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New Bremen's Chloe Homan takes a shot as Marion Local's Allison Dirksen (left) and Nora Eckstein defend at the Hangar on Thursday. Homan scored 19 points as the Cardinals defeated the state-ranked Flyers.
MARIA STEIN - In the final 51 seconds, Chloe Homan was 6-for-6 at the free throw line to help cement New Bremen's 45-39 upset victory over Marion Local Thursday night at the Hangar.
New Bremen's win, coupled with Minster's loss at Versailles, throws the Midwest Athletic Conference girls basketball standings into chaos with six teams tied at the top with two losses each.
The Cardinals (7-7, 3-2 MAC) trailed the entire third quarter. Avae Unrast hit a trey two minutes into the second half and the Flyers looked like they might be pulling away with a 25-18 lead.
But New Bremen stayed in striking distance thanks to six third-quarter points by Michaela Firks and four from Homan to trail 32-28 heading into the fourth quarter.
New Bremen's Michaela Firks looks for a shot as Marion Local's Mya Eckstein defends at the Hangar on Thursday.
"We had turnover troubles and we gave up a lot of offensive rebounds, but we just kept getting after it," New Bremen coach Andy Timmerman said. "We played with confidence, we played with grit. Something that we haven't done, especially for 32 minutes."
Homan opened the final period with a three-pointer from the wing, and when Mary Rindler added a bucket inside, the Cardinals grabbed a 33-32 lead with five minutes left to play.
After a Nora Eckstein free throw for Marion, Firks and Homan added buckets to put the Cardinals up 37-33.
Marion Local (11-4, 4-2 MAC) struggled against a New Bremen zone defense for most of the night. The Flyers were held without a field goal in the fourth quarter until Unrast hit a trey from the top of the key with 1:56 left to play, cutting New Bremen's lead to 37-36.
"We were super active in the zone," Timmerman said. "We just played hard. We got after them on that end of the floor and played as a team defensively. We did a fabulous job out of that zone, and I give the girls a lot of credit for executing for 32 minutes."
"We couldn't get into any flow offensively," Marion Local coach Beth Streib said. "You have to give New Bremen credit. They played really well in that zone. We knew we were going to see it, but they adjusted some things that were different than what we saw."
New Bremen was able to work the clock down under a minute as the Flyers had to rack up the five fouls needed to put the Cardinals on the line.
With 51.9 seconds left, Homan hit the first of her free throws to bump New Bremen's lead to 39-36. Following a Flyer turnover, Homan was back on the line with 40.7 seconds left to extend the Cards' lead to 41-36.
After a missed 3-pointer, Firks hit one of two free throws to put New Bremen up six with 22 seconds to play.
Allison Dirksen gave the Flyers some life with a big 3-pointer at the other end to make it a one-possession game at 42-39 with 12 seconds left. Firks again made one of two free throws with 11.7 seconds to go, and after a Flyer miss, Homan sealed the win with two free throws in the closing seconds.
"She's a helluva competitor," Timmerman said of Homan. "That's the one person you want on the line in that spot. She's confident, and it take a confident player to get up to the line and knock them down at the end."
Homan, a senior, finished with 19 points to lead all scorers. Firks chipped in 14. Dirksen and Unrast hit double digits for the Flyers with 13 and 11 points respectively.
Marion Local's Avae Unrast brings the ball up the court as New Bremen's Mary Rindler (right) tries to get back on defense.
"We've got to be more aggressive. We tried to set some things up, but we just didn't execute and they did," Streib added. "We just haven't been shooting the ball very well lately. We shot 14 percent in the first half (against Waynesville at) Versailles and we shot 27 percent tonight for the game. We've got to get to work in practice to get better."
Marion Local travels to St. Marys on Tuesday and to Fort Recovery next Thursday. New Bremen is home next week with Houston on Monday and St. Henry Thursday.
