Rangers win opener

NEW KNOXVILLE — A 33-16 outscoring in the second and third quarters combined paved the way for a 51- 44 victory for the New Knoxville Rangers girls basketball team against Marion Local in a Midwest Athletic Conference opener on Thursday.

“I knew when we started the game that we had to hit some outside shots,” Rangers coach Tim Hegemier said. “They are very good inside and you have to be on top of your game to beat Marion. It always seems to take us four or five minutes to get going. It just takes somebody to hit a couple

of shots to get our confidence going.”

New Knoxville (2- 0, 1- 0 MAC) trailed 12-9 entering the second quarter, but added 17 points in the second quarter, including a pair of 3-pointers from Haley Fledderjohann, to lead 26-20 at the half.

New Knoxville got the momentum to open the quarter with Fledderjohann’s try to tie the game at 12-12 and Avery Henschen gave the Rangers their first lead on a hoop and the harm at the 6:24 mark leaden 15-12.

The Rangers never trailed from there as senior Morgan Leffel scored six third-quarter points and Ellie Gabel added five to push the Rangers’ lead to 42- 28 entering the fourth quarter.

Four players finished in double figures, led by Gabel with 14 and Avery Henschen with 13 points. Leffel contributed 12 points and Fledderjohann rounded out the double digit scoring with 10 points.

Marion Local (2-2, 0-1) was led by Heidi Rethman’s 18 points.

The New Knoxville junior varsity team fell 33-28.

The Rangers will travel on Saturday to St. Marys.

JUNIOR HIGH GIRLS BASKETBALL

WAPAKONETA — The St. Marys Roughriders junior high girls basketball team swept Wapakoneta on Thursday.

The seventh-grade team improved to 2-1 with a 48-11 victory, led by three players who scored double digits.

Lauren Jacobs led the Riders with 15 points, followed by Sophie Menker and Madi Steger with 12 points and 10 points, respectively.

Ava Klosterman added four points while Hannah Brackman, Ady Van De Keere and Delanni Wilker scored two points each. Logan Henschen chipped in a free throw.

The eighth graders shot the ball well winning 41-14 improving to 2-1 on the season.

Reese Rable paced the Riders with 17 points which included five 3-pointers.

Cadence Hirschfeld contributed 12 points including a 3-pointer. Addi Plattner added six points while Leah Brackman, Chloe Ott, and Reghan Puthoff scored two points each.

The girls play Monday at New Bremen.