Girls basketball: Columbia takes control in third quarter, cruises past Firelands in LCL showdown

COLUMBIA STATION — Firelands' second quarter spurt was the fuel that fired up Columbia's defense in the second half. The Falcons ended the second quarter with five unanswered points, cutting their halftime deficit to three. The Raiders, however, emphatically took the momentum back by allowing just three field goals in the second half and ran away with a 59-29 Lorain County League win Wednesday night. Both teams entered the night undefeated in league play with Columbia improving to 10-0, 5-0. "We've been doing really good this year coming out in the third quarter and pushing the tempo," Columbia senior forward Mallory Hottell said. "And I think we also got mad when we went into the locker room hearing them cheer when it was only halftime. I think we came out mad and pushed the ball up the floor." Hottell was primarily matched up with Lauren Valerius, and while the Firelands center snagged 12 rebounds — including nine in the first half — and got to the line 10 times, she was limited to just 2-of-13 from the field as the Raiders made it a priority to help Hottell down low every time Valerius touched the ball. Columbia stretched its lead to 22-14 with 1:30 left in the first half when Firelands (8-3, 4-1) capitalized on a pair of turnovers, leading to three free throws by Valerius and a layup at the buzzer from Lexi Schrader to bring the Falcons back within a possession. "I thought we played hard the whole game, but in particular the first half," Firelands coach Onyx Lopez said. "We all bought into the game plan and were locked in for the entire first half. Coming out of halftime, I thought we started to force things that were not there, and hadn't been there the entire game. We got away from our game plan a little bit and they were able to cash in on our errors." Aside from that hiccup, Columbia played a pretty clean game, only turning the ball over 10 times. The Raiders piled up 16 steals and forced 22 Firelands turnovers as 10 players saw significant minutes with eight scoring at least one field goal. The trio of Rachel Washburn, Elise Champagne and Emily Beck harassed Firelands in transition all game Washburn finished with five steals, also leading the team with 15 points — including two 3-pointers — while Beck recorded three steals. Champagne finished with eight points and one steal. "Every time we go into half our coaches stress how important the third quarter is," Washburn said. "When we walked out, we knew the game wasn't over and still needed to come out and play our best. We really extended our lead to make it a lot easier on us in the fourth quarter. Our defense is such a big part of our team." Firelands' only field goal of the third quarter came at the 5:48 mark, and it also was Valerius' first. The Raiders scored 14 unanswered stretching into the fourth quarter before Hailey Urban ended the run with a jumper. Washburn ensured the Flacons wouldn't build any momentum by scoring seven of the Raiders' next nine points, stretching the lead to 49-23. "The girls responded really well at halftime," Columbia coach Corey Taylor said. "Our depth gets to people when we're able to play 10 girls and have eight to nine consistently scoring in our books. It becomes really difficult to take things away. We had a defensive game plan in place that we just stuck with. The girls bought into it and we came out in the third quarter, got out into transition and attacked." Contact Chris Sweeney at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com and follow him @CSweeney1686 on Twitter. Columbia 59, Firelands 29 FIRELANDS (29): Lauren Valerius 2-6-10, Kendra Hardwick 0-0-0, Mia Sutorius 1-0-3, Adrianna Buchanan 1-0-2, Bella Simmons 3-0-6, Hailey Urban 2-0-4, Lexi Schrader 2-0-4, Jordyn Copley 0-0-0, Isabell Bermudez 0-0-0, Aubrynn Reichle 0-0-0. Totals 11-6-29. COLUMBIA (59): Rachel Washburn 5-3-15, Delaney Friscone 3-2-8, Mallory Hottell 4-0-8, Emily Beck 1-0-2, Elise Champagne 3-1-8, Callie Demagall 0-0-0, Kaitlyn Miller 0-2-2, Peyton Menge 4-1-12, Sadie Schulke 0-0-0, Bree Heidecker 2-0-4. Totals 22-9-59. Firelands&emsp; &emsp;10 9 &emsp; &emsp;2 &emsp;&emsp; 8 &emsp;&emsp;— 29Columbia 13 9 &emsp;&emsp;16 21 — 59 Three-point goals: Firelands 1-11 (Sutorius), Columbia 6-18 (Menge 3, Washburn 2, Champagne). Field goals: Firelands 11-48 (23 percent), Columbia 22-54 (41 percent). Free throws: Firelands 6-13 (46 percent), Columbia 9-15 (60 percent). Rebounds: Firelands 23 (Valerius 12), Columbia 34 (Heidecker 7). Total fouls: Firelands 15, Columbia 12. Fouled out: Simmons. Turnovers: Firelands 23, Columbia 10. Junior varsity: Firelands, 30-23