Flyers hold off Bulldogs for championship

CELINA - The championship game of the 30th OVISCO Classic was a back-and-forth battle as the lead changed hands four times in the final five minutes.

Emily Mescher's jumper with 42 seconds left put Marion Local up 43-42, but the Flyers needed a big defensive effort in the final 4.8 seconds to beat the host Bulldogs to claim the championship plaque.

In the consolation game, Coldwater received a big night from sophomore Maura Hoying to hold off St. Henry 57-51 to claim third place.

Marion and Coldwater are both in action tonight. Marion hosts Waynesfield-Goshen and Coldwater travels to Spencerville. Celina hosts New Bremen on Saturday in a 10 a.m. JV start. St. Henry is off until Dec. 1 when the Redskins travel to Ansonia.
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Marion Local 43, Celina 42

Neither the Bulldogs nor the Flyers could gain a large advantage throughout the game. Marion's biggest lead was at 16-9 early in the second quarter before Celina stormed back with a 15-6 run to end the half. Jenna Berry tied the game at 22 with 1:19 left and then with five seconds left, Mackenzie Moorman hit a jumper in the paint to put Celina up 24-22 at the half.

"It was a back and forth game," Marion coach Beth Streib said. "They were trying to slow us down with their zone (defense). We tried to push it up (the court) if we could."

Marion took the lead early in the third quarter and was up 30-26 at the halfway point. Stahl cut the Bulldogs' deficit to 32-31 with a buzzer-beating jumper and after Sarah Fesenmyer put Marion up 34-31 early in the fourth quarter, Berry hit a three-pointer to tie the game.

The teams tied two more times at 36- and 39-all midway through the final stanza. Hillary McGillvary hit the front end of a two-shot foul with 2:52 left to put Celina up one and then she missed the second, but the Bulldogs rebounded. After a Bulldog 30-second timeout, McGillvary put Celina up 42-39 with a layup.

"We had our chances to win, no doubt," Celina coach Steve Bader said. "We executed on offense."

Marion tried to get the ball in to Mescher, who had been slowed by Celina's zone defense most of the evening. Mescher cut it to 42-41 with 91 seconds left. Celina turned the ball over on its next possession and the Flyers went to work to get the lead. Mescher took a pass inside the paint near the foul line and sank the jumper with 42 seconds left to put the Flyers up one. Celina tried to counter, but Chloe Bertke rebounded a Bulldog miss and Streib called timeout with 8.2 seconds left.

Celina ratcheted up the pressure and knocked the ball out of bounds on two straight attempts, taking several seconds off the clock. On the third try, the Flyers were unable to get the ball in or call timeout in time to avoid the five-second call, giving Celina the ball under their basket with 4.8 seconds left.

After two straight Celina timeouts, the Bulldogs put the ball into play. Kelly Stahl tried a jumper but it hit the iron. Berry rebounded and tried a shot and missed. Trish Dennis got the board and tried to get the shot off before the buzzer but missed.

"I told the girls we had to switch (on defense) and talk, whatever we had to do at the end," Streib said. "Defensively, we stepped up when we had to."  

"We had bad mistakes at the wrong time," Bader said. "We told the girls after the game that we'll use this as a learning experience."

Mescher scored six of her game-high 12 points in the fourth quarter. Fesenmyer added 10 points.

Stahl was the only Celina player in double figures with 10. Heather Heiby and Berry each had nine and McGillvary scored eight.
CONSOLATION GAME
Coldwater 57, St. Henry 51

The Cavaliers jumped out to a 6-0 lead as the Redskins didn't score their first points until nearly halfway through the first quarter. Once St. Henry got on the board, though, they matched up evenly with Coldwater, tying them at 16-all at the the end of the first quarter on an Alexis Ontrop three-pointer and then using a Cara Brockman hoop-and-harm three-pointer at the buzzer to tie the game at 31-all at the half.

The teams were unable to score for nearly two minutes before Denise Schwieterman broke the tie with a bucket. The basket sparked a 7-0 run to put the Cavaliers in front 38-31 before Allison Siefring hit a free throw to break the streak. The Cavaliers outscored the Redskins 15-7 in the quarter to take a 46-38 lead.

"We definitely stepped it up (with) the things we needed to do - penetration and attacking the basket - which we didn't quite do Saturday (in the loss to Celina)," Coldwater coach Connie May said. "They came through today.

"We did what we needed to do. That's a positive."

Hoying, who had 10 points at the half and added six more in the third quarter, went to work in the final quarter, scoring 10 more points to finish with a game-high 26 points.

"Maura played a tremendous game today," May said of Hoying.

"The one thing we were lacking was (on) the defensive end," St. Henry coach Kurt Huelsman said. "(Coldwater) did an excellent job of attacking us."

The Cavaliers took advantage of the Redskins fouling, going to the line 33 times and hitting 25 free throws. Hoying was a perfect 10-of-10 in the game from the stripe.

"When you make 25 free throws, that's pretty tough to come back from," Huelsman said.

Kendra Rose stepped up for St. Henry as Brockman and Ellie Stammen both had foul trouble. Rose scored 17 to lead St. Henry.