Girls basketball: Clutch free throws lift Vermilion past Lexington in sectional opener

BUCYRUS — Survive and advance is the mantra of high school basketball teams at tournament time. Vermilion did just that, overcoming frigid shooting and a pair of Lexington bigs for a 36-33 win Saturday in a Division II sectional opener at Bucyrus High School. "I thought we played incredibly hard, but we just didn't finish possessions today and we got lucky that we came out on top," Sailors coach Jason Sockel said. "It's anything to advance. That's what the name of the game is. "It's not how I expected to it go, but if we weren't going to have our pressure lead to offense and keep it an uptempo game, then we were going to be in trouble, and that's what happened." Vermilion moves on to face Perkins in the sectional final Monday at 7:30 p.m. in Bucyrus. The Pirates, who were Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division co-champs and won both of the earlier meetings against the Sailors, defeated Port Clinton 72-29 in Saturday's other sectional matchup. Sixth-seeded Vermilion (15-8) was just 5-of-37 from beyond the 3-point arc and won the game at the free throw line by converting 13 of 20 attempts. 'We typically don't want to have a free throw competition with anybody, but I was really proud of Molly (Plas), who has not been confident knocking down free throws lately, but she knocked down two huge free throws late," Sockel said. "Audrey (Peterson) made four that were big late, and Kate (Colahan) I think made four." Peterson, who was 5-of-6 from the line, hit the front end of a one-and-one to give the Sailors a 32-31 lead with 3:09 to play. Plas missed a pair about a minute later, but her twin sister Marianna converted two to make it 34-31. "It's a lot of pressure," Peterson said. "I just take a deep breath and make sure I'm gathered before I shoot the ball." Madi Basilone closed the gap to 34-33 for Lexington with a layup with 45 seconds to play, but Molly Plas answered with a pair of free throws four seconds later. There would be no more scoring from that point, although Vermilion did cough up the ball twice in the final 25 seconds. Morgan Potts picked off a pair of defensive rebounds down the stretch and Molly Plas ended the game by forcing a turnover as time expired. Along with winning the battle at the free throw line, Vermilion forced Lexington into 31 turnovers, including 10 over the final eight minutes. The 10th-seeded Lady Minutemen (6-17) trailed until the end of the third quarter when they took a 25-24 lead on a Basilone 3-pointer. Colahan's two free throws to start the fourth quarter pushed the Sailors back in front, but Lexington got the lead right back on a Cora Palmer bucket. Hallie Habermehl broke Vermilion's 0-for-17 3-point drought in the second half to give the Sailors a 29-27 lead, but the Lady Minutemen scored the next four points on a bucket and a free throw from Palmer and a free throw from Kaleigh Leadbetter. Marianna Plas knotted the score with a layup and Peterson gave Vermilion the lead for good by hitting the front end of a one-and-one. "I think we're in tears today if we didn't have her today," Sockel said of Peterson. "She's just an incredible strong kid, really fast and versatile. As an emotional leader, she never gets too high, she never gets too low and the girls trust her with the basketball, and today she made plays." Peterson, who was academically ineligible for three quarters of the season, finished with seven points and four rebounds. "It was tough," the 5-foot-7 senior said. "I'm not going to lie, a lot of nights I was just in my room really sad. I tried to keep my head and and kept going to practice." Marianna Plas finished with a team-high nine points and five boards, while Molly Plas finished with eight points and six boards. Colahan led the Sailors with seven boards and Potts ended with six. Basilone and Palmer each finished with nine points for Lexington, but Leadbetter, a 5-9 senior, ended with seven points and 13 rebounds and Kaitlyn Delano-Goodman, a 6-1 junior, chipped in four blocked shots. "I didn't think we really thought we would be up against that today," Sockel said of Leadbetter and Delano-Goodman. "I think that maybe we were a little bit unprepared in that way, but when you have shots fall, it's just a lot easier, and you saw that earlier, earlier in the game. The shots kind of stopped." Contact Dan Angelo at ctsports@chroniclet.com. Vermilion 36, Lexington 33 VERMILION (36): Audrey Peterson 1-5-7, Marianna Polls 3-3-9, Hallie Habermehl 2-0-6, Kaitlin Colahan 0-3-3, Molly Plas 2 2-8, Morgan Potts 1-0-3, Ava Owens 0-0-0, Abi Rhoades 0-0-0, Camrin Lowder 0-0-0. Totals 9-13-36.LEXINGTON (33): Lexi Blasberg 1-0-2, Lizzie Hamler 1-0-2, Madi Basilone 4-0-9, Cora Palmer 4-1-9, Kaleigh Leadbetter 3-1-7, Kaitlyn Delano-Goodman 1-0-2, Allie Parker 1-0-2, , Alli Reed 0-0-0, Lexia Buffington 0-0-0. Totals 15-2-33. Vermilion&emsp;&emsp;15&emsp;&emsp; 3&emsp;&emsp;6&emsp;&emsp;12&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;36Lexington&emsp; &emsp;8&emsp;&emsp;8&emsp;&emsp;9&emsp;&emsp;8&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;33 Three-point goals: Vermilion 5-of-37 (Habermehl 2, Mo. Plas 2, Potts 1), Lexington 1-of-5 (Basilone 1). Field goals: Vermilion 9-of-58, Lexington 15-of-38. Free throws: Vermilion 13-of-20, Lexington 2-of-12. Rebounds: Vermilion 32 (Colahan 9), Lexington 34 (Leadbetter 13). Turnovers: Vermilion 15, Lexington 31.