New Knoxville trey at buzzer off
the mark
By BRUCE MONNIN
Standard Correspondent
NEW KNOXVILLE — Those who braved the icy roads Thursday
night to watch the St. Henry Lady Redskins visit the New Knoxville
Lady Rangers were treated to a well-played and exciting game.
Kendra Buschur made four consecutive free throws to give St.
Henry the late lead, then the Redskins survived as New Knoxville’s
three-point specialist, Kara Katterheinrich, got a shot off
at the buzzer which bounced off the rim, allowing the Redskins
to slip away with a 57-55 victory.
“It was just a typical MAC game,” lamented New Knoxville
coach Dwain Meckstroh. “We just came up on the short end
of the scale.”
“It was a heck of a game,” St. Henry coach Charles
Maier concurred. “I’m pleased with them. Very pleased
with them.”
The game started out looking nothing like the classic it would
become.
St. Henry ended the first quarter with a 7-1 run to take a 13-7
lead, despite turning the ball over 10 times in the quarter.
Brenda Hemmelgarn excited the visiting crowd as she received
the ball after a Redskins steal and put in a layup just before
the buzzer sounded.
Both teams cranked up the offense in the second quarter.
Katterheinrich led the way for the Rangers, hitting three long-range
treys, the last one tying the game at 25 apiece. St. Henry again
responded with the last points of the quarter, as two foul shots
by Hemmelgarn and a basket by Danielle Kremer propelled the
Redskins to a 29-25 halftime lead.
St. Henry’s inside force, Lindsay Hess, saw little time
on the floor in the game. The Rangers worked the ball inside,
and Hess picked up three early fouls in the first half and fouled
out without playing much in the second half.
“I’m going to ask Lindsay if she wants to go back
and do an hour and a half practice,” Maier joked. “She
didn’t get tired tonight.”
St. Henry scored the first six points of the second half to
stretch the lead to 35-25. But the Rangers fought back as Katterheinrich
buried two more treys and Katie Pfenning added two baskets to
reduce the Redskin lead at the end of the third quarter to 38-35.
The fourth quarter was a tense affair. St. Henry built its lead
to 42-37, but New Knoxville responded with a 10-4 run behind
some great interior passing and nice finishes at the hoop by
freshman Nicole Weight. Kendra Buschur then hit a clutch three-pointer
to tie the game at 49-49. The next four possession resulted
in two baskets for each team to make the score 53-53 with a
minute left to play.
The Rangers had the first chance to take the lead, but missed
both ends of a two-shot foul. Buschur wouldn’t allow the
same fate to befall the Redskins, as after getting fouled she
hit both charity tosses for the 55-53 St. Henry lead.
New Knoxville sharpshooter Katterheinrich then attempted a three-pointer
which missed. Buscher snagged the rebound, was fouled, and again
calmly sank both foul shots which increased the lead to 57-53
with 0:12 remaining.
“They just hit some shots when they had to,” stated
Meckstroh. “Buschur hit the three and she went 4-for-4
from the line.”
Maier agreed. “She (Buschur) did a nice job. She hit the
free throws. She did clutch shooting down the stretch.”
Kendal Bertsch kept the Rangers alive by driving the length
of the court for a basket to make it a two-point game with six
seconds remaining. St. Henry almost turned the ball over on
the inbounds pass, but called their last timeout just before
they were whistled for a five-second infraction. They again
struggled after the timeout, but got the ball inbounds and were
fouled with 3.5 seconds showing on the clock.
After St. Henry missed both free throws, the Rangers hustled
the ball up court and Katterheinrich got off her three-point
attempt just before the buzzer. After it bounced off the rim,
the Redskins celebrated their 57-55 victory.
“We had our best three-point shooter get two good looks,”
reflected Meckstroh. “If she makes one of those two, we’re
walking out of here pretty happy.”
St. Henry blistered the nets for 60 percent shooting from the
field for the game.
“We shot the ball pretty well,” observed Maier.
“Real good for us.”
They needed all of them to overcome New Knoxville’s 6-12
shooting from three-point range.
St. Henry’s overall record rises to 3-9 overall and the
Redskins in the middle of the MAC pack with a 3-3 conference
mark. The Redskins return to action Saturday afternoon when
they host LCC. New Knoxville’s record falls to 8-6 and
also 3-3 in the MAC and the Rangers next travel to Perry on
Monday.
The JV contest was also a tightly contested game, as St. Henry
overcame a nine point deficit after the third quarter to draw
within two points, before New Knoxville pulled away with a late
7-2 run to win 38-31.
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