Roughriders hand Wildcats first loss

MINSTER - It was a tale of two halves for St. Marys and Minster on Tuesday night.

After struggling in the first half, the Roughriders chipped away at the Wildcats' lead throughout the second half before taking the lead midway through the fourth quarter. Minster (6-1) tied the game late before Quincy Rable hit a buzzer-beating bunny shot to give the Roughriders a 49-47 win and hand Minster its first loss of the season.

"These girls have worked extremely hard," St. Marys coach Nikki Miars said. "They have bought in to what we're trying to do. The girls deserved (the win) 100 percent. They worked hard for it."

The game did not start out well for St. Marys (6-3). Erika Angstmann picked up two fouls in the first 2 1/2 minutes of the game and had to sit for most of the half. Later, Rable picked up her third foul of the quarter and was lost for the rest of the half. Minster took advantage by getting the ball inside to Hannah Schmitmeyer and Courtney Prenger, who combined for 14 points in the first half as Minster led 31-23.

As the second half started, St. Marys changed from a man-to-man to a 2-3 zone, negating a lot of Minster's paint offense. The Wildcats, after picking up six early fouls in the half, also went to the 2-3.

"We picked up six quick fouls, so we went zone. That kind of slowed us down," Minster coach Nann Stechschulte said. "(St. Marys) also went zone. The tempo of the game went to them."

While that took much of the paint scoring away from the Roughriders, it allowed the perimeter game to expand thanks to Sydney and Lindi Cisco in the fourth quarter.

Lindi Cisco started the final stanza with a trey to cut Minster's lead to 41-39. Rosie Westerbeck put the lead back to four with a bucket, but Sydney Cisco hit back-to-back three-pointers to give St. Marys its first lead since the first quarter at 45-43 with 3:15 to play.

"It was just chipping away. One basket at a time," Miars said. "We were taking it one possession, offensively and defensively. When we went to that 2-3, I think Minster struggled with it."

They hit three big threes in the fourth quarter," Stechschulte said. "We knew who the shooters were. We weren't picking it up. We've got to do a better job of knowing where the shooters are, finding them and getting out there and getting them."

The teams traded scoreless possessions before Lindi Cisco was fouled with 39.6 seconds left. Lindi Cisco sank both tosses to make it a 47-43 game. Westerbeck scored on a jumper with 24.7 seconds left to cut it to two. Angstman was fouled on the ensuing inbounds but missed the front end the one-and-one and Prenger rebounded. Minster quickly worked the ball to Lindsey Roetgerman, who was fouled going to the basket. Roetgerman calmly hit both shots to tie the game with 9.6 seconds to go.

Rather than use their final timeout, Rable took the inbounds and dashed down court. After briefly losing the handle on the ball in the paint, Rable put the bunny shot up and in as the horn sounded to end the game.

"I was afraid (by) calling timeout, (Minster) would set up (defensively)," Miars said of the game-winner. "We were taking our chances. Quincy knew she was in foul trouble (Rable finished with four personal fouls). She stuck with it."

"Not taking anything away from (St. Marys). They hit some big shots," Stechschulte said. "We'll just come back tomorrow and go back to the drawing board."

Sydney Cisco led the Roughriders with 17 points. Shania Taylor added 11 points and seven rebounds.

Schmitmeyer led Minster with 12 points. Prenger and Westerbeck each added 10 points.

St. Marys is back in action Monday, hosting the Green Wave of Greenville. Minster travels to Bath next Tuesday for the McDonald's Holiday Classic.