MEDINA, OH – Magnificat used airtight defense in the second half to hold the Medina Bees to just 4 total field goals in the final 16 minute to win 56-39.  In fact, they held the Bees to 0 field goals made in the third quarter.  They held the area’s best player Olivia Klanac to just 2 field goals all night in a rematch win of last year’s Regional Championship game.

For Klanac, she played great as always, but the Blue Streak defense gave her a long night all at the same time.  Klanac led the Bees with 10 points and went a perfect 6 for 6 from the line.  Her 4 points in the third quarter kept the Bees in it.  For the rest of the Bees, it was a rough shooting night as well, but Molly Gilbert had 9 points with 5 in the closing minute.  Addy Shook and Abby Dress finished with 7 each while Vivian Kelps had 4 and Aly Gacek scored 2.

I spoke with Blue Streak head coach Danny Gallagher about his team’s defensive performance tonight, “We had a talk at halftime about toughness and I knew our girls were going to respond playing with toughness.  They responded and played to our values and mentality and I knew it would turn around.  I’m proud of the girls on the way they responded to that halftime talk.”

For the Blue Streaks, they spread the wealth around but were led in scoring by SoFia Wilson with 18, Reese Roggenburk 14 while Gemma Wichmann had 11 and Julia Hall scored 13.  For Gemma, 10 of the 11 points were second chance points as she continues to be a beast on the boards.

I spoke with Wichmann about the team’s performance after the game, “We came in a bit nervous as this was a big game.  We knew it was going to be a super physical game and started just a little rough, but at halftime we got together and remembered that one of our biggest strengths is defense and we focused on that.”

The Blue Streaks opened the game with 7 straight points as Gemma worked the paint relentlessly with 6 of them.  Medina saw their first points come from Aly Glacek and stayed with the Blue Streaks from there, closing the gap to 13-11 after one.

A Sofia Wilson three ball capped a quick 4-0 Blue Streak start to the second, expanding the lead to 17-11 before the Bees buzzed back again.  It stayed the closed the entire quarter as we entered the mid game break with the Blue Streaks in front 27-23.

The third quarter is when the cold shooting streak for Medina began, as they failed to hit a field goal the entire quarter.  The Blue Streaks stretched the lead to 40-29 by the end of it.  Roggenburk and Wilson combined for 11 of the Blue Streaks 13 in the quarter.

The Blue Streaks put the game away for good in the first 4 minutes of the fourth quarter with a 10-0 run to extend the lead to 50-29 as the Bees still couldn’t buy a bucket.  In fact, the cold streak for the Bees shooting didn’t end until 3:02 left in the game with a bucket by Phelps.  The Blue Streaks went on from there to capture a 56-39 victory.