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AVON LAKE, Ohio – The Avon Lake Shoregals used a gritty attack to comeback from a second half deficit and capture the 51-46 home win tonight against SWC Rival North Ridgeville. For Head Coach Paul Appel, this is his first conference win since taking over the program.
Avon Lake was paced by Brynn Bondar with 12 points, including two foul shots late to seal it. Courtney Borland and Claire Springer had 8 each for the Shoregals while Izzie Polinko and Olivia Miller each had 7 as well. Marissa Summerfield had a clutch 6 points, and I say clutch because it seemed as though every time she scored was in a pivotal moment. Sophia Wilson finished the scoring with 2 for the Shoregals.
For North Ridgeville, this game can be summed up by 3 issues tonight. Lack of foul calls, or too many foul calls depending on how you want to slice it. They could just never seem to get into a normal flow at times. Also, missed foul shots hurt them, as by my count, they missed 7 in the first three quarters. Finally, the lack of scoring in the second half. While Grace Kingery had 12 in the second, the Rangers struggled to find that second scorer as only Maddie Eldridge and Brooke Lime had the only other two baskets of the entire second half for North Ridgeville.
With Laney Rumancik out with a season long injury, the Rangers will have to work hard to find that second scorer behind Grace Kingery who finished with 24 tonight. Brooke Lime has all the talent in the world, and has shown she can score too. Tonight, she was able to put in 7 points. Maddie Eldridge had a couple of big three balls to finish with 6 points as well. Payton Palcisko finished with 3 while Kat Crevda had 2 and Gabby Thibodeaux had 4.
The Rangers jumped out to a 10-2 start after trailing 2-0 early. The Rangers followed a Brynn Bondar basket with 10 straight points, thanks in part to 6 points from Grace Kingery, 1 from Kat Crevda and a three ball from Payton Palcisko to gain the early advantage halfway through the opening quarter. 6 straights points by Courtney Borland tightened it up a bit at 10-8, before a Gabby Thibodeaux three ball from deep made it 13-8. The Rangers went on to hold a 14-8 lead after one quarter of action.
After a Byrnn Bondar three cut the lead to 14-12 early into the quarter, Brooke Lime of North Ridgeville was quick to answer with one of her own to increase the lead back out to 17-12. A few moments later, a Maddie Eldridge three ball pushed it out to 20-13. Brynn Bondar stayed hot for the Shoregals and answered right back with one of her own to keep it close.
Later in the second quarter, Grace Kingery hit back-to-back triples to extend the lead to 29-20 after the Shoregals had cut it to a 4-point differential. The game went to the break with the score 29-22 Rangers in front.
After a Kingery put back made it 31-22 to open the second half, the Shoregals went a nice 6-0 run with Claire Springer slicing through the Ranger defense several times to make it 31-28 and pull the Shoregals to within 3 with 5:21 to play in the quarter. A few moments later, following another Grace Kingery basket, it was Izzie Polinko nailing a three ball to make it a two-point game at 33-31. The closest it had been in quarters.
From there, a pair of Claire Springer foul shots tied it up with 3:59 to go in the third quarter. A few moments after that, a pair of free throws from Sophia Wilson gave the Shoregals their first lead since 2-0. Avon Lake took a 39-37 lead into the fourth.
Early into the fourth, the Shoregals held a 4-point lead when two buckets from Grace Kingery and Brooke lime tied it up 41 apiece. On the very next possession Grace Kingery took it away from the Shoregals and went coast to coast for the bucket and foul to put the Rangers on top. It was a call; the Rangers had been working for all game.
Down 1, with a little under two minutes remaining, Olivia Miller cut to the hole untouched for a wide-open layup to place the Shoregals ahead 47-46. Remarkably, after a game with countless missed foul shots by both teams, Avon Lake came through in the end to make the lead stick with two made foul shots a piece from Bondar and Polinko to put the game away and secure the 51-46 victory.
North Ridgeville 14 15 8 8 = 46
Avon Lake 8 14 17 12 – 51
Good game ladies! Love to see good competition, good coaches, good communities chearing on their teams! Good luck to both teams!