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St. Henry's Molly Wendel pulls down a rebound during Wednesday's game at Marion Local as part of the Battle of 119 Challenge.
By GARY R. RASBERRY and ROBB HEMMELGARN
sports@dailystandard.com
MARIA STEIN - The Battle of 119 basketball challenge got out to a roaring start as the Hangar in Maria Stein hosted the first round-robin matchup between St. Henry and Marion Local.
The format pits the three Mercer County schools situated along State Route 119 - St. Henry, Fort Recovery and Marion Local - in matchups from junior high up through high school. The school with the best record against their opponents wins the title.
In the girls' varsity contest, St. Henry rebounded from a sluggish third quarter to regain the lead and hold off Marion 45-43.
In the nightcap, St. Henry's varsity boys clinched the series with Marion 5-4 with 76-66 victory.
Marion Local travels to Fort Recovery today for round two, with Fort Recovery making the eastward trek to St. Henry on Friday to complete the round-robin.
Marion Local's Allison Dirksen (34) shoots over St. Henry's Alexis Buschur.
Marion led 14-11 after one quarter, but after Nora Eckstein's bucket with 6:44 remaining in the half, the Redskins went on a 13-0 run. Morgan Baumer's hoop-and-harm 3-point play with 5:10 remaining tied the game at 16-all, then Lauren Thieman's 3-pointer from the corner put the Redskins back into the lead. The Flyers ended the 5 1/2 minute cold spell with a Natalie Evers free throw, but the Redskins hit four straight free throws in the final 55.1 seconds to take a 28-17 lead at halftime.
Turnabout was fair play in the third quarter. After Leah Lefeld hit two free throws 16 seconds into the second half to raise the St. Henry lead to 30-17, Marion Local rattled off 14 straight points. Avae Unrast, held to three points in the first half, scored nine points in the third quarter, capping off her run with a 3-pointer with 1:58 remaining in the quarter to give the Flyers a 31-30 lead. St. Henry, though, regained the lead to end the period as Alexis Buschur drilled a trey with 21 seconds remaining to give the Redskins a 33-31 lead.
"They came back and made some shots. They're a good team," said St. Henry coach Nate Uhlenhake of Marion. "It's hard to keep them down for four quarters."
"Our goal is not to dig ourselves those holes where we have to battle back," said Marion coach Beth Streib. "Proud of our effort battling back."
St. Henry held Marion at bay for the first half of the final quarter, but Allison Dirksen scored with 4:06 remaining to put Marion back in front 36-35. St. Henry immediately returned to the lead as Morgan Baumer hit a 3-pointer 20 seconds later to make it 38-36. Marion came up empty on its next possession as Molly Wendel pushed the lead to four with 2:50 on the clock. The Flyers got as close as two several times down the stretch, but St. Henry came up with the timely free throw to keep Marion from getting any closer. Unrast drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer to put the final margin at two.
"Proud of how the girls battled against really good team," said Uhlenhake. "We were able to hang on at the end. The foul line has been an issue for us (St. Henry was 17-of-26 on Wednesday). Great to see them step up and make shots."
"Even in the fourth quarter, we had some good looks and shots," said Streib. "We just couldn't knock them down."
Wendel was the only Redskin in double figures with 12 points to go with nine rebounds. Alexis Buschur added nine points.
Unrast finished with 19 points for Marion. Dirksen added 10 points.
St. Henry's Evan Bowers (5) is guarded by Marion Local's Jack Knapke.
The Flyers looked to gain potential game-changing momentum at the end of the first period when a pair of free throws by Jack Knapke pulled his team to within four points. A few moments later, Grant Kremer, called up from the junior varsity for the evening, drained his second long ball of the period to trim the Flyers' to within a point. The stanza ended with Knapke corralling an offensive rebound and powering it back in it to give the Flyers a 14-13 edge heading into the second quarter. Five lead-changes highlighted the start of the second period, but it was another three-point swish from Kremer, who finished with a team-high 22 points, that knotted the game at 31 points at intermission.
"The game plan heading into the second half was not to go out and score 33 points to put us in good shape for the second half. It was actually the opposite of that," St. Henry coach Eric Rosenbeck said. "I don't feel I did a very good job in preparing our team for how much of a battle this season would be. There are times when you embrace the grind and battle that you are rewarded with shots going in, but that doesn't always happen."
More back-and-forth at the onset of the third quarter was brought to an end at the five-minute mark when the Redskins used a small window of opportunity to pull away for good. An old-fashioned three-point play by Hayden Boeckman was followed by the Flyers getting called for a charge on their next possession. Bowers answered with a long ball, forcing a Marion Local timeout, but another Flyer turnover soon left the door open again for Bowers to connect from downtown and give the visitors a 50-39 command. St. Henry led by as many as 17 points in their 33-point stanza, as Bowers erupted for 15 of his game-high 28 points. From there, Marion Local never got within 10 points the rest of the way.
"We aren't playing Marion Local basketball right now," said Flyer coach Kurt Goettemoeller. "We hang our hat on our defense and 76 points in a game and 33 in a quarter is not unacceptable. Having said that, a lot of credit goes to St. Henry and of course Evan Bowers who just lit us up tonight."
St. Henry's Curtis Puthoff rebounds the ball against Marion Local.
