Wildcats knock off St. Marys

ST. MARYS - Since Jan. 9, the Minster Wildcats have trekked a path on the hardwood dotted with the likes of Ottoville, Akron Hoban, Castalia Margaretta, New Knoxville, and Marion Local. The Wildcats emerged unbeaten through that brutal stretch and capped it off Tuesday night with a 55-44 triumph over the 13-4 St. Marys Roughriders at Grand Lake Health System Court.

The visiting Wildcats leapt out to a 6-0 command in the first 1:30 of the battle thanks to buckets from seniors Ivy Wolf, Mason Pohl, and Dana Prenger. The Roughriders maintained their composure though, and following a three-pointer by junior Noelle Ruane, the home team bumped in front with a 12-10 lead. A long ball from Wolf regained the advantage for the Wildcats at 13-12 a few moments later, and a shot at the buzzer from junior Corinne Meiring gave the her team a 17-14 edge at the end of the first period.

Just as they have done countless times this season, the Wildcats applied their claws to St. Marys with suffocating defense at the onset of the second period, forging in front 31-16 at the 3:57 mark of the quarter. Despite the deficit, St. Marys refused to fold, pulling to within nine points at the 3:49 point of the third quarter following a free throw from junior Kendall Dieringer.

"We got down, but our girls wanted to keep fighting back," St. Marys coach Jon Burke said. "Our shots just weren't falling, so we knew we needed to step things up on defense. I am proud of our defensive efforts tonight against a very good team."

Leading 44-31 at the start of the final period, Minster junior Ella Mescher flexed her muscles by scoring the stanza's first seven points, giving her team their biggest lead of the evening at 51-31. Although St. Marys managed to trim its deficit to 10 points later in the period, it wasn't enough as the Wildcats improved to 14-1 on the season with the 11-point victory.

"I felt we had too many defensive errors guarding people tonight," said Minster coach Mike Wiss. "St. Marys didn't do anything different than what we had in our scouting report. I just didn't feel like we were locked in mentally tonight defensively. St. Marys is good and physically though, and they have nice guards. We know we are always going to get everyone's best shot. We just need to lock in better mentally and that is on me."

The Wildcats were led in the win by 13 points and five rebounds from Ivy Wolf, and she was joined in double-digits with 11 points from Mescher. Dieringer paced the Roughriders with 16 points, while Ruane pulled down eight rebounds.

Both teams are in conference play on Thursday. Minster travels to St. Henry for Midwest Athletic Conference play while St. Marys goes to Elida for a Western Buckeye League contest.