by Elyria, Ohio – The Women’s Division 4 State Semi-Final featured two teams both seeking their first State Title. The Laurel Gators were looking to advance to their second straight State Championship Game. They came off a 62-47 victory over Streetsboro to capture the Regional Title.
Meanwhile, the Bellevue Lady Redmen were looking to advance to their first ever State Title Game appearance. They had never been to the State Final Four in school history either. They advance to the Final Four with a 63-43 victory over Warrensville Heights.
In the first quarter, Bellevue jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead after buckets from Hailey Rees and Ellie Freitag. That was all the Lady Redmen would be able to score in the opening frame as the Laurel Gators got it together on both ends. Sophomore guard Nyla Edwards paced the Gators with 5 points in the opening quarter. Tristan Williams added 4 of her own to go along with 4 rebounds. Liv Schneider rounded out the scoring with 3.
The Lady Redmen came out in the 2nd quarter with a vengeance. They jumped out to a 15-12 lead after starting the quarter on a 10-0 scoring run. Coach Kory Santoro had this to say about the run, “It was absolutely huge for us.”
Tristan Williams and the Gators would not be out done, however. Williams authored a 6-0 scoring run of her own to put the Gators back up 18-15. A back-and-forth battle ensued for the remainder of the quarter. Heading into the break, Laurel led Bellevue 25-24.
Hailey Rees led the way for the Lady Redmen with 8 points, while Tristan Williams led the Gators with 12.
The 3rd quarter did not see any big scoring runs from either side like the first two. However, Bellevue’s Kaitlyn Turinsky put on a clinic in the post during the frame. The 6’3 Junior scored 8 of her 13 total points in the quarter on the way to tying up the game at the end of the 3rd. Audrey Turner added 2 points with Hailey Rees adding 3 more to her total. Jordan Meyer had a solid quarter for the Gators putting 5 points on the board. Heading into the final quarter, the game was all knotted up at 37.
During the regular season and playoffs, the Bellevue Lady Redmen had only given up 34 points per game. Although Laurel had eclipsed that average with 37 points after 3, Bellevue’s defense really clamped down in the 4th. The Lady Redmen gave up just 3 points in the final quarter, to go along with just 15 in the entire 2nd half.
Their offense struggled during the first few minutes of the quarter as jump shots were not falling. Bellevue switched things up by attacking the basket and drawing fouls. Hailey Rees got it started in the 4th knocking down 2 free throws. Audrey Turner and Ellie Freitag each added free throws of their own in the final frame. The three combined for 12 free throw attempts in the final quarter, knocking down 9 of them.
With the combination of lockdown defense and aggressiveness on the offensive end, Bellevue came out on top 46-40. Following the victory, Senior Guard Audrey Turner spoke about Coach Santoro’s message at halftime, “He asked us where our heart was. He said, “If your heart is in this game, you’re going to go out there and do what you need to do to win this game.” That hit us really hard because we don’t want to go home yet.”
Coach Santoro spoke about what it meant for his girls to take his message and put it out on the court, “That has happened to us a few times this year where we used that “you got to check your heart” and go out there and get it done. They answered the bell. We have a saying that there is 12 minutes of the game, the first 4 minutes of the game, you have to go out and win that and I thought we did. The next 4 minutes after halftime we have to be your best 4 minutes I thought we did that. The last 4 minutes are taking control of the ball and hitting your free throws. I thought we did that.”
With the victory, Bellevue advances to the State Final for Division 4 against Kettering Alter. This marks the first time in school history that Bellevue has reached the Title Game. This comes after advancing to the Final Four for the first time ever, as well as setting a school record for most wins in a season. Whatever way the State Title Game goes, this has been a historic season for Coach Kory Santoro and the Lady Redmen.
Key Players
ALL INDIVIDUAL STATS ARE UNOFFICIAL
Bellevue:
Hailey Rees – 16 points, 6 points, 2 assists
Kaitlyn Turinsky – 13 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 4 STOCKS (steals and blocks)
Ellie Freitag – 6 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 STOCKS
Laurel:
Tristan Williams – 15 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 STOCKS (steals and blocks)
Liv Schneider – 8 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists
Nyla Edwards – 7 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 STOCKS
