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Minster's Reece Albers (10) dribbles past Fort Recovery's Cameron Muhlenkamp.
MINSTER - For 2 ½ quarters, it looked like a game that was going to go down to the wire with four lead changes, two ties, and with neither team led by more than two possessions.
But then Minster turned up the pressure on its defense, scored 19 unanswered points and cruised to a 37-23 Midwest Athletic Conference victory over Fort Recovery Thursday night at the Wildcat Gymnasium.
Minster, 11-3 overall and 3-2 in the MAC, scored the first four points of the second half to take an 18-14 lead.
The Indians (6-9, 2-4) answered with a three-pointer from Makenna Huelskamp, and with 4:35 left in the third, Kennedy Muhlenkamp bombed a trey to give Fort Recovery a 20-18 lead.
Fort Recovery's Makenna Huelskamp puts up a shot against Minster.
The Indians would go the next 12 minutes without scoring. The next points for the Tribe came on a free throw by Karlie Niekamp with 32 seconds left in the game after Minster had built a 37-20 lead.
"I was pleased with our second half energy," Minster coach Mike Wiss said. "We came out, Annie Hemmelgarn forced a five-second call, we got a couple early turnovers and we played well with the lead. I think our pressure gave them some trouble. It was a different look in the second half, and it's something that we've been working on."
Abriana Wuebker got a couple of buckets as Minster closed out the third quarter with a 7-0 run. Sophia Dirksen hit a trey and Addi Inskeep had a pair of two-pointers in the Wildcats' 12-0 run to open the fourth quarter.
Minster had eight different players contribute to its 37-point total.
"We've had a bunch of games in a row where we don't have a double-digit scorer," Wiss said. "We've got eight, nine, ten kids that we rotate and the word we talk about is consistency. This week our word was 'compete' to play harder."
By contrast Fort Recovery coach Ty Deitsch played his five starters without subbing all night.
"We tried to press as much as we could," Wiss said. "I knew their bench wasn't very deep, and when the middle of the third quarter came, they got tired."
Fort Recovery scored the first six points of the game, and Minster answered with the next seven. But Huelskamp hit a runner in the closing seconds to give the Indians an 8-7 lead at the first break.
The Indians hung on to a slim lead for most of the second quarter, frustrating the Wildcats with a 2-3 zone and a big starting lineup that went 5-11, 5-11, 6-0 on the back line.
Dirksen ended the first half scoring with a three-pointer for Minster to tie the game, 14-14.
Fort Recovery's Bridget Homan (23) defends the shot of Minster's Ava Stammen.
"We were stagnant in the first half," Wiss said. "Their length is similar to Versailles' length. They have six-foot kids in there with seven-foot arms. And our smaller kids have to recognize it's a continual process in how strong you have to be in the six inches between your ears."
Kennedy Muhlenkamp was the game's only double-digit scorer with 10 points. Dirksen had eight off the bench to pace the Wildcats.
Minster will be back in MAC action next Thursday at Parkway. Fort Recovery opens a three-game home stand Saturday with Bradford, followed by South Adams on Tuesday and Coldwater on Thursday.
