Rangers girls basketball team remains unbeaten with win against Anna.
ANNA — An 8- 0 run to open the fourth quarter and rebounds off missed free throws to keep possession late helped New Knoxville secure a 38-26 non- conference victory against Anna on Saturday in girls basketball action.
“That last half we just needed to finish around the basket,” Rangers coach Tim Hegemier said. “We had good looks, we just needed to finish our shots inside. Free throws were absolutely terrible in the last four minutes — we hit 75% of them and we won by 20 points.
“But, aW is a W and you’ve got to give Anna credit, they are quick and they really go hard to the basketball.”
With the game tied at 22- 22 entering the final eight minutes, New Knoxville broke the tie on a pair of free throws by Avery Henschen following a missed shot by Ellie Gabel and a rebound and foul for the junior. That was followed by a bucket and foul by Morgan Leffel and a kickoff pass from Henschen to her sister Carsyn in the right corner to lead 30-22 with 5:37 left to play in regulation.
The game never drew closer than four as the Rangers (5- 0) looked to put the game away on free throws — and while they did — the team iced the game on rebounds off those free-throw attempts instead.
Leading 34-26, Avery Henschen went to the line with 1:31 left in the game for a one-and-one, but missed the foul shot as Leffel came down with the rebound to maintain possession. Gabel then drew a foul 15 seconds later, but missed her one-and-one attempt that was pulled down by Leffel, who drew the foul for two shots with 1:14 remaining.
“When we were shooting free throws and Morgan got the offensive rebound, that was huge,” Hegemier added. “Little efforts like that can change a game real quick.”
Leffel missed both, but Henschen snatched the rebound and drew another foul where she too missed both shots as the team went 0-for- 6 at the charity stripe during that stretch, but burned 31 seconds off the clock in the process.
After a missed 3-point attempt at the other end, Carsyn Henschen drained a foul shot to go up two possessions, 35-28 with 47.3 seconds remaining. Anna London Reiss missed her two free throws with 39.6 seconds remaining and Leffel made a foul shot at the other end with 33.6 seconds left to seal the
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game.
Through the first 25:26 of Saturday’s game, the Rangers were 11-of-13 from the free- throw line, but finished the last 3:34 going just 2-of-10.
“It’s not characteristic of us to do that so hopefully they’ll spend a little bit more [on it],” Hegemier said. “They really worked their tails off and they were a little bit tired because most of their shots were a little bit short.”
Despite those struggles at the line, it was business as usual for New Knoxville’s defense, who limited the Rockets to 32.3 (11-of- 34) from the floor as the Rockets’ only scorer through the first 9:50 was Ella Doseck unit Breann Reaman hit a 3-pointer to give Anna its first lead of the game, 16-15, with 6:10 left in the second quarter.
“But I am somewhat satisfied with my defense,” Hegemier said. “There are a few breakdowns but you won’t be perfect.”
Anna pushed its lead to 20-17 following Reaman’s jumper while the Rangers had yet to connect on a field goal (0-of-7 from the floor) until Leffel broke Anna’s 9-2 advantage with a putback following a missed 3-pointer and Carsyn Henschen did the same with 1:23 remaining as the Rangers regained the lead, 21-20.
Avery Henschen scored on a foul shot to push the lead to two but Mary Lanis’ only points came on a putback with 32 seconds left to end the third quarter tied at 22-22.
The Rangers fell in the junior varsity game 52-26.
New Knoxville will host Versailles on Thursday as the Rangers look to go 3- 0 in conference play.