by Cover photo courtesty of ECI Photo
North Ridgeville arrived in Shoregals country tonight and shut down one of the top scoring offenses in Lorain County as they knocked off Avon Lake 33-23 with a superior defensive effort. The Shoregals were fresh off a big shooting night over the weekend against Saint Joes, but the Ranger defense held them to just 7 total field goals, as the Shoregals only hit two shots from long range all night, and none in the second half.
This was a dominating defensive effort from North Ridgeville just one week after letting up 75 to Medina. Since Medina they only let up 29 against Brunswick, and then 23 tonight. When this Ranger defense is rolling, they can be a very tough team to contend with.
On the offensive side of the ball The Rangers started slow, with only 5 first quarter points, and only 11 first half points as the Shoregals actually led 14-11 at half. Things got interesting in the third as defense remained the theme, and only Kingery and Bouman scratched the score sheet for the Rangers, bringing them all 7 of their points in the frame while Avon Lake was held to 4 as we begun the fourth quarter all knotted up.
To no surprise, the theme of the fourth quarter remained defense as the Shoregals only got one field goal, coming from Summerfield. Meanwhile, the Rangers relied on a big three pointer from Reyna Balderas and then 11 huge points from Kingery, with 5 of those 11 coming from the line. As a matter of fact, 9 of her 25 came from the charity stripe.
For the Rangers, Maddie Eldridge scored 2, as did senior leader Brooke Lime, while Reyna Balderas had 3 and CC Bouman had 3. The Shoregals were led by Summerfield with 7, Oliva Tobin with 5 and Izzie Polinko with 4.
It was a scrappy battle between two solid teams that will dance far into February and hopefully March as well! The Rangers will look to stay hot as they host Amherst Monday night while will Avon Lake will host Bellevue.
