BY YANEEK SMITH

Rockets defeat Edison to win 4th straight, 60-37

OAK HARBOR — Following a six-game losing streak, Oak Harbor has responded with a four-game winning streak, culminating in a 60-37 win over Edison.

The Rockets are now 8-7 and 3-4 in the Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division.

Oak Harbor held the Chargers to just 12 points in the first half and led 21-12 at halftime. They put the game away by outscoring Edison, 21-10, in the third quarter to take a 42-22 lead into the fourth.

“We put together a scouting report and talked to the kids about who their best players are. We focused on that and the kids came out and executed,” said Oak Harbor coach Eric Sweet. “One of the biggest things we stressed is that we had to get rebounds, and we were able to do that for a majority of the first half.”

T.J. Hallett led all scorers with 20 points, Ethan Stokes scored 14 and Keegan Durdel chipped in with 13.

“T.J. has been tough as nails this entire year for us. He’s been the backbone for this team. He’s made some games easier for kids because of his ability to score. He’s continued to score points for us,” said Sweet. “The emergence of Keegan and Ethan Stokes has helped T.J. tremendously. The defense has to respect their ability to score. I believe that takes some pressure off T.J. When we get those guys clicking and if our defense continues to work, we’ll continue to win.

“We’re getting better. We jumped out to a 4-1 start, and then we had a bad skid there, we fought our way back, so it’s been kind of a record when you look, lose six straight, win four straight — it feels like a roller coaster. That six-game skid was rough. We had some games that we thought we could win. Now, we’re enjoying going back up the hill. We’ve got some kids emerging that help T.J. out. We have guys getting more and more comfortable. This group of kids has been tremendous for us.”

Oak Harbor 61, Lakota 40

KANSAS — Oak Harbor jumped out to a 12-point lead in the first quarter and never looked back in its 61-40 win over Lakota.

“That was a focus game for us. Coming off the big win Friday against Port Clinton, we were ready for their 1-3-1 zone,” said Oak Harbor coach Eric Sweet. “We jumped out to an early lead. It wasn’t as clean as we wanted it to be, but we did win by about 20 after beating a good Port Clinton team.”

T.J. Hallett had a game-high 24 points and Zach Clune finished with 10. Eight Rockets scored points in the game.

Jay Matz had 19 points to lead the Raiders.

Steinbrick’s 19 points not enough in loss to Edison

OAK HARBOR — Holding a one-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, Oak Harbor was unable to hold off Edison, falling 43-40 to the Chargers.

Edison won the final quarter, 16-12 behind 18 points from Kalli Quillen.

The Rockets (7-8, 3-3 Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division) got a game-high 19 points from Ryann Steinbrick and 10 points from her twin sister, Riley.

Oak Harbor led 6-5 after one quarter and 16-14 at halftime.

“It was close, and we just couldn’t get over the hump,” said Oak Harbor coach Adam Steinbrick. “We had some opportunities, a last-second shot to tie it, and we just didn’t get the job done.”

It’s the fifth loss in a row for the Rockets.

“We’ve lost five in a row, so we’re struggling, and we’ve gotta get back on track. We haven’t played our best basketball, we knew we were going to be going through a tough part of the schedule,” said Steinbrick. “It’s that time of year when games get cancelled. We’ll go back to work and have a good week of practice and try to fix some things.

‘Skins now 8-1 in their last 9 games

SANDUSKY — Port Clinton made easy work of St. Mary Central Catholic, defeating the Panthers, 52-18, in non-conference action.

The Redskins trailed 6-5 after one quarter before outscoring SMCC, 34-8, in the middle two quarter to take a 39-14 lead into the fourth.

Port Clinton is now 9-4 and 3-3 in the Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division.

Tyler Webb led all scorers with 16 points and Adam Thorbahn finished with 14.

“We definitely feel good in the second half of the season that we’re playing our best basketball and trying to get better every day. I just think we’ve kind of hit our stride. We lost some games early after a couple of weeks of practice, and I don’t think we were ready to win those (early) games,” said Port Clinton coach Ryan Hicks. “We felt we had a good team coming into the year. This is a little bit more than what we expected after we started out 1-3.

“I think our defense was pretty locked in and did a good job keeping everything in front of us and trying to make them score over top of us.”

Port Clinton 58, Willard 49

WILLARD — Port Clinton took an 11-point lead after the first quarter and held on from their in a 58-49 win over Willard.

The Redskins led 20-9 after the first quarter, 31-22 at halftime and 49-37 after three quarters.

Jackson Beasley had 15 points, including three 3-pointers, Tyler Webb scored 14 points and Adam Thorbahn finished with nine.

“I think that was probably our best all-around game this year. We definitely came ready to play,” said Port Clinton coach Ryan Hicks. “Once the ball was tipped, all five guys were able to contribute early on. They weren’t able to just key in on Adam and Tyler on the offensive end.

“Jackson had a really, really good game. That’s definitely what we’ve been looking for from him, shooting the ball, and he’s definitely capable of being that third scorer.”

Cam Robinson led the Crimson Flashes with 16 points.

Lanier’s 28 points led ’Skins to victory

WILLARD — Port Clinton got 28 points from Da’Cariya Lanier and defeated Willard, 53-43.

Lanier connected on three 3-pointers and was 7-of-7 from the charity stripe.

“She was very efficient offensively,” said Port Clinton coach Kevin Belden. “She shot 9-of-20, taking some good shots as Willard tried to box her. Her speed and quickness allowed her to get some quality shots.”

The Redskins are now 6-9 and 4-3 in the Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division.

Port Clinton led 20-7 after one quarter but the Crimson Flashes chipped away and cut the deficit to 39-34 after three quarter before the ‘Skins pulled away.

Taylor Bollinger had 11 points to pace Port Clinton and Claudia Gillum scored seven points, had 10 steals and eight rebounds

“Taylor did a nice job for us and Claudia was fantastic,” said Belden. “She had a great all-around game and guarded Willard’s best player (Grace Hall), who didn’t play in the second half but didn’t score.”

Lakers rout Plymouth for 3rd win in 4 games

DANBURY TWP. — On a night when Danbury High School inducted two individuals and two teams into its Hall of Fame, the basketball team did not disappoint, defeating Plymouth, 62-41, for its third win in four games.

The Lakers (6-9) led 12-5 after one quarter and 23-11 at halftime.

Bradley Murray led all scorers with 17 points, Blake Barker had 14 and D.J. Webster chipped in with 11.

“It was one of those games where I thought we played extremely well on the defensive end and it spurred us on offense,” said Danbury coach Keith Diebler. “We had eight guys in the scoring column, it was really balanced scoring.”

Danbury 67, Hopewell-Loudon 62 (OT)

DANBURY TWP. — The Lakers won their biggest game of the season, defeating Hopewell-Loudon 67-62 in overtime.

The Chieftains led 13-12 after one quarter, 26-25 at halftime and Danbury held a 43-42 lead after the third quarter.

Behind Bradley Murray’s 32 points, the Lakers outscored H-L, 13-8, in overtime. Blake Barker also chipped in with 11 points.

“I think it was a big win for the kids, it helps build confidence. We’ve played close with teams throughout the season,” said Danbury coach Keith Diebler. “I’ve always wanted to see things come together at the end of the season. We’ve won three out of four, we’re getting balanced scoring, and we’re heading in the right direction. We’re happy for the kids and we’re looking to play our best ball as the season continues.”

Valiant effort not quite enough in loss to Lakota

DANBURY TWP. — Despite trailing by 10 points heading into the fourth quarter, Danbury made a valiant effort in the final eight minutes, coming up just short in a 43-42 loss to Lakota on a buzzer beater.

The Raiders led 14-9 after the first quarter and 26-24 at halftime before pushing the lead to 37-23 after three quarters.

Kamil Stephens had 10 points to lead the Lakers, who are now 11-5 and 6-5 in the Sandusky Bay Conference River Division. Maria Maringer had eight points and Kelly Uhinck and Natalie Rose both finished with seven points.