Monday, March 19th, 2018
Key moments lift Wildcats to title
Division IV Girls Basketball State Championship
By Gary R. Rasberry
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Minster seniors Taylor Kogge, 24, and Alli Fischer, 3, hold up the Division IV girls basketball state championship trophy after the Wildcats defeated Ottoville 63-48 on Saturday for the program's third state title and the school's 33rd overall state title.
COLUMBUS - The rematch between Minster and Ottoville looked like a repeat of their first meeting in January, a one-point win in Minster.
But when Ottoville's Bridget Landin left with a concussion with 6:49 left in regulation, it didn't take long for Minster to strike.
The Wildcats held the Lady Green scoreless for the final 4:45 and went on a 16-0 run to close out the game and secure the school's third Division IV state girls basketball championship with a 63-48 win at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus.
Minster (26-3) now has three titles in four state tournament appearances, also winning in 1998 and 2004. Ottoville ends its season at 27-3.
"Lot of respect for Dave Kleman and the Ottoville community," said Minster coach Mike Wiss, who wins his first title as head girls' coach after having served as an assistant on the 1998 and 2004 teams.
The start of the game had to have Minster fans a bit worried. After Taylor Kogge scored the first bucket of the game, Ottoville went on a 12-0 run as Minster went scoreless for nearly five minutes until Kogge scored again with 2:57 left in the first quarter. Kasey Knippen and CJ Kemper each had five points during the run.
After the initial shock, Minster came back with a 7-2 run to cut the deficit to 14-9 at the end of the first quarter.
"(We were) on our heels a little bit," Wiss said. "We got out of it and started to apply some fullcourt pressure, which is what we do, we got them out of sync a little bit offensively."
"We knew it was going to be ebb and flow," said Kleman, the longtime Ottoville coach. "Teams that get up on us we come back and make a run on them. In a state championship you expect teams to fight as much as you all the way. You have to be ready for us."
The second quarter was defined by Minster's working hard to stay within four points of the Lady Green. Minster fulfilled its mission and trailed 24-20 at the half.
"Cutting it to four points at halftime was a big deal," Wiss said. "We preached that our first 3-4 minutes of the third quarter were important in how the second half was going to go."
The first definitive moment for Minster began when freshman Janae Hoying subbed in 5:07 left to play in the third quarter. Sixteen seconds later, Hoying made a trey to tie the game at 29-all. Thirteen seconds after that, Hoying stole the ball and got the layup to fall to give Minster its first lead since 2-0. After an Ottoville timeout, Ivy Wolf stole the ball and got it to Hoying, who was fouled going for the shot. Hoying made both free tosses to make it 33-29, giving her seven points in 25 seconds.
Ottoville managed to tie the game at 37-all and go up briefly 40-39, but Alli Fischer made two free throws with 20 seconds left to give Minster a 41-40 lead heading to the fourth quarter.
The second definitive moment came just over a minute into the fourth quarter. Landin and Courtney Prenger became tangled up and Landin fell to the floor hard. Landin's head hit hard and she stayed on the floor for several moments before being helped up and walked to the bench before going back to the locker room. Landin did not return due to concussion protocol.
"The turning point was when Bridget went down. No malicous (intent), as far as I'm concerned. A basketball player went down and hit her head," Kleman said. "The wheels fell off after that."
"I think our feet got tangled up," said Landin, who played AAU basketball with Prenger. "Everything got dizzy. They took me back and I kept saying I wanted to go back and play and they said no."
Ottoville took the lead at 48-47 with 4:45 to go on a pair of Kasey Knippen free throws, but that would be the last of the Lady Green's points of the night as Courtney Prenger's jumper with 4:37 remaining put the Wildcats in front. Prenger and Kogge took advantage of the absence of the six-foot Landin with layups and short-range jumpers that made the score 55-48 with two minutes to play.
"The momentum switched so fast," Wiss said. "A couple tips by Janae against Knippen, a missed shot by Knippen when she was falling out of bounds, and when Landin wasn't on the floor. They were struggling to find an identity and we knew where ours was."
Ivy Wolf and Hoying then iced the game from the foul line. Ivy Wolf was 6-of-7 from the stripe and Hoying made all six of her shots as the Wildcats added to the lead and Wiss was able to clear his bench completely to get every player dressed a chance to take the court for the game.
Prenger finished with a game-high 17 points for the Wildcats to go with six rebounds. Ivy Wolf and Hoying each had 15 points with Ohio Northern-bound Kogge scoring 12 in her final game as a Wildcat.
Landin, who will take her hoops talent to the University of Findlay, joined Amber Miller and Knippen in scoring 13 points each to lead the Lady Green.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Minster players cheer their team on as coach Mike Wiss watches during Saturday's game. Minster defeated Ottoville 63-48 to win the Division IV state girls basketball championship.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Minster junior Courtney Prenger goes up for two of her game-high 17 points against Ottoville on Saturday.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Minster's Ivy Wolf passes the ball to a teammate Wolf scored 15 points in the Wildcats' win over Ottoville.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Minster's Demaris Wolf watches her pass against Ottoville.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Minster's Taylor Kogge goes up for a shot against Ottoville.
