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Minster's Ava Stammen (5) drives to the basket as St. Henry's Karlee Buschur stays close during the Division VI district semifinal at Wapakoneta on Thursday.
WAPAKONETA - There are more divisions than ever in Ohio high school basketball.
But the tournament path doesn't feel too much different for Midwest Athletic Conference teams.
Ohio basketball shifted from four divisions to seven this season. Yet, three of the top-10 teams in Division VI - Marion Local, Minster and St. Henry - played Thursday in the Wapakoneta district, along with newcomer Spencerville. The three MAC teams all competed in last year's Division IV Wapakoneta district. In other parts of Ohio, three ranked teams in one district is not a common thing. It has become the norm around here.
"You have No. 2, No. 4 and No. 9 in Ohio in Division VI in one district," Minster coach Mike Wiss said. "That is wrong and I hope somebody listens to that."
Wiss and the Wildcats were on the right side of their game against St. Henry, avenging an earlier loss to the MAC champions with a 42-31 victory in the first semifinal of the evening.
Marion's 39-28 win over Spencerville in the nightcap set up a district rematch. Marion beat Minster in last year's district final 43-33 and also won this year's game 50-44.
"They are going to be very physical, especially defensively," Marion Local coach Beth Streib said. "We'll have to be ready to defend their post. They do a lot of ball-screen action. We're just going to have to be ready to play. They are going to give us a battle and it'll be up to us to respond."
St. Henry's Leah Lefeld works to get into the lane for a shot against Minster.
Minster's Reece Albers cut for a hoop to break a scoreless tie five minutes into the game. But St. Henry's Morgan Baumer got to her left for two buckets to give her team the lead. The Wildcats led 6-5 late before a three-point play by Ava Homan gave the Redskins an 8-6 advantage. Homan's field goal was the last in the half for St. Henry as Minster went on a 10-1 run in the second quarter.
St. Henry finished the first half with 10 turnovers and started the second half with a turnover on their opening possession, which Albers converted for two at the other end. The Wildcats kept a distance of eight-or-more points for much of the third quarter.
"One thing we talk about is winning the middle eight (minutes)," Wiss said. "It's an Ohio State thing. You've got to win the last four minutes of the second quarter and win the first four minutes of the third quarter. With us being up at half and coming out and getting a basket, it allowed us to keep the energy."
Each time St. Henry made a run, Minster had a quick answer. In the fourth, the Wildcats collected a handful of momentum-shifting offensive rebounds and answered with big shots when the Redskins inched closer.
"I love our team," St. Henry coach Nate Uhlenhake said. "We've done some great things the last couple of years. We had another great year. It didn't end how we wanted it to. Marion made it tough on us tonight. It just wasn't our night."
"(Baumer) is a helluva player," Wiss added. "She does a nice job. … But I really liked the guts and the grit that our kids played with tonight."
Baumer and Albers shared game-high scoring honors with 18 points apiece.
Marion Local's Faith Ronnebaum (40) battles for control of the ball during the Flyers' semifinal with Spencerville.
After a defensive slugfest in the first half, the Flyers pulled away for victory No. 22.
Spencerville's first point didn't come until under two minutes remained in the first quarter. Marion led 6-1 after one quarter, then led 9-1 midway through the second quarter. But Spencerville generated a little offense late and cut the score to 14-12 at halftime.
Marion went on a 7-0 run to open the second half and kept its distance. Spencerville cut its deficit to five later in the frame thanks to back-to-back hoops by Clara Goecke, but Marion's Avae Unrast followed with a triple. Spencerville trailed by eight points late in the third when Kalyn Thobe launched a successful 3 to put Marion in front 33-22.
"We talked about getting it into the post and looking for some high-low action and I thought we did a good job of hitting those buckets," Streib said. "Then we had a couple of turnovers in a row. We just needed to settle down and not force things. We did that and that was also a big key."
Chloe Ronnebaum scored a game-high 15 points for Marion. Unrast added 11.
Marion Local's Avae Unrast gets ready to go up for a shot against Spencerville.
