Monarchs overcome Redskins with late surge

WAPAKONETA — Marysville rallied past Wapakoneta in the fourth

quarter of a 31-28 nonconference decision Saturday afternoon.

The Monarchs (4-0 overall) trailed 26-22 with 8 minutes to play but scored

nine of the final 11 points to send the Redskins (2-2) to their second loss in four games.

Allie Wilson’s 3-point attempt at the buzzer would

have allowed Wapakoneta to tie the game and force

overtime but the shot hit the back of the iron and

bounced away. She finished with seven points for WHS.

A left-corner jumper from Katie Lisi handed the Redskins a 28-24 lead with 2:53 remaining but Wapakoneta went scoreless the rest of the way. Lisi led Wapakoneta with eight points.

“I think we let this one get away from us,” Wapakoneta coach Rusty Allen said. “I don’t think we played well ... at all today … but we had our chances and didn’t execute in that fourth quarter.”

Alyssa Strahm scored all five of her points during Marysville’s 9-2 fourthquarter run. Her 3-pointer with 1:53 to play trimmed

the WHS lead to 28-27 before Leah Brown’s steal and

transition layup gave the Monarchs a 29-28 lead with 1:15 left.

Late turnovers hurt Wapakoneta on three of its final four possessions.

“We thought our keys today were to rebound and take care of the ball and we

didn’t do a good job od either one of them,” Allen

said. “We had ourselves with 20 turnovers and not

many second-chance points from our offensive rebounds. If we don’t do those two things, it’s going to be tough to pull out a W.”

Allen said the Redskins’ defense allowed Wapakoneta to remain competitive and keep the game within reach, but its offense has to execute more effectively.

A steal by Jojo Eberhart with 8 seconds remaining led to the Marysville point guard making a pair of free

throws and extending the Monarchs’ advantage to 3128.

“That’s usually something that does a good job for us, trying to be aggressive (get

steals) in the backcourt. Flying around and getting

some easy opportunities off some steals,” Marysville coach Klarke Ransome said.

“Give a lot of credit to Wapak for being a tough, physical, wellcoached team. I knew they would be,” Ransome said. “We had a tough game (Friday

night against Hilliard Darby) that we won by three. This was a

grind-it-out kind of win, and I’m proud of

my team for doing that.”

Marysville struggled to make its free throws, going 5 of 14 in the game and 4 of 11 in the fourth quarter. WHS was limited to a 2 of 5 effort at the freethrow line overall.

The Redskins trailed 8-5 after 8 minutes but used a 12-9 secondquarter advantage to tie the game at 17 at the half.

A 3-point play from Addy Allen and a leftcorner 3-pointer from Nikane Ambos pushed Wapakoneta

on a 6-0 second-quarter run and gave WHS

an 11-10 lead with 5:42 left before halftime.

Eberhart, who led

all scorers with 13 points, had seven

markers in the second quarter. She sandwiched a pair of layups around a rightwing 3-pointer during the final 5 minutes of the first half to give the Monarchs a 17-15 lead with 37 seconds showing.

Wapakoneta went into the locker room at the break after a basket from Wilson tied the game at 17.

The Redskins, ignited by a 6-0 run, enjoyed their largest lead of the game at 2318 in the third quarter. Reagan Courter (six

points) scored twice — with a putback and a

transition layup — while Lisi added a

transition layup during the surge.

A pair of baskets from Eberhart in the third quarter trimmed the WHS lead to 25-22 with 13 seconds left

before Addy Allen made 1 of 2 free throws to give the Redskins a four-point

advantage heading to the fourth quarter.