Shutting them down

ST. HENRY - Throughout the second and third quarters, St. Henry was able to stay ahead of Celina every time the Bulldogs made a move.

After Celina got to within four at 42-38 with 7:08 left in the fourth quarter, the Redskins closed the door and doubled up on the locks by finishing the game on a 17-2 run en route to a 59-40 win over their Mercer County rival at Redskins Gymnasium on Monday night.

The final run by St. Henry (5-2) capped off a contest where the Redskins used a 12-1 run in the first quarter to take a 16-5 lead before Celina snapped out of its doldrums and made it a game.

"We really took care of the basketball and did what we needed to do in those two quarters when the pressure was on," St. Henry coach Wendi Moorman said. "The girls stepped up. I can see the girls are maturing and growing in responding to those situations."

The Bulldogs started pulling closer with six minutes left in the first half with Makenna Klingshirn, Brooke Robbins, Carly Eichler and Lauren Jackson scoring baskets to cut the margin to 18-15 in a matter of just over a minute. Alyssa Buschur quickly snapped Celina's run with a bucket, leading to a constant trading of baskets throughout the rest of the half as St. Henry's lead was whittled to five at 28-23.

St. Henry tried to put some cushion in their lead, but Celina kept answering as Jackson, who was 2-of-8 from the field in the first half, started to find her shooting prowess in the second half. She scored eight points in the quarter as the Bulldogs again remained within shouting distance of the Redskins going into the fourth.

"We have to learn if we're down a couple points, we can't give up any points when we go on a run," Celina coach Brandon Steinke said. "I don't know if we ever truly went on a run with us scoring and (St. Henry) not scoring. That's something we have to learn."

Robbins knocked down a pair of free throws 52 seconds into the fourth quarter to put the Bulldogs down four at 42-38, but that was the last Celina score for over five minutes as the Redskins caught fire. Buschur and Allison Siefring led the scoring attack with 15 straight St. Henry points. By the time Maddy Luebke scored a basket with 1:47 left in the game, the Redskins were leading 55-40 as Buschur and Cora Stammen each had a basket to close out the game.

"We knew it was going to be competitive. Anytime you play Celina, it's going to be a good game," Moorman said. "We talked about responding to what Celina did. The girls did a good job responding to those runs when we needed to."

"We were all pretty disappointed in how we finished that game," Steinke said. "Win or lose, how we finished was a little disappointing. We have to learn to play when we're tired. That's a corner we have to turn."

Siefring finished with 17 points to lead St. Henry. Buschur came off the bench to score 13.

Jackson scored eight of her 15 points in the third quarter but was held scoreless in the final quarter. Klingshirn added 10 points.

St. Henry returns to action Saturday at home with Tri-Village. Celina faces another Mercer County team on Thursday as Parkway comes to the Fieldhouse. The Redskins and Bulldogs will meet again Dec. 27 in the semifinals of the OVISCO Classic at the Fieldhouse.