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Monday, 26 February 2007 |
 Wapakoneta?s Devon Golden takes possession of the basketball Saturday night in the sectional final against the St. Marys Roughriders at Lima Senior. (Staff photo/ William Laney)
By PHIL McLEAN
Staff Writer
LIMA — Two minutes into the fourth period of the Division II varsity girls sectional finals Saturday, St. Marys Roughrider senior Steph Platt tied the score at 33, but when the Roughriders missed three attempts on three separate possessions — the Western Buckeye League champion Wapakoneta Redskins capitalized.
The Redskins turned the resulting rebounds into points, including a flurry of free throws during the next 4 minutes allowing Wapakoneta to build a 10-point lead on their way to a hard-fought 46-37 win.
“In the fourth period, when we needed it, we looked them in the eyes and said, ‘You’ve got to go out there and play defense,’” Wapakoneta coach Brad Rex said. “I think our defensive pressure got us going.”
St. Marys coach Tim Niekamp agreed with that assessment.
“We wanted to get out on their shooters,” he said. “We had the game tied, but they got the rebounds and took it to the hoop.”
The defensive effort led in the fourth period lead to a 10-point run by the Redskins, who earned their first tournament win since the 1997-98 season. Wapakoneta, 18-3 on the season, won this rematch with the St. Marys Roughriders, who fall to 8-13 on the season, to earn a rematch Thursday in Findlay against another Western Buckeye League foe — the Bath Wildcats, who needed overtime to defeat the Elida Bulldogs, 58-50.
The winner of that game will play the winner of the Celina Bulldogs and Ottawa-Glandorf Titans game. Celina defeated the Shawnee Indians, 47-40, while the Titans destroyed the Bowling Green Bobcats 58-20.
Saturday night’s rematch between the Redskins and Roughriders proved far different from their earlier meeting this year — a 70-45 win by the Redskins.
With the score tied 31-31 at the end of the third period, both teams traded buckets before Rex called the timeout to inspire the defensive play of his squad. Wapakoneta answered with the 10-0 run, which included four free throws by senior guard Lindsey Kentner. Kentner scored eight of her 15 points in the final stanza to become game high scorer.
St. Marys jumped out a to quick lead in the first period, but the Redskins chipped away including a Kentner 3-pointer at the buzzer to bring Wapakoneta within a bucket at 12-10. The Redskins went on a 13-4 run in the second period, before St. Marys hit a 3-pointer in the closing seconds to trail, 23-19.
St. Marys started the second half with a bucket and the pressure mounted on the Redskins. Three times during the third period, the Roughriders grabbed a 1-point lead. During the game, there were five ties and seven lead changes before Wapakoneta grabbed the lead for good in the fourth period.
Wapakoneta took advantage of 23 St. Marys turnovers and outrebounded the Roughriders, 29-22.
Sophomore guard-forward Devon Golden helped Kentner offensively by scoring 12 points in the win, with freshman post player Heidi Schlegel hitting for 10 points. Senior guard Abby Snider and junior post player Abby Harrod each scored 4 points.
Sophomore guard Lea Mackenbaugh, who hit three 3-pointers on the night, scored 14 points to lead all scorers for St. Marys. Platt, a senior post player, scored 13 points during her final game with the Roughriders.
“Our kids really played hard,” Niekamp said.
Rex remained low key after the game, as he watched members of his team cut down the nets.
“We’re happy,” he said. “We won the sectional.”
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 27 February 2007 )
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