Wolf, Hoying give ‘Cats control of conference
MINSTER — A 20-1 run to end the first half put the Wildcats firmly in control as they outscored the Flyers 31-10 in the second half to complete a 64-27 rout in Midwest Athletic Conference action on Thursday.
Early on, both teams played stout defense.
The Wildcats (13-1, 6-0 MAC) had their misses at the rim but the Flyers (13-4, 4-2) were in their face with a tight man to man defense.
The Wildcats pressed from the get go and saw that lead to many east baskets as the game wore on.
An and one bucket inside for that Flyers Alana Pohlman put the Marion Local up 5-0 with 4:46 in the opening quarter.
The Wildcats finally got on the scoreboard on the next possession on a post up basket from Ivy Wolf.
A few possessions later, Ella Mescher had a steal that led to a basket inside from Brynn Oldiges to give the Wildcats their first lead, 6-5.
Mescher finished with four points and a team-high 10 rebounds.
Flyers’ Lindsey Koenig had consecutive baseline jumpers to put the Flyers back in the lead before Wolf drove and found Mason Pohl for a baseline jumper with under five seconds to go to cut the Flyers’ lead to 9-8 after one quarter.
The teams traded baskets to start the second quarter, with a Wildcats’ turnover leading to a post-up basket for Flyers’ Heidi Rethman that put them up 1613 around the five-minute mark.
After that, the Wildcats went on a 20-0 to go up 3316.
“When we went down 1716, they scored a layup and were up three, we called a timeout,” said Flyers coach Beth Streib. “From there it just continued on. We relaxed a little bit, they picked up the intensity and were more aggressive. We didn’t
respond.”
“You hit one (shot), we knew as well as anyone, scoring is contagious,” said Wildcats coach Mike Wiss. “We got a couple shots that went in, it brings energy to the floor. I give credit not only to the people on the floor but our bench is really good. Our bench gives great minutes, our bench gives great energy.”
First, Wolf threaded a pass to a cutting Jenna Heuker for a layup. Then, Janae Hoying went on a 7-0 run by herself — a pull up transition jumper, a steal and a layup following that jumper and a transition 3pointer after a Flyers’ timeout that put them up 2216 with two and a half minutes left in the half.
After that, it was a Wolf and one that was followed by Minster’s press forcing another turnover that Wolf’s 3-pointer to put the Wildcats up 28-16.
Wolf found Hoying for another transition three and that was immediately followed by a Wolf steal and layup that put them up 33-16 and forced yet another Flyers’ timeout with 51 seconds left in the first half.
Wolf had 17 first half points and Hoying had 10. Hoying led the team with 22 points, two steals and two rebounds while Wolf added 20 points, two assists and three steals. Pohlman led the team with seven points, three assists, three blocks and three rebounds while Rethman and Koenig added six points each.
“One of the biggest parts of the first half was Ella Mescher on defense,” said Wiss. “She had six deflections on Pohlman. Dana Prenger had a steal on Pohlman. Some of those steals occurred when (Sammy) Hoelscher was off the court because she had two fouls. Our guard pressure, when their main point guard isn’t out there.”
Wiss also referenced last year’s 33-32 regular season loss at Marion Local.
“Those games have the tendency to be a football game,” said Wiss. “There’s no flow to the game. Balls on the floor every time, deflections. You don’t get any flow, no pace. Today, we established a pace with that run. It was back and forth for the first eight, even 10 minutes maybe.”
The Flyers started the second half on a 5-0 run to cut the Wildcats’ lead to 33-22 with around five and a half minutes to go in the third quarter as the first Wildcats’ basket of the second half didn’t come until over the halfway mark to make it 35-22 — a Mescher basket inside.
After a Flyer free throw, Hoying hit her third 3-pointer of the game with around three and a half minutes to go to put the Wildcats back up by 15 points, 38-23.
Another Wildcats run, this time 8-0, put them up 22 points with under a minute to go in the third and they took a 46-26 lead into the fourth quarter after a Koenig jumper.
In the fourth quarter the Wildcats outscored the Flyers 18-1.
The win puts the Wildcats in the driver’s seat in the MAC race.
“I think it’s in the back of the girls mind,” said Wiss on winning a MAC title. “We addressed it once this week on Monday before practice and never mentioned it since. But its Marion Local (tonight), it doesn’t matter. It’s that type of game, you know what it’s going to be.”