Wildcats fall in heartbreaker; Rangers beat Cardinals

KENTON - Three Midwest Athletic Conference teams from Auglaize County converged at Kenton High School on Saturday night each holding visions of keeping its postseason dreams alive in the Division IV tournament.

Unfortunately for two of them, the 2014-15 girls' basketball season ended in the sectional championship. Minster suffered a gut-wrenching defeat in the evening's opener to the Upper Scioto Valley Rams, 57-55, while the New Knoxville Rangers prevailed over the New Bremen Cardinals in the nightcap, 52-36.

The Rangers (16-7) take on the Rams Thursday night at Wapakoneta High School in the district semifinals starting at 8 p.m.
USV 57, Minster 55

It was a back-and-forth opening quarter for the Wildcats and Rams until midway through the period when senior Taylor Trego drilled a three-ball to give the Wildcats their first lead of the evening. Trego drew a charge on the ensuing trip down the floor, which quickly sparked a 12-0 run for the Orange and Black as they held a 21-8 command early in the second period. The two teams exchanged baskets throughout the remainder of the quarter while Minster eventually was in charge 33-23 at intermission.

Nann Stechschulte's girls looked to put the game on ice in the third quarter as seniors Logan Arnold and Alexis Wuebker combined for 14 of the 18 points in the stanza, including Wuebker's driving layup which bumped her team up 51-37 as the contest rolled into the final eight minutes.

Just as Wildcat fans were making plans for next week's district tournament, the unthinkable disaster struck.

Upper Scioto Valley came out swinging with relentless full-court pressure, which resulted in five straight turnovers that the Rams used to calmly converted into 14 unanswered points. With a little more than three minutes to play, the game was tied at 51-all.

Hannah Schmitmeyer picked up Minster's only four points of the quarter to break ties on two occasions over the next few minutes, but USV'S Shelby Spradlin drained a shot underneath and drew the foul with the free throw putting the Rams in command 56-55 with six seconds to play, giving the Wildcats one final chance to scale the length of the floor for the potential game-winning shot. Another turnover though proved fatal as Minster was forced to foul, putting Spradlin back at the free throw line. The sophomore hit one of her two shots to seal the Rams' victory.

"That was a very physical game," commented an emotional Stechschulte following the game. "We needed to be more physical and we weren't. They applied their press and there was a lot of contact and we needed to play stronger. We gave up a 20-4 run in the fourth quarter and when that happens, you aren't going to win too many games."
New Knoxville 52, New Bremen 36

The Cardinals opened the game with a 5-0 spurt thanks to a bucket underneath and a long ball from junior Alyse Clune. The Rangers chipped away over the next few minutes while a pair of free throws from Kenzie Schroer gave them a 10-9 advantage, but it was soon answered by another shot from Clune from downtown to put things back in New Bremen's favor. Unfazed, the Rangers closed the opening quarter with four straight points and led 14-12 with eight minutes in the books. Two free throws from Clune, who led the Cardinals on the night with 18 points, gave her squad an 18-17 lead, but a quick 6-0 run gave the Rangers a five-point command at halftime as they enjoyed a 27-22 cushion.

"I was proud of our girls' effort tonight because we knew coming in that it was going to be a 32-minute battle," commented New Bremen coach Chris Burden. "We came out strong with a great start, but New Knoxville is a great team and I give them a lot of credit for hitting some good shots tonight."

The Cardinals opened the second half with another 5-0 run to knot the game at 27 points, but the Rangers chalked up nine unanswered points over the remainder of the quarter to open up their largest advantage of the night at 36-27. Tim Hegemier's girls spent the majority of the fourth quarter at the free throw line where they connected on all 14 of their attempts to eventually secure the 16-point victory. The Rangers drilled 20 of their 21 free throw attempts in the game and were led in the scoring department by senior Meg Reineke who tallied a game-high 19 points in her team's triumph.

"New Bremen is a great team with a great coach," emphasized Hegemier. "We threw in a 3/4 court press and I think it took them out of their flow and we were able to score off of it. We picked up a little lead going into the fourth quarter and the girls did a great job maintaining that lead at the free throw line. It was a very good win for us."