Streak continues

ST. MARYS - St. Marys' winning streak reached 12 on Tuesday.

This one wasn't easy to win, either.

Kendall Dieringer scored 19 points and Carly Caywood added 15 as the Roughriders distanced themselves from the visiting St. Henry Redskins in the end for a 53-43 victory at Murotech Court.

"I don't remember the last time we beat St. Henry," St. Marys coach Jonathan Burke said. "They're tall. They're lengthy. They're physical. It's a MAC team and it's always a rough night when you play a MAC team. They're a really good shooting team. I thought defensively we closed out really well. We could have rebounded better. We could have shot free throws better. But I'm really proud of our poise down the stretch."

St. Marys, now 15-4, hasn't been defeated since a 57-41 loss to Ottawa-Glandorf on Dec. 19. Ten of its 12 victories during the winning streak have been won by double-digit margins.

"We had a really tough scrimmage season, with Fort Recovery, Anna and Lima Senior," Burke added. "I think we never really got that momentum going. But when we played Ottawa-Glandorf and Arlington, I think we really started figuring it out and building confidence."
  St. Henry (12-8) led 6-5 midway through the first quarter when St. Marys went on a 10-2 run. The Roughriders led 15-11 at the conclusion of a quarter that featured a number of missed bunnies by both sides. Caywood scored seven points for St. Marys, which went 0-for-4 at the foul line but made a trio of 3-pointers. Ashley Ontrop came off the bench to score five points for St. Henry.

St. Marys stayed in front for the entire second quarter. Dieringer scored a half-high 11 for the Roughriders.

Nora Vaughn poured in nine for the Redskins, who faced only a 26-21 halftime deficit after racking up 10 turnovers.

The visitors opened up half two with a 6-0 run, taking a 27-26 advantage less than a minute and a half into the third. But St. Marys countered with a 10-0 run, with Ally Will and Noelle Ruane connecting for the Roughriders fifth and sixth 3-pointers.

"We had too many defensive breakdowns tonight that we shouldn't have had, just because we got caught watching the ball," St. henry coach Kyle Menchhofer said. "We talked about that the past couple of days. We've got to make sure that we stay focused at your position and not get caught watching. They just got caught at times where we lost focus. It happens."

St. Henry hung around, though, with Nora and Addy Vaughn combining for 10 points to help trim its margin to 38-33.

The teams played to a 1-1 tie for 4 1/2 minutes in the fourth quarter. With 3 1/2 minutes left, Caywood got a shot to fall for the first field goal in the frame. St. Henry later cut its margin to four thanks to a 3 and a jumper by Alyssa Buschur. St. Marys' lead grew to double digits in a matter of minutes, however.

Lauren Cisco converted a layup off a defensive breakdown. Then Dieringer got a steal and layup - one of three steals by the Roughriders in the final two minutes. Caywood scored six in the frame.

"I'm really proud of our leadership," Burke said. "We had different girls step up at different times throughout the night and we're finding new ways to win, which is nice."

"I thought we got selfish at times," Menchhofer added. "I don't know why that was. We were fighting over the ball. We didn't do a very good job of moving the ball around. There were times where girls were basically posted up on top of each other. That's not us and not how we play.

"It just seemed like we mentally weren't there tonight," he continued. "We've got to clean that up. We've got one day to get ready for Fort Recovery (at Fort Site Fieldhouse). That's a big game on Thursday, for them especially because they're playing for the MAC title."

Nora Vaughn and Buschur led the Redskins with 16 and 14 points, respectively.

Will added eight points for St. Marys.

A 13th win won't come easy for the Roughriders, either. They host 16-2 Bath on Thursday.