The Daily Standard
Story Archive
MIDDLE POINT - Parkway, co-champion of the Midwest Athletic Conference and the 10th-ranked team in Division III, is out of the tournament after the first game.
The Panthers struggled in the third quarter, fell behind by double digits, and couldn't shoot their way back in on the way to a 55-42 upset loss to Wayne Trace in the Division III girls basketball sectionals at Lincolnview on Wednesday.
"This game is going to sting for a long time," Parkway coach Dan Williamson said. "Losing the first game - we had hoped, obviously, to make a little bit longer run in the tournament. But that's what makes tournament so exciting, things like tonight can happen."
In the first game of the night, Coldwater survived its own upset scare, rallying past Fort Recovery for a 44-33 victory. Coldwater advances to face Delphos Jefferson in the sectional final at Lincolnview at 6 p.m on Saturday.
Parkway's Allison Hughes grabs a rebound away from Wayne Trace's Gracie Shepherd (20) and Harper Myers (5) as Emiree Knittle looks on in the Division III sectional opener at Lincolnview High School on Wednesday.
The Panthers led by one right before the half before Gracie Shepherd hit a layup at the buzzer to give Wayne Trace (13-10) a 21-20 lead.
In the third, Parkway didn't score for the first 6:53, missing six straight shots, getting just three rebounds and committing four turnovers as the Raiders stretched the lead to 10.
"They came out and took us out of what we wanted to do, what we were comfortable doing offensively," coach Williamson said. "So first and foremost, you have to give credit where credit is due. They did an outstanding job."
Gabrielle Stober, named the MAC Player of the Year earlier in the day, broke the drought with a pair of free throws and hit a mid-range jumper with 42 seconds left to cut the lead to six, but again the Raiders got points right before the buzzer as Careen Winans hit a layup with 0.8 seconds left on the third shot of the possession.
Parkway's Paige Williamson shoots a three against Wayne Trace on Wednesday.
Paige Williamson got a floater in the lane to fall 13 seconds into the fourth to make it 32-26, but Shepherd took a pass through the press and got a bucket to answer, and after two scoreless minutes, the Panthers picked up their seventh foul and sent Lexi Moore to the line.
Moore hit one of her two shots, then Stober missed a free throw and the Panthers committed back-to-back turnovers before missing a three, setting up five more points for Wayne Trace that brought the lead to 14.
By the time Parkway's desperation threes started to fall, it was too late. Emiree Knittle hit a trey on the left wing with 3 1/2 minutes left and two free throws by Stober made it a nine-point game, but the Raiders quickly got into the double bonus and shot 13-of-14 from the line down the stretch.
Williamson, Stober and Brittyn Bruns added treys, but the Panthers never got closer than 10 the rest of the way.
"Defensively, we were just out of position a lot," coach Williamson said. "We gave up open shots that we're not used to giving up. Once again, some of that credit goes to Wayne Trace and what they tried to do offensively. But proud of our girls for not packing it in."
Shepherd scored a game-high 21 points. Williamson finished with 14 and Stober scored 13 in her final game. The Panthers shot 15-of-43 from the floor and 8-of-29 from beyond the arc.
"We had some open looks, some good looks from girls we want shooting the ball, and made some, missed more," coach Williamson said. "We just weren't able to drive to the basket, really at all. There was always somebody waiting on us in the post, and their guards are super-quick. They did a nice job of containing us, keeping us out on the perimeter, and having those two 6-footers in there to rebound made it tough on us to get second, third opportunities."
Parkway's season ends at 20-3, tying school records for most wins and fewest losses.
"Tonight can't define our season," coach Williamson said. "Yeah, it stinks, but we played so well for 95% of the season. We just got caught tonight not playing good basketball against a team that played really well. But we made some history this year, and that's what we have to focus on."
Coldwater's Claire Steinke fires a pass to Becca Wenning against Fort Recovery in the first Division III sectional opener at Lincolnview High School on Wednesday.
The first half was all Fort Recovery, largely thanks to Cali Wendel.
Wendel shot 6-of-8 from the perimeter in the first half to stake the Indians to a 24-15 lead, but the Cavaliers shut her out in the second half, took the lead late in the third, and pulled away in the fourth to survive and advance.
"We gave ourselves chances, and we scraped and clawed the whole way," Fort Recovery coach Holly Gann said. "Obviously as a coach you want to win, but I'm more proud of the effort. That speaks more volumes than any score in a scorebook."
Wendel's third trey of the night with 57 seconds left in the first quarter gave Fort Recovery a 13-12 lead, and she added two more in the first 1:17 of the second as the Indians stretched the lead to seven. Riley Rismiller stopped the run with a layup from Claire Steinke, and after both teams went three minutes without a bucket, a substitution snafu by Fort Recovery led to a technical and Rismiller hit one of the two free throws to make it 19-15.
Karlie Niekamp hit a close-range jumper and Wendel got open in the left corner for another three, and Fort Recovery went into the break with a nine-point advantage.
Fort Recovery's Cali Wendel takes a shot against Coldwater at Lincolnview High School on Wednesday.
"Kudos to Wendel," Coldwater coach Amy Meyer said. "Her first half was just beautiful. From one shooter to another, she just shot the ball very well. We tried to change defenses, but she was on fire."
But the Cavaliers came out of halftime firing on all cylinders. Steinke put back a miss, Rismiller hit a free throw, Wenning drove for a layup and Mia Knapke drained a three to cut the lead to one, and Rismiller converted on another pass from Steinke to put Coldwater (15-8) in the lead.
Wenning scored twice more before Eva Kahlig got a pair of buckets to get the Indians back on the board, cutting the Cavaliers' lead to one at the end of the third.
"Eva came in late in the third quarter, made two shots, four points for us to put it still within grasp," Gann said. "We got up into the 30s, we scraped and clawed, got back up there. So we had multiple opportunities to take this. But when it's all said and done, we've got six girls on the bench, and as far as I'm concerned, we maximized everyone's potential tonight."
In the third quarter, Wendel took four shots without scoring, with Wenning guarding her man-to-man most of the way.
"The first half, we switched people, we switched defenses, it didn't work," Meyer said. "We just went with the next person up. 'Hey, you want to try? Let's go.' Try to get somebody to get a hand on her face, and (Wenning) is also taller, so that helped a little bit, get a little more length on her."
Kennedy Muhlenkamp gave Fort Recovery its last lead with a jumper to open the fourth, but Wenning tied it with a free throw and Rismiller scored four straight to give the Cavaliers some breathing room. Fort Recovery went more than four minutes without scoring, and Coldwater shot 6-of-7 from the free throw line down the stretch to secure the win.
"We just adjusted as far as, 'Hey, look, these things are open,'" Meyer said. "Riley cannot be the only person we look to get the ball to. It's easy to put three people on her, and you guys all stand out there with wide open spaces and you're not doing anything. So we looked to get ball screens, try to get some of our other guards involved, attack the basket and catch the ball ready to shoot."
Rismiller finished with 19 points, followed by Wendel with 18. Rismiller and Wenning pulled down nine rebounds each.
A month ago, Coldwater defeated Fort Recovery 41-7, but Meyer said she knew the rematch wouldn't be easy.
"It's a dangerous position to be in when you beat the team earlier in the year very handily," she said. "You come out, and you're the one that's expected to win. They're playing pretty loose."
