Top seeds moving on

COLDWATER - The all-MAC girls Division IV sectional finals at Coldwater Saturday night stayed on script with the higher seeded teams advancing on to the District Semifinals.

New Bremen held off a determined Marion Local squad, 44-34 to claim one sectional title, while top-seeded Minster jumped on New Knoxville early and rolled to a 61-27 win in the nightcap.

New Bremen and Minster square off in the 8 p.m. game Thursday at Wapakoneta.

New Bremen 44,
Marion Local 34

The Cardinals and Flyers locked horns in a physical defensive struggle with neither team creating much separation throughout the bulk on the contest.

Marion Local grabbed what would be its only lead of the game, 7-6, midway through the first quarter. However, New Bremen never led by more than three points for the rest of the first half.

Jane Homan hit a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws to spearhead a 9-4 run to start the second half that gave the Cardinals a 35-27 lead with 4:08 left in the third quarter.

But New Bremen went nearly seven minutes before scoring again.

The Flyers, however, could not capitalize. Marion Local managed only a couple of free throws to close out the third quarter.

Emily Nietfeld hit a 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter, and Heidi Rethman followed with a pair of free throws with 5:07 left to play, pulling the Flyers to within one, 35-34.

Kayla Bergman ended the Cardinal drought with a bucket at the 4:56 mark, and Kelly Naylor followed with a pull-up jumper to put New Bremen up 39-34 with 3:20 left in the game.

Marion Local could not find the crucial baskets down the stretch and with 1:12 left, the parade to the free throw line began. New Bremen hit five of nine free throws in the final 72 seconds to secure the win.

"One or two possessions goes our way and it's a totally different game," Marion Local coach Beth Streib said. "It seems like we never got over the hump where we took the lead to give us a little more confidence."

New Bremen had defeated Marion Local by a similar score, 47-38, during the regular season.

"It's tournament time. You're playing against a MAC foe that has you scouted out," said New Bremen coach Chris Burden, who won his 100th career game. "They know what you're going to do, we know what they're going to do, and it just comes down to who is going to make the plays down the stretch. We just made a few more plays than they did."

The offensive stats in the second half were not pretty. Combined, the two teams shot 15 percent from the floor over the final two quarters. Marion Local had just two field goals, both of which were 3-pointers.

New Bremen made just four field goals in the second half and shot 26 percent from the floor for the game.

"I was proud of our girls for being tough on the defensive end, taking away the Marion post play, and making them work for every shot they took," Burden said. "Some nights we're going to shoot like that, but I'm a solid believer if you play good defense, your defense is going to get you through somewhere down the line."

Hanna Tenkman came off the bench to lead the 19-5 Cardinals with 12 points. Homan added 11.

The Flyers finish their season at 5-18 and were lead by Rethman, a freshman, who got 12 of her game-high 15 points in the first half.
Minster 61, New Knoxville 27

It was bombs away early for Minster. Shooting over the top of a 3-2 New Knoxville zone defense, the Wildcats hit four 3-pointers in the first quarter and raced out to a 20-6 lead.

Minster buried three more triples in the second quarter and almost had the game on ice by halftime with a 37-12 lead.

Controlling the tempo early was the key for Minster coach Mike Wiss, as his team played pressure defense the length of the floor and forced 19 first-half turnovers.

"We came out with a lot of energy," Wiss said. "Knoxville has a way of slowing the game down and we wanted to make sure that didn't happen. Pressuring the ball for the full length of the floor is always important to us."

Ivy Wolf, Demaris Wolf and Alli Fischer all had two 3-pointers each in the first half for the Wildcats.

"They shot very well in the first half. They were dropping in threes and I wasn't expecting that at all," New Knoxville coach Tim Hegemier said. "I thought we held their inside game down pretty well, but it was their outside game that killed us."

The Rangers were able to slow the game down in the third quarter, holding Minster to seven points. But the Wildcat depth took over and Minster continued to pull away in the fourth.

Eight different Wildcats scored in the first half and 12 different players for the game.

"Our bench is important to us and they displayed that," Wiss said. "We have to use our bench because it allows you continual fresh bodies."

New Knoxville finishes the season at 7-17, and without any seniors on the team, Hegemier is looking for improvement next year.

"I told the girls they've got to keep their heads up," he said. "It's kind of embarrassing getting beat by 30 points, but take it to heart. Get out there and work hard over the summer and get better. We'll be alright."

The Wildcats, now 20-3, move on to face State Route 66 rival New Bremen on Thursday.

Having slipped past the Cardinals 47-43 at home earlier this season, Wiss and his Wildcats are preparing for war.

"Intensity will be the key," Wiss said. "Tonight in the New Bremen-Marion Local game, New Bremen got 90 percent of the 50-50 balls, and they had a minimum of 20 offensive rebounds. So for us, getting those 50-50 ball and keeping them off the offensive boards is going to be a big deal."