Lady Redskins rout St. Henry in opener
Experience can pay off in many ways.
The Wapakoneta girls basketball team had the start of the 2020- 21 season disrupted by COVID- 19, including a two- week quarantine period.
In spite of that, they took the court Monday night and rolled to a 58- 30 victory over St. Henry in nonleague action, using the knowledge of their veterans to great effect.
Coach Rusty Allen noted that the quarantine plus the Thanksgiving holiday meant that the team had only a few days of practice to get ready for the opener.
“I was definitely impressed with the away we executed and performed on both the offensive and defensive end,” he said.
The Wapakoneta defense pressured the other set of Redskins into a number of turnovers and missed shots. They also held St. Henry scoreless in the second quarter as they went from trailing by two to leading by 11 at the half.
“We’re not blessed with a lot of height, so we try to have our defense create some offense,” said Allen. He added that St. Henry is a young team, and will improve in the future.
Allie Wilson led the scoring with 15 points, with Addy Allen adding 13 and Nikane Ambos making it a trio in double figures with 11 points. Nearly the entire roster contributed to the scoring in some way.
For St. Henry, Claire Wendel had 11 and Mya Ontrop scored eight.
St. Henry had the initial edge, taking a 7- 2 lead in the first few minutes. With just under five minutes to go, Ambos was fouled under the basket and hit both shots. Wilson then hit a three- pointer to tie the game.
After scores by Jalynn Everman and Ontrop, Casey Minnig hit a pair of foul shots with 19 seconds left to keep matters close.
A long pass by Ambos to Minnig led to the first Wapakoneta score of the second period. Next came Allen and Taylor Jenkins connecting from long distance, and Allen passing to Ambos .
St. Henry had some chances to score, but could not connect once during the eight minutes. Allen hit another long- range shot with one minute to play, making it 22- 11 for the hosts at intermission.
Allen then started the second half the way she had ended the first, with a shot for three with just 20 seconds off the clock. A basket by Everman ended the St. Henry drought.
Allen then knocked away an errant pass, and took it all the way to the other end for layup. Ambos followed with a score with 4: 57 to play.
A few seconds later,
St. Henry’s coach called the team’s final timeout. He had used his first less than a minute into the contest. By contrast, Wapakoneta didn’t need one all night.
Scores by Ambos and Wilson with one by St. Henry in between pushed the lead up to 20 points, 33- 13
Another hustle play for the host Redskins came when Minnig went to the free throw line late in the period. She made the first, but missed the second. However, sophomore Reagan Courter streaked in, grabbed the rebound and scored. After a St. Henry basket, Wilson closed out the period in style with a long two- pointer from the right side for a 38- 18 cushion.
Wendel got the first points of the fourth for St. Henry. Wilson responded first with a three- pointer, then scoring on a fast break.
Wapakoneta continued adding to its total. With 4 1/ 2 minutes to go, Katie Lisi was fouled and went to the line and hit both shots to put the Redskins at 50 points. Lisi was seeing her first action in quite some time after a lengthy recovery from injury.
St. Henry hit several free throws in the final minutes to boost its total a bit, but the outcome was well settled at that point. The final points for Wapakoneta came on a three by Wilson and a two by Abby Metzger.
Game Notes
With the reduced crowd making little noise, coaches and players could be heard well as they communicated.
The junior varsity squads played two quarters, with Wapakoneta outscoring St. Henry 18- 13. Elisabeth Good had six points, Georgia Schroeder and Kierra Siefring each scored four, and Makenzie Schroeder and Taylor Resor had two points apiece.
Wapakoneta will be home again on Thursday, when they will host Ottawa- Glandorf in the first Western Buckeye League game of the season. The Lady Titans were 25- 2 last year, reaching the regional finals in Division III. They are 3- 0 so far this season, defeating Kalida, Spencerville, and Tinora.
Score by quarters
St. Henry 11 0 7 12 -- 30 Wapakoneta 9 13 16 20 -- 58
ST. HENRY ( 30)
Miranda Siefring 0- 0- 0- 0- 0; Lydia Werling 1- 0- 3- 4- 5; Lauren Beyke
0- 0- 0- 0- 0; Claire Wendel 3- 1- 2- 4- 11; Jalynn Everman 2- 0- 0- 0- 4; Rosa Stucke 0- 0- 2- 2- 2; Claire Puthoff 0- 0- 0- 0- 0; Mya Ontrop 4- 0- 0- 0- 8; Alayna Ahlers 0- 0- 0- 00; TOTALS 10- 1- 7- 10- 30.
WAPAKONETA ( 58)
Katie Lisi 0- 0- 2- 2- 2; Abby Metzger
1- 0- 0- 0- 2; Taylor Jenkins 0- 2- 0- 0- 6; Nikane Ambos 4- 0- 3- 4- 11; Allie Wilson 3- 3- 0- 0- 15; Addy Allen 2- 3- 0- 0- 13; Taylor Resor 0- 0- 0- 0- 0; Casey Minnig 1- 0- 3- 4- 5; Reagan Courter 1- 0- 0- 0- 2; Makenzie Schroeder 0- 0- 0- 0- 0; Alyssa Harrod 1- 00- 0- 2; TOTALS 13- 8- 8- 10- 58.