Fullenkamp jumper wins it for Minster

MINSTER - The Minster Wildcats got a huge Midwest Athletic Conference win on Thursday night as senior guard Erica Fullenkamp hit a pull-up jumper from the left wing with 2.6 seconds remaining in the game to defeat the Delphos St. John's Blue Jays 44-43 at the Minster Middle School.

Fullenkamp's game-winner capped a wild final two minutes that featured the home team rallying back from deficits four different times.

Trailing 38-35 with 2:14 left in the game, the Wildcats tied the score on a three-pointer by senior Maria Dahlinghaus at the 1:48 mark. St. John's came right back down the floor and rebuilt the lead back to three following a trey by the Blue Jays' Courtney Grothouse with 1:25 left.

After a Minster timeout the Wildcats cut the deficit back to one point at 41-40 after senior Delanie Wolf hit two free throws with 59 seconds remaining on the clock.

Again the Jays responded as Shelby Reindel was fouled while making a deuce to rebuild the lead back to three points at 43-40. Reindel missed the ensuing free throw, Fullenkamp grabbed the rebound and she was fouled with 45 seconds left. Fullenkamp canned both free throws to pull the Wildcats to within one at 43-42.

St. John's worked the clock to 32 seconds when Tiffany Geise was fouled. Geise missed the front end of the one-and-one opportunity with Heather Schmiesing grabbing the rebound for the Wildcats.

Foregoing the timeout, the Wildcats worked the clock and got the ball into the hands of Fullenkamp who drained the game-winner with 2.6 ticks remaining in the game.

"I wanted to let the clock get under 14 seconds and then I looked up at the clock and it said seven seconds and I liked who had the ball, and that was Erica," said Minster coach Nann Stechschulte. "If I would have called timeout it would have taken too long to set something up. The ball was in the hands of the right person. Sometimes players can make you look smart and sometimes they can make you look dumb."

"Maria Dahlinghaus had a big three for us there at the end and Erica hit two big throws. They always say that the cream rises to the top and they are two of our senior captains," continued Stechschulte. "Give St. John's all the credit, they out-hustled us, they got every loose ball, they acted like they wanted it more than we did. Sometimes there is just no justice."

In the other locker room, veteran St. John's coach Dan Grothouse was proud of his squad in defeat.

"The outside world probably did not expect this type of game here tonight. I am really proud of my team," said Grothouse. "I told the girls after the game that this felt like a tournament loss. That was a game that was tough to take. Fullenkamp made a good shoot, she took that jump shot and it was nothing but net. I thought we did a good of defending there in the last 40 seconds, she just made a great play."

St. John's had one last chance to pull out the win as Reindel passed the ball to Becca Saine, who drove the right side of the court and launched a shot from just inside halfcourt that was just off the mark.

Wolf led the way for Minster with 12 points, including eight-for-eight from the free-throw line while Fullenkamp added 11 points.
Saine led St. John's with a game-high 16 points and Grothouse added 15.

Minster is back in action on Saturday afternoon as they take on back door rival Fort Loramie.