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Minster's Abriana Wuebker (24) tries to keep the ball away from Celina's Brooke Baucher during Tuesday's game.
MINSTER - It doesn't always need to resemble a Picasso or Rembrandt. Sometimes you just need to win ugly and chalk it up in the "a win is a win" category.
For Minster girls basketball coach Mike Wiss, last evening's contest with Celina was certainly the latter, as his squad overcame episodes of sluggishness before leaving with a 44-27 triumph.
"At the bottom of each of our scouting reports, there is a phrase that says 'Play harder and smarter for longer,' " Wiss said. "I'm not going to take away the fact that we played hard tonight. We just didn't play very smart and the length at which we tried to play wasn't very long. That's what tonight was and we need to figure out a way to change that by Thursday."
Celina's Lilly Shreffler (32) and Minster's Jordyn Stueve (3) battle for a rebound.
The Bulldogs swished the first bucket of the game thanks to a driving layup from junior Rachel Rammel. From there, it was all Orange and Black though, as junior Reece Albers stuck back an offensive rebound to tie the score at two points. Seniors Abriana Wuebker and Ava Stammen each drained long balls before a free throw from Albers gave the Wildcats the 9-2 command at the end of the first period in a quarter marred by 10 turnovers committed by each team.
"We knew coming in tonight what we were going to get and that showed early on," said Celina coach Bret Baucher. "Minster is an athletic team and they are deep. I wish we would have taken care of the ball a little better and rebound better. I felt our half-court defense was strong, but there were a lot of little things we didn't do well tonight and you have to do them well against a team like Minster. This is a game which will help prepare us for down the road."
Albers flexed her muscles at the onset of the second stanza with a three-pointer from beyond the arc, as well as a three-point play the old-fashioned way to put her team in command 15-2. Celina seemed to settle in a little more the rest of the half, as the two teams went jab for jab the rest of the way, with Minster remaining in front 26-11 at the halftime break.
"I felt Reece really played well tonight," Wiss said. "In the first half, she rebounded well, she deflected passes, and caused tie ups. I told her at halftime that we are going to need her on the floor and continue that in the second half."
Celina senior Alex Kimmel took matters into her own hands at the onset of the second half with a jumper and a driving layup to trim her teams' deficit to 11 points. Unfortunately for Bulldog fans, that is as close as it got, as the Wildcats closed the period with ten unanswered points, courtesy of scoring from four different players, including three-balls by Albers and sophomore Kali Schmiesing. Trailing 36-15, Celina fired up the final quarter the same way they did the third period. A hoop-and-harm 3-point play from senior Kenlee Holstad, and a jumper from junior Mylee Walters cut Minster's cushion to 16 points, but the battle finished out at the free throw line the rest of the way as the Wildcats went on to secure the 17-point triumph.
Celina's Mylee Walters boxes out Minster's Addi Inskeep.
"We wanted to come in tonight with a similar game plan that we had on Saturday (a 57-28 win over Liberty-Benton), but we found out it is tough to take two steps forward and three steps back, and that was how tonight felt," Wiss said. "When someone has their hands in the air, we can't put the ball up and try to throw through them. We talked about not getting trapped and I feel we were a step slow in everything we did tonight. I don't care that it's a Tuesday night and a non-conference opponent we have to raise our level of play regardless of those circumstances. I just don't feel we play as well as we are capable tonight."
Albers led Minster with a game-high 12 points and six rebounds. Kali Schmiesing added 11 points.
The Bulldogs were led by sophomore Alaina Vehorn, with eight points.
Both teams are in league action on Thursday. Minster (10-2) travels to Versailles for a MAC matchup and Celina hosts Shawnee in a WBL matchup.
