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Friday, 08 February 2008 |
Wapak seniors win final home game
 Wapakoneta senior Katie Greve looks to pass the basketball to a teammate during Thursday’s WBL contest against Elida at Wapakoneta High School. (Staff photo/ Brad Avery)
By PHIL McLEAN
Staff Writer
The Wapakoneta seniors gave Redskin fans a goodbye present Thursday, but it was the juniors and a sophomore that made it possible, pacing Wapakoneta to a 58-44 Western Buckeye League win over Elida in the final home game of the season. In fact it was the final regular season game for both teams.
The Redskins said farewell to four seniors who were playing in front of the hometown crowd for the last time. Katie Greve, Abby Harrod, Lindsey Knoch and Jenna Steveley were honored during ceremonies between games.
When the festivities ended and the game started, it was the next crop of players who stepped up to make the recognition sweet.
Christy Steinke and Devon Golden put the Redskins out in front of the Bulldogs 5-0 and that’s where Wapakoneta stayed the rest of the game.
“I think we caught them by surprise,” said Wapakoneta varsity coach Brad Rex, who for the second time in four years finishes the regular season with one game shy of the scheduled 20, after the Allen East game, set to be played a few days ago was cancelled because of heavy fog in the area and the threat of flooding due to heavy rains.
But whether the final season record is 19 or 20 games means nothing to Rex.
“I told the girls that our record is 0-0,” Rex said as the team now begins to look forward to the tournament next week.
Before getting to the tournament, Wapakoneta had to get by an Elida team that was better than their 5-14 record would indicate. But the Redskins, who have improved immeasurably since the beginning of the year, seemed almost unimpressed by the Bulldogs.
By the end of the first quarter, Wapakoneta had built a 19-7 lead.
“This being senior night, those girls played with some emotion,” Rex said.
And that emotion carried over to the entire team.
By halftime, Wapakoneta had doubled the score on the Bulldogs.
“I thought we played really well in the first half,” Rex said. “We surprised them and got some easy baskets.”
Harrod opened the second half with a bucket, but the Redskins went cold. Wapakoneta didn’t score another point for 5 minutes. Then it seemed Wapakoneta got it’s second breath and by the end of the third period held a 12-point lead.
Elida fought back, cutting the Wapakoneta advantage to eight with just over 3 minutes to play, but the Redskins held tough and finished with the 14-point win.
“Elida has got some real nice shooters and they aren’t going to quick, so a win in the WBL is a good thing,” Rex said.
Elida finishes the year at 5-15 and ends the WBL season 1-8. Elida got 10 points from junior Chelsea Mathias. Wapakoneta finishes 4-5 in the conference and are 12-7 overall. Golden led the Redskins with 18 points. Steinke had 12, Heidi Schlegel contributed 11 and Jenna Steveley added 10. Elida took home a win in the junior varsity game 38-34. Emma Sawmiller led the Redskin reserves, who finish the season at 8-11, by scoring 10 points.
Wapakoneta will tangle with Van Wert Tuesday in Division II tournament action. |
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 09 February 2008 )
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