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Medina, OH – The question for Avon Lake this season was quality wins? With perhaps, their biggest win coming over Olmsted Falls. They had a chance to answer any and all questions tonight but couldn’t do it as the Jackson Polar Bears locked them down for a 37-25 victory, knocking the Shoregals out of the tournament, and ending their season prematurely.
The ball was thrown up and the defensive slugfest was underway. It was two different styles of defense from these teams. Jackson was playing zone and slowing the game down while Avon Lake was playing up in your face man to man and not letting the offensive player breathe. It worked for both teams as after one the score was just 7-2 with Jackson leading.
Madison Lepley knocked down two threes for the Polar Bears and Marisa Summerfield was able to find her way inside to muster the only points for the Shoregals.
The second quarter was much of the same. Neither team getting any easy looks and limited shots let alone points. The script was flipped in the second quarter, however. After Jackson scored twice to extend the lead to 11-2 early in the second, it was the Shoregals who started to find baskets. They were able to find their way inside and great passes led to open looks that they knocked down. They went on 8-0 run to end the quarter and send the teams to the locker rooms with the score 11-10 Polar Bears.
The third quarter was where the game really started to turn. After a short back and forth Jackson begin to pull away. They used a 15-0 run from the end of the third into the fourth to really take control of the game.
The defense was the reason for that. Avon Lake went over seven minutes without a basket. It wasn’t until Olivia Tobin hit a three with three minutes left that the Shoregals had scored their first point of the fourth. Tobin would bury two more threes, but it was too little too late. Jackson would take this one 37-25.
Coach Butch said after the game, “ I felt like the first few minutes of the third was really going to dictate the game. We made some adjustments at half time to get more baskets and it paid off.”
The adjustments definitely worked as a one-point halftime lead turned into a 12-point win and a trip to the district finals.
What a great season for our shoregals, it’s hard to win in the playoffs and Jackson had a better game plan. Even after halftime it seemed like Jackson’s coach made the proper adjustments to pick us apart. We have done a great job all year long this game was different. We have seen zones from NR and other teams but nothing like this it was a bad matchup! Go Shoregals on a great season . And thank you to the seniors, you will be missed!