Friday, February 11th, 2022
Perfect Parting Gift
Rangers flawless in Hegemier's final game at the Barn
By Tom Haines
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
New Knoxville coach Tim Hegemier embraces senior Ellie Gabel after she scored her 1,000th career point on a third-quarter trey at the Barn on Thursday. Hegemier, who plans to retire after the season, earned his 274th win as New Knoxville's girls basketball coach in his final game at Ranger Gymnasium.
NEW KNOXVILLE - In coach Tim Hegemier's last game at the Barn in New Knoxville, his squad turned in likely its finest performance.
New Knoxville played near-perfect defense and was never seriously challenged in a 43-18 girls basketball victory over New Bremen on Thursday night.
With the win, Hegemier's 274th, the Rangers clinched a perfect conference record and their second outright MAC championship and fourth overall.
"This was our goal at the beginning of the year," Hegemier said. "I had picked Marion Local and Bremen to be right up there with us, and I was right, and Minster was going to be right behind. Glad we had it at home."
After New Bremen (16-6, 7-2 MAC) and Marion Local battled to three overtimes for second place in the MAC on Sunday, New Knoxville (20-2, 9-0 MAC) showed how far it was above the rest.
The Cardinals came in with a chance to split the MAC crown, but stayed close for less than a quarter. Despite seven turnovers through the first six minutes, New Bremen only trailed 6-4 with 90 seconds left in the first before turning the ball over again on a step out of bounds.
The Cardinals deflected a pass out of bounds in the paint, but on the inbounds pass, Ellie Gabel found Haley Fledderjohann alone in the corner and Fledderjohann drained a trey with 1:16 left in the first. Carsyn Henschen added a short jumper with 4.8 seconds left and New Knoxville led 11-4.
"We didn't bring our A-game," New Bremen coach Andy Timmerman said. "A lot of that credit goes to the effort that they put defensively, the smooth offense, and how much ball they've played. You can tell that they've played ball. They're all in the same grade, they've been together a long time, and you can tell, because they gel really well."
New Bremen cut the lead to six when Chloe Homan hit a layup through three defenders midway through the second quarter, but Avery Henschen answered with a driving layup and the Cardinals' turnover parade continued. Gabel hit a breakaway layup after an Avery Henschen steal on the next possession to stretch the lead into double digits, and New Bremen never got closer.
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
New Knoxville's Avery Henschen reaches in front of New Bremen's Kaylee Freund for a loose ball at the Barn on Thursday.
Haley Fledderjohann converted a hoop-and-harm with just over a minute left in the half to make it 20-7, and Chloe Homan drew a foul on a layup on the other end with a chance to answer but missed the free throw as the Rangers went into the half up 11.
New Knoxville's defense kept the Cardinals in an iron grip through the first half, playing tight man-to-man assignments that prevented New Bremen from generating any quality looks. Over the first 16 minutes, the Rangers allowed just 12 shots and forced 14 turnovers, half of them on steals.
"Just playing our defense," Hegemier said. "We play a lot of help defense, keeping track on their best shooter, know where she's at and go from there."
Trying to stay within shouting distance, the Cardinals kept New Knoxville off the board for the first two minutes of the third quarter, but still couldn't break through the Rangers' defense. Melisa Waterman got the Rangers going again with a layup on a pass from Carsyn Henschen with 5:39 remaining in the third, and Fledderjohann added a short jumper 18 seconds later to force Timmerman to call timeout.
Homan sank a layup with 4:26 left in the quarter to snap a four-minute scoring drought, but from there Gabel took over. On the next possession she got open at the right elbow and drained a three. After a Carsyn Henschen steal, she did it again, pulling up off the dribble and sinking another trey from nearly the same spot, with both shots catching nothing but net.
"Whenever you can hit some outside shots, it makes it so much easier," Hegemier said. "When you have to start pounding it inside, it gets a little tough. If we keep hitting from the outside, we'll be all right."
The second trey stretched the Rangers' lead to 20, and less than 45 seconds later after Rebecca Leffel stole the ball, Gabel caught a pass on the other side from Avery Henschen and sank another trey to make it 34-11. The shot gave her 13 points on the night and 1,000 for her career, and after a foul on the next possession, Gabel was given the ball, embraced Hegemier, and ran up into the stands to toss it to her parents before play resumed.
New Knoxville only added one more point in the final 2:30 of the third quarter, but it was more than enough. The Rangers outscored New Bremen 15-2 in the third and forced five more turnovers for a 24-point lead, and the Cardinals never threatened in the fourth.
Gabel finished with 16 points for New Knoxville and Fledderjohann added 12. Homan scored 10 for New Bremen.
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
New Knoxville's Carsyn Henschen holds up the Midwest Athletic Conference trophy after the Rangers clinched an outright title at the Barn on Thursday.
Hegemier, who hopes to travel more to see his grandchildren, adds his third MAC title and first since 2013, and with the tournament ahead, has a chance to add to his eight sectional titles and three district titles. In 2007, his Rangers team also won the regional title and finished as state runner-up.
"I've had some great athletes over the years," he said. "We've had some great success here. Great administration, great parents - never had any problem with parents. Again, great athletes. They put the time in, and if they put the time in, we can always compete.
"Every year, I come out and I say, 'Well, we need to compete.' Even if we weren't as great as what we were tonight, we always want to compete."
New Knoxville starts its Division IV tournament run on Wednesday in the Spencerville sectional with a 7 p.m. game against Upper Scioto Valley. New Bremen will face the winner of Parkway and Ada in the Shawnee sectional on Feb. 19.
