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Marion Local's Mya Eckstein tries to protect the ball as St. Henry's Morgan Baumer (3) and Lauren Thieman trap her in the backcourt in the fourth quarter of the Division IV district semifinals at Redskin Gymnasium on Thursday.
WAPAKONETA - Minster and Marion Local will meet in the Division IV girls basketball district final in Wapakoneta on Saturday for the second year in a row.
The Flyers powered past Midwest Athletic Conference rival St. Henry with a 12-1 run to end the first half on the way to a 53-48 victory in the nightcap on Thursday, while Minster survived a rocky first half to beat New Bremen 45-40 in the opener.
"It's very hard to beat an MAC team twice in a year, and that second time typically occurs here," Minster coach Mike Wiss said. "It's just a tough, tough, tough district to get out of."
Marion (18-7) and Minster (19-6) will play at 6 p.m. on Saturday, with the winner earning a trip to the Vandalia regional. Marion beat Minster 46-34 earlier this year and prevailed 43-33 in last year's district final.
"I'm sure it's going to be a defensive battle, same as it always is," Marion coach Beth Streib said. "They're going to come at us, we're going to go right back at them. It'll probably be a back-and-forth battle."
The Flyers trailed 15-14 with just over three minutes left in the second quarter before getting into gear. Avae Unrast converted an old-fashioned 3-point play, Allison Dirksen hit two jump shots, and after Unrast saved a loose ball, Nora Eckstein hit a 3-pointer with 32 seconds left in the half.
Morgan Baumer missed from three with time left on the clock, and Unrast went coast-to-coast for a layup with 1.6 seconds left to stretch the lead to 10.
"We just had to cut harder," Streib said. "They were switching on everything, so we had to screen and roll, and just cut harder. The girls just had to work to get open, and they eventually did."
"They got in their 2-3 (zone), and we allowed it to hinder our aggression on offense," St. Henry coach Nate Uhlenhake said. "It took us a while to start to get comfortable, gel a little bit and get some shots to fall. Just a little bit too late."
St. Henry opened the third quarter with a five-point run, but couldn't keep up the momentum, and Dirksen got the lead back up to 10 with 3 1/2 minutes to go in the third.
Leading by nine as the quarter wound down, Marion got a break as a miscommunication by the Redskins left Kate Ashman open on the wing, and she knocked down a trey to make it 39-27 heading into the fourth.
Ashman hit another three with 5:40 remaining to stretch the lead to 17 before St. Henry got in a last gasp. Molly Wendel stole the ball and found Chloe Speck for a layup, Jalynn Everman got a steal and score, Alexis Buschur put back a miss and Morgan Baumer forced another backcourt turnover and got a layup to cut the deficit to 10 with 2:36 left.
St. Henry's Alexis Buschur gets fouled trying to shoot an off-balance layup against Marion Local.
The Redskins kept up the pressure. Rileigh Baumer scored off a turnover and Wendel had an and-one that got them within 47-41 with 1:20 to go. Two free throws by Buschur cut the deficit to five with 27 seconds remaining, but St. Henry ran out of time.
"We knew we had to be super aggressive to try to get back into the game, so that's what we did," Uhlenhake said. "It worked, like I said, a little bit too late to get buckets to fall. But they're a good team. They got hot early, made some big shots, they were tough on the rebounds."
Unrast hit one free throw and Dirksen grabbed her miss on the second, getting the stick-back to effectively seal the win.
"Allison Dirksen had that offensive rebound at the end, Audrey Winner had a steal, Kate Ashman stepped up and hit some huge shots," Streib said. "I thought everybody stepped up and did their jobs, and that's what it takes, a team effort."
Wendel scored 13 points and pulled down 16 rebounds, and Buschur added 11 points. Unrast had 18 points and five assists and Dirksen scored 13 for the Flyers.
St. Henry ends its season at 18-6.
"Everybody we have is amazing, and it really sucks to not have another day with this team," Uhlenhake said.
Minster's Sadie Niemeyer handles the ball as New Bremen's Marina Nelson defends.
Minster erased a four-point halftime deficit in 53 seconds, and the two teams traded buckets for several minutes. New Bremen (12-13) was up 24-23 when Michaela Firks got a steal, but the Cardinals missed in transition and Annie Hemmelgarn grabbed the rebound.
The Wildcats retook the lead on a transition opportunity of their own, as Hemmelgarn found Lydia Mescher on the wing for a 3-pointer. Lilly Barhorst scored off a Hemmelgarn steal, Minster forced a backcourt violation, and Abriana Wuebker knocked down a corner trey with 32 seconds to go in the quarter to make it 31-24.
"I thought early in the game, we were pretty tentative against the zone," Wiss said. "Second half, we got a little more aggressive. …
"Middle of the third quarter, up by one, they broke our pressure, and they were in a 4-on-1 break," he went on, "and they shot a 3-pointer, and they missed it. Right then, I said to our coaches, 'That's a turning point,' and I think it was."
Chloe Homan made two free throws to end the third, Firks added a second-chance layup and Abbie Burden hit a transition three to tie the game at 31. But Anna Larger drove for a layup on the other end, and the Cardinals never caught up again.
Minster stretched the lead to 36-31 with 4 1/2 minutes to go, but Firks hit a basket and got an and-one opportunity. She missed the free throw, but Homan put back the rebound to cut the deficit to one.
New Bremen's Chloe Homan takes a shot over Minster's Lydia Mescher (12) and Lilly Barhorst.
Minster hit four free throws to make it 41-37 and Addi Inskeep beat the press for a layup with 37.9 seconds left to stretch the lead to six. Homan kept New Bremen's hopes alive with a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 22 seconds to go, but Larger hit two more free throws, Homan missed another three, and the Wildcats played keep away until time ran out.
"Our turnovers cost us a little bit, but other than that, we played our tails off, and I give them a lot of credit," New Bremen coach Andy Timmerman said. "We made a couple runs of six, seven points, got it within one, just couldn't get over that hump."
The Cardinals' zone stymied Minster's half-court offense in the first half.
The Wildcats kept patiently reversing the ball, but they didn't attempt many drives and took just two 3-pointers in the first half, both of which missed.
"We were really active on defense and we took care of the ball, and that's what got us the lead," Timmerman said. "Our defense was there the whole time. They made a couple adjustments that got a couple baskets, but I thought we responded again."
Wiss said the zone was the same that New Bremen deployed in their game two weeks ago, but it still gave the Wildcats trouble.
"I'm a believer that we have to get the tempo up, and we had to work extra hard against the zone, I guess," Wiss said. "They rebound well out of it, they don't give many second opportunities, and they're long. So that makes for a good zone."
Minster's press forced 10 turnovers before halftime, which led to seven of its 15 points.
All told, the Cardinals committed 24 turnovers to Minster's 12.
"The intensity's got to be there," Wiss said.
"Offense may come and go, but defen se will never leave you, is a quote we always say."
Mescher finished with 13 points, Larger added 10 and Homan had 12.
