Girls Basketball: EC beats Bay, reaches GLC final

ELYRIA — Elyria Catholic got a late flurry of scoring in the first quarter and never let Bay get closer than seven points the rest of the way, beating the Rockets 55-45 in the semifinals of the Great Lakes Conference Tournament on Tuesday night. The Panthers (14-3) will face Rocky River on Thursday night at 7:30 in the championship game. After a slow start for both teams and EC leading 7-6 following a bucket from Bay's Chaeli Ziebarth, the Panthers finished the opening quarter with 10 straight points. They got 3-pointers from Emily Rapacz, Annika Bredel and Lexi Hall to snag a 17-6 lead after eight minutes of play. "We've kind of developed into a 3-point-shooting team, so we have to be able to knock down some shots," EC coach Eric Rothgery said. "Bay plays really good defense and they made us work for everything today." The Panthers wanted to send a message early but took a bit longer than hoped. "We knew we need to jump on them early and just throw it on them and not look back after that," said Bredel, who finished with a game-high 21 points and pulled down seven rebounds. "The whole game it felt like they were within one or two points, we always have to work for every basket we get and it's always a really tough game with them." Just two weeks ago, the Rockets (10-7) were able to beat EC 38-36 on its home floor. The Panthers struggled putting the ball in the hoop to start the second quarter Tuesday, only getting a Bredel layin over the first 6:43 of the period, but the Elyria Catholic defense kept Bay from getting any closer than 19-12 following a 3-pointers by Rory Marcis and three free throws from Riley Lavogue. EC got the lead back to double digits at the half as freshman Isabelle Niederst (seven points) got a steal and assist to Bredel and Lexi Szalai (six points) made a 3-pointer. The defense kept the clamps on the Rockets in the second half, while Bredel and Rapacz took control of the offense, combining for 24 of the 31 second-half points for Elyria Catholic. "Tonight we had a lot of fire and were ready to play," said Rapacz who had 17 points, nine rebounds and three steals. "We didn't let up in any of these quarters and the last game (loss to Bay) we let up a couple quarters and they were able to stay in it. "They (Rockets) were full-go all the time and are really good competition and they know how to stay in games." In the third quarter, it was Rapacz who led the way. She scored seven points with Bredel adding four as the Panthers maintained their double-figure lead at 37-27 going to the fourth quarter. Bredel scored eight in the fourth, with six coming at the free throw line, while Rapacz scored all five at the line. The other seven points in the second half came from Niederst, who had a 3-pointer, a driving bucket to open the third quarter and a pair of free throws with two minutes left in the game. "They are both kids that can take over a game," Rothgery said of Bredel and Rapacz. "They are a tough matchup. They are our bigs, but we don't really define them as bigs. They can both shoot and can both get to the hoop. It creates a good matchup for us." Contact James Brady at 329-7135 or jbrady_ct@yahoo.com. Elyria Catholic 55, Bay 45 BAY (45): Emma Fox 1-0-3, Emily Martin 3-1-10, Rory Marcis 2-2-6, Riley Lavogue 3-3-11, Abby Smith 0-0-0, Lucy Bisson 0-0-0, Audrey Hyland 2-3-8, Chaeli Ziebarth 3-1-7. Totals 14-10-45. ELYRIA CATHOLIC (55): Natalie Palese 0-1-1, Lexi Szalai 2-0-6, Lexi Pluta 0-0-0, Lexi Hall 1-0-3, Emily Vogel 0-0-0, Isabelle Niederst 2-2-7, Emily Rapacz 4-7-17, Annika Bredel 6-8-21, Sarah Griffin 0-0-0. Totals 15-18-55. Bay&emsp;&emsp;6&emsp;&emsp;8&emsp;&emsp;13&emsp;&emsp;18&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;45Elyria Catholic&emsp;&emsp;17&emsp;&emsp;7&emsp;&emsp;13&emsp;&emsp;18&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;55 Three-point goals: Bay 7-20 (35 percent, Martin 3, Lavogue 2, Fox, Hyland); Elyria Catholic 7-22 (32 percent, Szalai 2, Rapacz 2, Hall, Niederst, Bredel). Field goals: Bay 14-41 (34 percent); Elyria Catholic 15-44 (34 percent). Free throws: Bay 10-19 (53 percent); Elyria Catholic 18-25 (72 percent). Rebounds: Bay 28, Elyria Catholic 34. Turnovers: Bay 11, Elyria Catholic 7. Fouled out: Bisson.