St. Marys girls return home to beat Kenton; extend win streak to five.
St. Marys returns home for first time in 35 days; beats Kenton in WBL play
Home sweet home.
It has been 35 days since the last time the Roughriders stepped foot on Grand Lake Health System Court in a regular season basketball game and they didn’t let their longawaited opportunity go to waste.
A fast firstquarter start complemented by shut-down defense in the second half helped extend the Riders’ win streak to five after beating Kenton 56-38 in a Western Buckeye League match on Thursday.
That first quarter saw St. Marys (12-3, 5-1 WBL) jump out to a 16-2 lead, courtesy of a 16-0 run after Kenton’s Lindsey Smith opened the game with a layup.
The Riders’ defense limited the Wildcats to 0-of-5 from the floor, a blocked shot and two turnovers during their 16-0 run and allowed just three points the rest of the quarter on 1-of-8 shooting.
“Something that we have needed to improve on is starting the game with intensity and I thought tonight we did that,” Roughriders coach Jon Burke said. “Defense in the second half came out very impressive and I thought that’s what separated the game for us because Kenton can shoot and if they hit a couple of shots, they are coming right back into the game.”
Ball movement helped space out Smith, a 6-foot-2 senior center for the Wildcats, and open the driving lanes for the Roughriders.
Leading 4-2, Kendall Dieringer fed the ball inside to Noey Ruane, who deposited two for an easy layup. Ruane then returned the favor as Dieringer pushed the lead to 8-2 with 4:36 left in the opening quarter. Dieringer assisted on another Ruane bucket one possession later and Ruane picked up her second assist on a Karsyn McGlothen layup to extend the Riders’ lead to 12-2.
St. Marys then got into the transition game feeding
off its pair of Kenton turnovers with buckets by Dieringer and Elena Menker to culminate the 16-0 run.
“The first quarter we definitely had good ball movement and I thought in the second quarter we got into a rut, but we needed to keep attacking the paint, driving in and kicking out,” Burke said. “We had some shots blocked and I thought that’s what stalled us from attacking and we have to remember to keep getting the ball in the paint and get ball reversals.
“But once we got the ball flying from the perimeter again, we were seeing some open looks.”
Kenton pulled the game to 10 thanks to a 10-2 run as St. Marys committed turnovers on three consecutive possessions and eventually down to six after Jenna Manns connected on a 3-pointer with 2:26 left in the first half.
But St. Marys closed out the half with a transition two by Menker, a 3-pointer by Cora Rable from the right side and a putback bucket by Dieringer to extend the lead to 11, 32-21, at the half.
Smith scored a teamhigh six points in the third quarter for Kenton as the Wildcats kept the game around nine points, but the Riders concluded the quarter on a 9-2 run on a pair of Dieringer free throws, a mid-range jumper by Rable, a running layup by Dieringer and a bucket and foul by Kiley Tennant to push the lead to 16, 46-30, entering the fourth quarter.
“Kiley Tennant had some big hustle plays for us and Haley and Karsyn had their work cut out for them tonight,” Burke said. “[Lindsey] Smith is a big, physical player inside and she finishes well around the rim. She is an underestimated post in the WBL and she is a tough matchup but I thought they played her really well.
“And Noey and Laney were very disruptive on the boards. I am really proud of the effort that they put in.”
The Wildcats never came closer than 16, following a transition basket by Manns, in the fourth quarter.
Dieringer led all scorers with 19 points, followed by nine from Tennant and eight from Rable. Manns paced the Wildcats with 13 points, followed by Smith with 11.
The Roughriders returned home on Thursday for the first time since Dec. 17 against Ottawa-Glandorf. During that seven-game stretch, the team finished 6-1 and culminated the road trip on Tuesday with an upset win against No. 11-ranked Marion Local.
Burke said he learned a lot about his team in those 35 days as they look to finish strong before seedings come out next Sunday.
“That LCC team was pretty good and I thought we learned some things about our defense back then and Spencerville was a frustrating game for us,” Burke added. “They were very disruptive to our offense, they’re physical and I think that was a type of game that we needed to learn to hold our own and not get pushed around because Van Wert was honestly kind of the same thing.
“Halftime at Van Wert was a big moment for our season because I think we were being complacent and we needed to force action, we needed to be more aggressive and we needed to be on the boards and the girls really turned it around in that game.”
St. Marys overcame a 17-point halftime deficit the next week to upset New Bremen in a game Burke felt was an instance where his team needed to play together.
“That was a big confidence booster for our team,” he added. “We weren’t always playing as a team all of the time to begin that road trip and we had some big games that tested us a little bit and the girls really came together and played as a team and that’s what we are doing right now.”
Then came the game against the Flyers where Burke felt the girls accepted their roles on the team after coming away with a win in a physical game.
The Roughriders have three games left before the sectional seedings are to be released and the next two are critical. St. Marys will travel on Saturday to Bryan, a team who competes in the Paulding District, and No. 2-ranked Minster on Tuesday.
“We’re getting people off the bench a lot faster and we are getting rotations better and keeping our legs fresher,” Burke concluded. “I think that has kept the pressure and intensity up and that has been big because our bench has been playing so well.”
The St. Marys junior varsity team continues to play well with another victory on Thursday by beating the Wildcats 44-22.
Morgan Hesse paved the way with 16 points, followed by Ella Jacobs with seven points.