GIRLS BASKETBALL: Tucker unhappy with team, but Margaretta nets SBC win

  Margaretta coach Tim Tucker has been leading the Bears 29 years, and he has never gave his players as many days off as this season — four days.

Tucker said it was four (days) too many, despite the Bears winning 44-35 in a Sandusky Bay Conference win at Huron High School for his 502nd career win.

“It was an ugly, poorly played game with too many turnovers,” Tucker said. 

To be exact, Margaretta totaled 26 turnovers for the game, with 12 coming in the first quarter. The Bears still held a 12-11 lead at the end of one.

“I don’t care what the score was, 12 turnovers does not translate well with me,” Tucker said. “We don’t make 12 turnovers in a half, let alone a quarter. Twelve turnovers should be around how many we make for the entire game.”

It was not quite the way Tucker would have liked to win a game that ties him 11th unofficially in coaching wins in Ohio High School Athletic Association history, alongside Bob Beutel of East Lake North.

Tigers coach Ty Ray, entering his third season, said he knew his team could compete with the league’s best, putting the Bears in that category. But one factor plagued Huron — shooting.

“For us to win, we have to find some shooting touch and knock shots down or you can’t win,” Ray said. “We play great defense, we rebound and we play hard, but if you’ve got to make baskets.”

Ray said he team has shot 18 percent on the season, which would make the Tigers 24 percent shooting against the Bears an improvement.

Huron’s season-leading scorer Lauren Volz didn’t have her best night, connecting only one of 10 shot attempts from behind the 3-point arc, ending with a team-high 10 points Volz.

“Her legs were definitely a little tired running off screens to get open,” Ray said. “Margaretta’s defense did a great job of harassing her all game.”

Even with the shooting problems, the Tigers never got behind anymore than eight until the closing moments of the fourth quarter. 

The Bears got their largest run of the game in the second quarter, led by Sarah Weyer.

The sophomore, who was playing on the freshman level a year ago, scored six points in the opening minutes of the second quarter for a 10-2 Polar Bear run, and finished with 12 in the first half, guiding Margaretta to a 28-20 halftime advantage.

Weyer ended with 14 points, nine rebounds for the game.

“Weyer was all over paint and played a heck of a game,” Ray said. 

Ray said he made an adjustment in the third quarter, bringing out a smaller and quicker lineup and that the move worked better. 

Ironically his team rebounded better, outrebounding the Bears 21-15 in the second half, compared to being doubled by Margaretta 20-10 in the first half.

Tucker said that a big reason for his team’s lack of rebounding was a failure to box-out Tigers’ Devon Koenig, who ended with 10 boards and eight points.

For the Bears, Sanchez contributed eight points and Alyssa Napka added seven.