The Daily Standard
Story Archive
SPENCERVILLE - The Midwest Athletic Conference went 2-0 against the Northwest Central Conference with a couple running-clock victories in girls Division IV sectional finals Saturday at Spencerville.
St. Henry opened up a 22-5 first-quarter lead on its way to a 55-34 victory over Lima Perry, giving the Redskins their first sectional title since 2003.
In the opening game, Minster broke a school record, making 13 three-pointers en route to a 77-18 victory over Waynesfield-Goshen.
The winners will face each other for the second time this season at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the district semifinals at Wapakoneta. Minster had defeated St. Henry 40-25 in a MAC battle back on Jan. 5.
Perry's Mary Hoersten (13) tries to box out St. Henry's Molly Wendel during Saturday's Division IV girls basketball sectional final in Spencerville. St. Henry won 55-34 to earn the program's first sectional title since 2003.
Like Minster, St. Henry (16-8) benefited from a quick start with balanced scoring. Seven different Redskins dented the scoring column in the opening eight minutes as the Commodores found themselves in a 22-5 hole.
"It was nice to get out to a good start to build a little confidence in ourselves," St. Henry coach Nate Uhlenhake said. "We got some buckets in transition, which was good for us, and we rebounded well, which also helped us out."
Perry (12-11) spread the floor and tried to isolate the St. Henry defenders in the second quarter, but the Redskins adjusted and maintained a 24-16 margin at halftime.
"We tried to get some stops on defense, but they've got some quick guards and they can get to the rim," Uhlenhake said. "I thought we made some adjustments, helped out backside, and got two or three people involved to keep them away from the rim."
St. Henry held the Commodores to just one field goal and four points in the third quarter, and the Redskins went on a 10-0 run late in the period. Leah Lefeld's bucket with 20 seconds left in the third put St. Henry up 53-18 and triggered a running clock for the rest of the game.
Three Redskins finished in double figures, led by Morgan Baumer with 12. Molly Wendel added 11 and Alexis Buschur came off the bench with 10.
St. Henry's Alexis Buschur (22) puts up a shot against Perry.
St. Henry will be in familiar territory with the all-MAC district.
"You know it's going to be competitive and we're going to have to bring our 'A' game," Uhlenhake added. "We're going to see how much we've improved since the last time we played Minster, and we'll see what happens."
Minster's Lilly Barhorst goes to the basket during Saturday's game against Waynesfield-Goshen.
Minster (13-10) scored the game's first 19 points and never really slowed down after that. The 19-0 run included six points from Lilly Barhorst, a pair of treys by Kaycie Albers, and a three-point shot by Katie McClurg.
The Tigers (10-14) broke up the shutout with a bucket by Zaria DeLeon with 2:20 left in the first quarter.
The Wildcats finished with another stick-back by Barhorst and treys from Lydia Mescher and Morgan Sparks to lead 25-5 heading into the second quarter.
The onslaught continued in the second quarter with seven different Wildcats scoring. Albers added two more treys, Lyndi Hemmelgarn came off the bench with a pair of 3-pointers and Kayla Lamm was 3-for-3 from the floor as Minster built a 52-10 halftime lead, pretty much ensuring a running clock for the rest of the game.
The Wildcats shot 61% from the floor in the first half and forced 17 Waynesfield turnovers.
Minster's Lyndi Hemmelgarn sets up to shoot against Waynesfield-Goshen.
"I did not address shooting at all at halftime," Minster coach Mike Wiss said. "I addressed how well we shared the ball. Our shooting occurred because there was nobody near our face when we made the extra pass to open people, and I'm really pleased with our kick-outs and our reversals. It makes you hard to guard when you're sharing the ball that well."
McClurg opened the second half with two more treys and Minster finished the game 13-of-24 behind the arc, breaking the previous school record of 11 made treys. Albers finished the game with four, while McClurg and Hemmelgarn added three each.
All 15 Wildcats made it into the game with 12 different girls entering the scoring column.
"I'm pleased that everybody got in. That's a big part to what we say having a program is," Wiss said. "And I'm just happy that we continue to have a strong program. It speaks to the girls when you can take five on and five off at different times and keep the tempo."
Wiss said opting to take a bye in the first round of the sectionals gave Minster some extra practice time for the districts that will also feature Marion Local and New Bremen in the upper bracket.
"I thought this week we got some good things accomplished in practice, because if you get into next week and you're back playing a MAC schedule, you're not going to get a boatload of extra time in the gym to fix things, put things in, or whatever," the Minster coach added. "It's the district tournament, you're playing Thursday-Saturday, it becomes basketball and how much you know right now."
