carys Crossland, a steal and score from Sophia Guelde and 3 from Crossland to surge ahead 20-18. Schaefer was fouled shooting a 3-pointer and missed the first free throw. She made the next two to tie the game at 20. Later with PH leading 24-22, Schaefer canned a triple before Lane scored at the buzzer. The Patriots responded, going up 29-27 after a score from Ada Christman. Saylor then split two free throws before Schaefer's triple gave Margaretta a 31-29 lead it didn't relinquish. Patrick Henry only got off 32 shot attempts while Margaretta had 25 tries. "It was part of the game plan," said Neill of slowing the game down. "We didn't want to get in an up-and-down situation with them. We wanted to value the basketball and our offensive possessions. Make them work. "We felt that if we were patient and deliberate and we could take the ball from one side of the court to the other and make those long, lanky, athletic bodies move a little bit, we could get some open looks. We did enough of that to win." Lane tallied 11 points and eight rebounds while Schaefer added 10 points. Saylor scored eight points for the Polar Bears. Crossland and Ada Christman each scored 11 points for Patrick Henry. Carys Crossland, Alessa Almanza, Ashlyn Mullins, Kensey Weber, Guelde, Kelsey Schwiebert, Ada Christman and Lani Rosebrook are the eight seniors for the Patriots. "I believe this senior group has around 80 or 83 wins that they have helped our program get in the four years that they've been a part of this," Sonnenberg said. "I think it's pretty remarkable having two 1,000 point scorers and a lot of records broken. "Ada has become our all-time leader in assists. Carys is the all-time leader in points, made 3-point shots and single-season scoring record. So many records were broken." MARGARETTA (26-1)Lillian Belak 2 2-2 6, Layni Schaefer 0 0-0 0, Cassidy Lane 3 5-6 11, Ellyse Schaefer 2 4-5 10, Kenadie Saylor 3 1-4 8, Renna Keller 0 2-2 2. TOTALS 10-25 14-19 37 PATRICK HENRY (22-4)Carys Crossland 3 4-6 11, Sophie Guelde 1 0-2 2, Ella Christman 1 0-0 3, Ada Christman 5 0-0 11, Kynli Crossland 1 0-0 2, Meyta Hieber 1 0-2 2. TOTALS 12-32 4-10 31 Margaretta 5 11 11 10 — 37Patrick Henry 3 10 11 7 — 31 Three-point goals: Margaretta 3-11 (E. Schaefer 2, Saylor); Patrick Henry 3-9 (C. Crossland, E. Christman, A. Christman)Rebounds: Margaretta 20 (Lane 8); Patrick Henry 20 (A. Christman 6)Turnovers: Margaretta 10; Patrick Henry 12