Still the best

ROCKFORD - Twice Parkway battled back after a slow start, and twice Minster rose to the challenge.

The Wildcats went on an 11-2 run after the Panthers tied it at 46 in the fourth quarter, closing out a 61-52 win in a battle at the top of the Midwest Athletic Conference girls basketball standings at Panther Gymnasium.

"When they got it to five and four and three, and then it was tied at one time, we seemed to answer, which is something that we haven't done lately," Minster coach Mike Wiss said. "I'm really proud of our kids for answering the call. When somebody pressed us, we answered it."

Minster (8-4, 4-0 MAC) led by nine late in the third before Paige Williamson hit her third three of the quarter with 8.9 seconds left to make it 44-38 heading into the fourth. A minute and a half later, Emiree Knittle stepped up for her first shot since the first quarter and cut the lead to three with a trey.

Lilly Barhorst got a bucket on the other end, Allison Hughes cut it back down to three 30 seconds later, and on the Panthers' next possession, it was Knittle who got the call again, draining a three to tie the game at 46 with 4:19 left.

"Paige had a couple good looks in the first half and didn't make them, but had the willingness to keep taking those shots," Parkway coach Dan Williamson said. "Emiree was open a couple times and made two threes, and her willingness to step in and even take the shot, be in that situation, I thought was big."

Minster took its time on offense, working the ball around the outside until it found its way to the left side and to Katie McClurg, who rose up and drained a three with 3:32 remaining to put Minster back in front.

Williamson missed a three, and Ella Mescher took a pass around a Parkway trap and scored in transition. Stober drove for a layup to cut the lead to 51-48, but McClurg hit another three and Mescher stole the ball for a breakaway layup to make it 56-48 with 2:14 to play.

"When we play teams that are good, we just have to be a little better than we were tonight," Williamson said. "We just couldn't quite get over the hump. We were close, we just couldn't make that play, and then they did. I think that was the biggest difference."

Mescher added a free throw to stretch the lead to nine, then blocked a three from Knittle in the left corner and stole the ball after the inbounds pass, allowing the Wildcats to drain more time off the clock. Stober scored again with 43.8 seconds to go and the Wildcats botched the inbounds, allowing Hughes to get an easy layup and make it a five-point game with 35 seconds left.

But from there Parkway (9-3, 3-1 MAC) was forced to foul, and two missed free throws that ricocheted out of bounds were ruled to have bounced off Hughes, giving Minster the chance to close it out from the line.

"Our word today was, 'Take us in the right direction,' " Wiss said. "Hopefully we're taking a couple steps towards that. The last six games have been win, loss, win, loss, win, loss. We've got to take a couple steps in the right direction, hopefully this was the start of that."

The first Parkway run came in the third quarter, as Williamson powered the Panthers resurgence from a 27-18 halftime deficit. After the Wildcats stretched the lead to 10 early in the third, Williamson hit two threes and Stober converted an and-one as Parkway went on an 11-3 run to make it 32-29.

But Minster answered with a short jumper from McClurg followed by a hoop-and-harm by Mescher off a steal. Adria Miller hit a three from Parkway to get the deficit back to five, but Kaycie Albers matched it on the other side.

"I thought we did a pretty nice job defensively in the first half, on their shooters, on trying to limit penetration, on trying to keep Hughes off the glass," Wiss said. "Then the third quarter came, and Williamson, who didn't have a point in the first half, she hit three threes in the right corner."

Minster started out in complete control, scoring the first seven points and keeping Parkway off the board for the first four minutes of the game. Miller broke through with a bucket with 3:47 left in the first and Stober added a three two minutes later, but that was all the offense the Panthers could muster in the first.

The Wildcats defense continued to win its battles in the second quarter, but Stober knocked down a trio of beautiful threes to keep the Panthers in shouting distance.

"For most of the first half, they were dictating where we went offensively, and they went wherever they wanted to on offense," Williamson said. "It's not that we weren't knocking down screens or knocking down cutters, we just weren't being physical and kind of pushing them off their spots. I think in the second half we started to do that a little more, we pressured the ball a little bit more."  

Stober finished with a game-high 24 points. Barhorst scored 21 for Minster and Mescher added 19.

Hughes, who came in averaging 16.7 rebounds per game, was held to eight as the Wildcats tried to keep her in check. All told, Minster out-rebounded Parkway 23-22.

"With our style of defense we're not looking to force turnovers, we're looking to make them take tough shots and then try to rebound the ball," Williamson said. "We didn't rebound as well as we normally do tonight. That's a team thing, that's not a one-player type thing."

Minster forced 15 Panthers turnovers and finished 24-of-56 from the field with a mixture of transition scoring and slowing down their half-court offense.

"When our shot selection is in the B-, C+, C- range, we're not very good," Wiss said. "When we take good shots and have good shot selection, good passes, good decision-making, it's a lot different."

Minster, in a tie with New Knoxville for the MAC lead, hosts recent Division IV powerhouse Ottoville on Saturday before the Rangers come to town next Thursday. Parkway has a week off before facing Delphos St. John's in another MAC game.