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Minster's Annie Hemmelgarn (4) tries to take the ball from Versailles' Jena Heitkamp during Thursday's MAC game at Wildcat Gymnasium.
MINSTER - When you go nearly 11 minutes between field goals, it tends to put a little pressure on your defense. But that's no problem for Minster.
The Wildcats held Versailles to just four fourth-quarter points and rallied for a 29-27 Midwest Athletic Conference victory Thursday night at Minster.
After the teams went to the halftime locker room tied 14-14, Kali Schmiesing gave Minster the lead with a bucket at the 7:15 mark of the third quarter. The Wildcats would not hit another field goal until Sophia Dirksen splashed a trey with 4:30 left in the game.
In the meantime the Tigers found a rare offensive spurt with 6-3 senior Kynnedi Hager scoring seven points in the span of 65 seconds. Katey Litten added a bucket to put Versailles up 23-17 with three minutes left in the third quarter.
Neither team scored again until Dirksen hit the three-pointer in the fourth quarter. Reece Albers followed with a driving layup to pull the Cats to within one, 25-24 with 4:01 left in the game.
Jena Heitkamp ended an eight-minute scoring drought for the Tigers to put the visitors up 25-22 with 2:19 left to play.
But Albers answered with another clutch shot a few seconds later, and after a defensive stop, Dirksen hit a pair of free throws to regain the lead for Minster, 26-25. After another stop Schmiesing added two free throws for a 28-25 Wildcat lead with 57 seconds to play.
Hager got the Tigers back to within one, 28-27, but Minster would end the game with two more defensive stops and a free throw by Jenna Belcher.
Despite struggles on the offensive end, Minster coach Mike Wiss was all praise for his defense.
"Offense sells tickets, defense wins games and rebounding wins championships," he said. "Defense always trumps offense in this program."
"After we got down by six, we wanted to change the tempo and get out into their passing lanes more," Wiss added.
The strategy paid off and contributed to some of the 23 turnovers the Tigers had on the night.
Minster's Josephine Hoying shoots a 3-pointer.
Defense ruled the first half as neither team could generate much in the way of scoring. Minster shot 21% from the floor in the first half, which included a 1-for-10 effort behind the arc. The Cats also suffered from early foul trouble.
"We went six and-a-half minutes of the second quarter with four of our starters on the bench," Wiss said. "That only makes us stronger, and gives us confidence in our depth."
A Schmiesing trey gave Minster an 8-7 lead after eight minutes. Versailles would grab a 14-12 advantage in the second, but a bucket by Elise Albers tied the game for intermission.
Minster (3-1 MAC, 11-3 overall) was led by Dirksen and Schmiesing with 10 points each.
The Tigers (3-1, 7-3) got nine points from each Hager and Rowan Schmitmeyer.
Minster hosts Sidney on Monday and travels to Fort Recovery next Thursday.
