Wildcats rout Versailles
VERSAILLES — The Minster Wildcats girls basketball team opened their season on the road with a 63-27 win against the Versailles Tigers on Thursday at Versailles High School.
Their first game since the state semifinals were canceled last March because of the COVID-19, in addition to having their first three games canceled or postponed to start this season, Wildcats head coach Mike Wiss expressed his feelings as the program finally got to get back on the court.
“Two and a half weeks in the making there,” said Wiss. “Hopefully those games get rescheduled. We’ll still be okay, just a little bit later start.
Early on, both teams offenses were able to get going, with each team answering each other.
Minster (1- 0, 1- 0 MAC) senior guard Ivy Wolf responded
to Versailles (1- 4, 0-2) scoring first with a wing three-pointer, then it was junior forward Ella Mescher up ahead to answer an inside post move from Versailles followed by a nice move from senior Dana Prenger in the post to give Minster a 7- 6 lead two and a half minutes in.
“We’ve worked quite a bit on making sure we develop our post game inside,” said Wiss. “If we can start to score a bit, Dana Prenger hit a dribble to her left drop step, left hand layup early in the first quarter. You do something like that early in the game, someone has to take notice of that. Even if it’s just a step. That’s what I addressed at a (Versailles) timeout. The development of the post-game can really do wonders to the outside game for us.”
Versailles took a brief lead but 8-7, but Minster ended the quarter on a 6-1 run with a Mescher run out ahead for a layup on an assist from Wolf making it 13-8 before a Versailles free throw made it 13-9 to end the opening quarter.
In the second quarter, the pace quickened in Minster’s favor as they outscored Versailles 12-2 in the first 3:16 of play.
A three ball from Minster senior guard Janae Hoying, a hook in the post from senior forward Brynn Oldiges, a Wolf three pointer, two Wolf free throws and a pass from Hoying to senior forward Mason Pohl accounting for the flurry of Minster points with the lone basket a Versailles jumper in that span.
“The second quarter and third quarter our attempts were kick out threes,” said Wiss. “They weren’t reversal threes or off the dribble threes. They were getting it into the paint and kick it out. I was happy with that.”
Overall, Minster outscored Versailles 22-7 in the second quarter as a banked on three pointer from Minster junior forward Alyssa Niemeyer with under a minute in the half made it 35-16.
“One thing we addressed at halftime was Versailles offensive rebounding,” said Wiss. “They had two possessions down here late second quarter where they had three or four offensive rebounds. Some of that comes from not helping on rotation, some from getting beat on the dribble.”
Transition buckets continued to grow the Minster lead in the third quarter and the defense tightened in the second half as they allowed just 11 points, five in the third and six in the fourth, in the second half.
Offensively, all the points came from the trio of Wolf (8), Hoying (5) and Mescher (2) as Minster took a 50-21 lead into the fourth quarter.
Wolf (30), Mescher (11) and Hoying (8) combined for 49 of the 63 points scored by Minster.
“Ivy shot the ball super, just a heady kid, understands the game well,” said Wiss. “Janae and Ivy complement each other so well; Ella was on the floor for only how long? And she still had 11 points. That’s what she can be, we saw that middle to the end of last year as a compliment to those guards.”