The Daily Standard
Story Archive
Celina's Rachel Rammel (4) tries to block the shot attempt of Defiance's Alexandra Fernandez (33).
CELINA - At times over the past few seasons, Celina had struggled with spells that hampered them.
Thursday night, Celina suffered an early spell, but the squad shrugged it off and regained control, taking the lead for good with 5:11 remaining in the third quarter and hung on for the final 13 minutes of the game to open Western Buckeye League girls basketball play with a 37-32 win over Defiance at the Fieldhouse.
The win was the first of the season for Celina, improving to 1-2 and 1-0 in the WBL.
"We had a little moment," said Celina coach Bret Baucher. "To their credit, they reset and came back together to do what we needed to do."
Celina got out to an early start in the battle of Bulldogs, leading 8-2 with just over five minutes elapsed in the first quarter. Brenna Korte hit a 3-pointer with 27 seconds remaining in the quarter to put Celina in front 11-5 after one.
Celina's Miley Werntz (22) and Lilly Shreffler (32) put pressure on a Defiance player.
Defiance started to crawl back into the game, needing just over 2 1/2 minutes in a defensive second quarter to trim the margin to 11-9 as Celina went scoreless over four minutes before Brenna Korte scored to break the skid. Defiance tied the game at 13-all with 2:26 to play in the half on a bucket from Aliana Stantz, but Lilly Shreffler quickly broke the tie with two free throws as Celina took a 17-15 lead into the half.
Defiance kept plugging to start the third quarter as Isabella Rowlison gave her team its first lead of the night at 21-20 with 6:07 remaining in the quarter. Rachel Rammel quickly put Celina back in front with a bucket while getting fouled with 5:11 remaining in the quarter. Rammel missed the and-1, but Celina rebounded and set up Brooke Baucher for a 3-pointer with 4 1/2 minutes to play to push the lead to 25-21.
The game then turned into a point-counterpoint contest. Defiance got to within two points three times to wrap up the third quarter, then neither team could score for the first two minutes of the fourth quarter before Alaina Vehorn hit two free throws to give Celina a 31-27 margin. Another free throw from Alexa Pearson gave Celina its biggest lead since the first quarter at 32-27. Rowlison knocked down Defiance's only trey of the night with 5:10 to play to cut the Celina lead to 32-30, but that was all the closer Defiance got as Celina was clutch at the foul line. Vehorn hit four straight in a 16 second span, then Brooke Baucher added a free throw with six seconds remaining to close out the night.
"We hit some clutch free throws," said coach Baucher, a nod to the squad making 14-of-19 from the stripe. "Alaina responded from being in foul trouble in the first half by coming in and being aggressive to get us going offensively in the second half."
Celina's Brinley Korte (20) goes up for a layup between Defiance's Aliana Stantz (3) and Isabella Rowlison (2) during Thursday's WBL girls basketball game at the Fieldhouse.
Vehorn finished with 10 points. Brenna Korte added seven points with Rachel Rammel and Brooke Baucher scoring six each.
Alexandra Fernandez finished with 10 points and 12 rebounds to lead Defiance. Rowlison added seven.
Celina's game with St. Henry on Saturday is postponed due to the Redskins football team playing in the state final. Celina hosts Minster on Tuesday.
