GIRLS

Bellevue beats Shelby to win NOL girls title

Matthew Horn
Reporter

SHELBY - Bellevue's Lauren Turner didn't make up the phrase.

She's still one of a select few to have reason or opportunity to use it in a sentence. Turner scored a game-high 20 points Saturday as the Lady Red defeated Shelby 55-44 for a share of their sixth consecutive Northern Ohio League crown.

"We knew we had to win it for a championship," she said. "We had a lot of weight on our shoulders with the the streak the classes before us built. We put pressure on ourselves. We all knew what was at stake. We were getting fast breaks and playing Lady Red basketball.

Shelby's Jackie Garrett handles the basketball Saturday against Bellevue.

"We came out after the half and stretched the lead. We wanted to be six-peat champs."

With the game tied after three quarters, Bellevue's Jenna Strayer canned a 3-pointer before point guard Payton Vogel added two more as Bellevue opened the fourth quarter on a 14-2 run for a 46-34 advantage. Vogel capped the surge with a 3-point play and Shelby never got closer than eight points.

Vogel, who finished with 14 points, has done her best to try to offset the loss of a vaunted graduating class. Vogel, however, admitted to some nerves to start the biggest game of her career and was passive and slow to react early.

Bellevue coach Kory Santoro reminded Vogel what he expected at the half.

"I think a lot of Payton," Santoro said. "I let her have it. She came out and answered. She's a heck of a player for a freshman. That was a good performance."

Shelby led 24-22 at the half after a jumper from Turner. Turner scored the first four points in the third quarter with help from a Strayer steal and assists from Olivia Baptista and Shalee Weider.

"It's been five years in a row and we wanted to keep that going," Vogel said. "Once Lauren had those two buckets, we got excited and the momentum kept going. The whole team contributed."

Bellevue (16-5, 9-3) has earned twice as many conference titles the last six years as it had prior to the string. Shelby (16-6, 8-4), which was tabbed to finish third this season, last earned a conference crown with a share three years ago.

"We certainly have the talent to do it," Whippets coach Natalie Lantz said. "We played three good quarters and in the fourth we went on a spurt where we stopped talking. We prevented the outside shot for three quarters. They hit some shots and we didn't convert. When you're in man (defense), you can't be 6 feet off.

"We let some loose balls get away. That can't happen in a championship game. We'll regroup and take it one game at a time in the tournament."

The Lady Red share the crown with Willard. Ontario beat Norwalk on Saturday to prevent a three-way tie.

"Everybody knows we were picked to finish fourth," Santoro said. "The girls had a chip on their shoulder. We lost three in a row and it came down to one game."

mhorn@gannett.com

419-734-7519

Twitter:@MatthewHornNH

STAT BOOK

Bellevue 11-11-10-23-55 

Shelby 14-10-8-12-44

Bellevue: 3-point goals: 4. Scoring: Liz Ish 2-0-5, Payton Vogel 4-4-14, Shalee Weider 3-0-6, Lauren Turner 9-2-20, Lani Carlson 0-1-1, Jenna Strayer 2-4-9. Totals 20-11-55.

Shelby: 3-point goals: 2. Scoring: Kenna Goth 4-4-12, Jackie Garrett 5-0-12, Chel Barnd 2-0-4, Sienna King 3-4-10, Madi Fidler 2-2-6. Totals 16-10-44.