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Celina's Jacci Felver looks for a shot as Minter's Abriana Wuebker defends at the Fieldhouse on Tuesday. Wuebker scored 13 points late in the second quarter to give Minster an 18-point halftime lead.
CELINA - In a game marked by turnovers, fouls and transition layups, it was a stretch of clutch shooting late in the half that put Minster in control.
Abriana Wuebker came off the bench in the second quarter and scored 13 points, including scoring all the Wildcats' points in an 11-1 run over the final 90 seconds of the half, as Minster took an 18-point halftime lead and went on to a 54-39 win over Celina in a girls basketball game at the Fieldhouse on Tuesday.
"Minster's had a great program for a long time, and they thrive on that," Celina coach Bret Baucher said. "They go and they go and they go, and then all of a sudden, boom! They hit you, and all of a sudden it goes from a seven-point game to down 18 in a flash."
Wuebker knocked down a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer on a pass from Kayla Lamm with 3:44 left in the second quarter to make it 17-9, and after Brooke Baucher scored off a Minster turnover to bring it back within 10, Wuebker ignited the Wildcats' offense. She hit a three over Baucher with 1:23 to go, got a pass from Anna Larger in transition and hit another three 18 seconds later, then stole the ball and hit a pull-up jumper with 29.3 seconds remaining.
Wuebker fell down behind the play after that shot, and when Ava Stammen grabbed a rebound on Celina's first shot, she was able to throw the ball ahead to Wuebker, who capped the electric stretch with a breakaway layup that put Minster (8-4) ahead 30-18 with 14.8 seconds left.
"Wueby had three threes and a pull-up two, 12 points - that was hugely important to end the half that way," Minster coach Mike Wiss said. "So, pat on her back."
It was a departure from the beginning of the game, as the teams combined to score 22 points with 12 turnovers in the first 12 minutes. Minster took advantage of misses by Celina (4-8) to establish an early seven-point lead, but couldn't take advantage of several chances to pull away.
"There was not a lot of flow in that game," Wiss said. "It was fouls, it was turnovers, it was deflections. It was limited offensive flow, I guess is a good way to say it, for all those reasons. We have a few injuries, our kids are battling a few things, it's finals week - and we look like we have a few injuries and it's finals week. … it was a nauseating game to watch, almost."
Celina's Brinley Korte dives on a loose ball ahead of Minster's Kayla Lamm on Tuesday.
After the slump to end the first half, Celina stabilized in the third quarter. The Bulldogs took five points off the lead in the third and closed within 11 with 6:48 left in the fourth on a layup by Alex Kimmel, but got no closer.
"We finished in transition much better - that's been a point of emphasis in practice, and I was happy to see that," coach Baucher said. "First half, we didn't reward ourselves very well for a lot of our good defensive play. Second half, we did a lot more of that, and if you can do that and score points, it becomes a lot more fun. Defense isn't quite as hard when you're not playing it every single possession of the game."
Kimmel gave the offense a spark in the second half after getting two early fouls and playing sparingly in the first half. She was able to get inside consistently and finished with 14 points, 12 after halftime.
Celina also started to solve Minster's defensive pressure as the game went along, committing five turnovers in the second half after having 12 in the first.
"Celina took it right to the rim," Wiss said. "They went right into us, drew a bunch of fouls."
"Thought we handled the pressure, for the most part, pretty well, the exception (being) the end of the second quarter," coach Baucher said. "But we made them play for four quarters, and that's what we wanted out of tonight."
Minster's Addi Inskeep is fouled by Celina's Mylee Walters.
Minster got production in the paint from Addi Inskeep, who pulled down 12 rebounds and blocked two shots, and Lydia Mescher, who scored a game-high 22 points. Mescher hit the first trey of the game to make it 9-1 in the first, and she made five layups in the fourth quarter to help the Wildcats maintain the margin.
Minster committed 16 fouls and had 17 turnovers, but also surpassed 50 points for the first time this season.
"We weren't real crisp," Wiss said. "Celina had something to do with that, I'm sure, but good teams have to rise up, have to get a little bit better, have to fight through. Don't get me wrong, a 15-point (win), but I think we gave them some easy stuff, we didn't move our feet very well tonight."
In the opposing locker room, coach Baucher saw signs of progress despite the result.
"They're applying all the stuff we've been practicing," he said. "They're gaining some confidence. We're going from thinking all the time to reacting a little bit more. Is it all the way through? No. But it's getting more consistent, and if we continue to build on that, we'll continue to get better."
Minster gets back into the Midwest Athletic Conference schedule with a trip to St. Henry on Thursday, while Celina hosts Kenton in a Western Buckeye League game.
