BUCYRUS — There weren’t many dry eyes Saturday afternoon at Bucyrus High School.
The highly anticipated rematch between Shelby (22-3) and Bellevue (24-1) — this time with a district title on the line — lived up to the hype.
A battle of former Northern Ohio League rivals, the top-seeded Redmen narrowly escaped No. 2 Shelby 43-39 to claim a Division IV district crown.
Shelby ends its season with 22 wins, a sectional final and its seventh straight Mid-Ohio Athletic League title. The Whippets will graduate eight seniors at the end of the school year, including Trinity Baker, Lexi Mohn, Alyssa Booker, Charlie Niese, Sophia Long, Serena Ramsey, Alyssa Niese and Eve Schwemley.
“I think we gave them (Bellevue) everything they could handle today,” Shelby coach Natalie Lantz said. “That’s what you would expect. If you’re going to go down, I guess it’s good to go down to the number one team in the state.
“We were this close,” she said.
’16 shoes to fill’
Not many senior classes can boast a better four-year record than Shelby’s.
The eight-member group compiled 87 wins and just 16 losses over the past four seasons, which averages to nearly 22 wins per year.
“It’s been an awesome ride and it’s just continued to grow, the culture,” Lantz said. “They’ve (underclassmen) got big shoes to fill next year, technically 16 shoes to fill.
“I hate to see them hurting like this. We’re (coaches) hurting because we’ve had some special groups and kids go through. This group… this group was fun,” she said.
Schwemley led all scorers Saturday with a game-high 13 points. Baker scored 10, including a pair of clutch shots late in the fourth. Ramsey contributed eight and Niese added four.
Sophomore Chloe Mahek scored three and Long split a pair of free throws.
The back-and-forth affair saw Bellevue establish a lead early, but the Whippets never let the game slip out of their hands. At halftime the Redmen led by two 21-19.
Bellevue stretched its lead to six by the end of the third. A three in transition from Baker tied things at 37 with 5:04 remaining, but the Redmen never trailed again after regaining the lead.
“They could’ve given up when they got down six and they just battled,” Lantz said. “They put themselves back in a tie game with four (minutes) to go and we just had some empty possessions.
“We just fell short at the end. We didn’t finish on some plays that we had the opportunity,” she said.
Watch: Video highlights
Bellevue advances to regional semis
Bellevue was led by senior guard Hailey Rees who scored a team-high 12 points.
Freshman Mazie Gracemyer contributed 10 and six-foot-three junior Kaitlyn Turinsky added 9. Audrey Turner finished with seven, Brooke Brown hit a three-pointer and Ellie Freitag scored a bucket.
Bellevue advances to next week’s regional semifinals and will face Cleveland Heights Lutheran East at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at Norwalk High School.
Second-seeded Lutheran East defeated No. 16 Norton on Saturday for a district title 49-47.
