Clare Bruns hits a tough fadeaway jumper over Minster’s Annie Hemmelgarn. Bruns led all scorers with 13 points. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Julie Wright-Daniel)
Marion Local beat Minster 49-42 in the regular season finale to tie for second place in the MAC. The 49 points scored are the most by any team against Minster this season. Clare Bruns, Kate Ashman and Mya Eckstein each score double digits.
Minster, Oh – Have you ever watched a team that always seems to have the best luck? Here’s a theory on that:
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In the waning moments of the first half, Marion Local stole the ball from Minster with a half-court trap, then prematurely heaved a half-court shot with four seconds still left. Everyone stopped to watch the presumptive final shot. Everyone but Marion Local’s Clare Bruns. The shot bricked off the back iron, killing the ball’s momentum, and fortuitously dropping it into Bruns’ waiting arms for an easy putback before the horn.
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That score gave the Flyers a 26-25 lead over the Wildcats, and they never gave it back on the way to a 49–42 season finale win.
Maybe nine times out of 10, the ball would have careened off the rim and out of reach on such a long shot. But for nine teams out of 10, it wouldn’t have mattered because they wouldn’t have been standing there waiting for the one in 10. Maybe luck is just hustle multiplied by probability. And Marion Local’s Lady Flyers have plenty of hustle.
That pre-halftime spark set the Flyers aflame, and they reemerged from the locker room as the more energized and prepared team. They capped their 15-7 regular season with a monstrous defensive effort to earn themselves a tie for second place in the MAC.
Kate Ashman tries the reverse layup under fire from Minster’s Sophia Dirksen [left] and Kali Schmiesing [right].
“This was definitely a good tournament test,” Marion Local coach Beth Streib said. “We finished the season strong, but now everyone’s zero-and-zero.”
The fourth-seeded Flyers host the sixth-seeded Coldwater Cavaliers next Thursday. Marion Local won that same matchup 50-40 just a week ago.
“They’re young, so they’re a dangerous team,” Streib said of Coldwater. “They hit eight threes against us … We just gotta come ready to play.”
The winner will face top-seeded MAC champs St. Henry, with a district title game berth on the line. Last year, the Flyers got sent home in the district final by Minster.
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Minster (17-5, 6-3), seeded third, drew seventh-seeded New Bremen in the first round.
“This is our first home loss of the year,” Minster coach Mike Wiss said. “And we get to avenge that because of our record. We got a home tournament game.”
Marion’s Mya Eckstein scores and draws a foul in from Minster’s Reece Albers.
Despite the seed deficit, the Cardinals knocked off the Wildcats 32-31 two weeks ago.
“It’s an emotional down-the-road rival,” Wiss said. “They played really well in the first game, and we’ll see if we can play a little better this time.”
The winner there will face the winner of Parkway and Spencerville.
Both teams have plenty of MAC foes behind and ahead of them, and the Flyers beat Minster the same way they ousted most of their conference rivals. They were a little bit better at almost everything. They’re not phenomenal at any one skill, but that gives them a lot of ways to beat you. They shot more free throws with higher efficiency, made more than their share of hustle plays, won in transition more often than not, and punched way above their weight class in the rebounding battle.
It’s hard to find a weak link in their rotation. Bruns scored 13, Kate Ashman scored 12, and Mya Eckstein had 10. Further down the list, Faith Ronnebaum scored seven, including some instrumental free throws to tread water during a dismal 2-for-13 FG shooting first quarter. And Kalyn Thobe scored five, including a game-changing three-pointer in the third quarter.
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You won’t find any Flyers among the top five MAC scorers, but together, their 49 points are the most Minster allowed all season.
“Getting it inside really worked best for our offense,” Ashman said. “We got it in there, and when we weren’t open we were able to kick it out for three.”
Faith Ronnebaum scores a much-needed and-one in the first quarter to keep the Lady Flyers afloat early.
Jenna Belcher led Minster with 12 points, followed by Reece Albers with 11 and Annie Hemmelgarn with seven.
Belcher and Albers propelled the Wildcats to an early 12-5 lead. Marion Local’s poor shooting quarter offset an even worse rebounding quarter by Minster.
The Flyers threw a variety of defensive looks at Minster. Half-court man, full-court man, and a 1-3-1 full-court trap all made appearances. The trap proved most profitable by forcing turnovers to create easy buckets against an otherwise buttoned-up defense.
“We just had to communicate,” Ashman said. “We struggled with communication early on. And this is a team sport. We have to communicate to play defense and work together to shut them down.”
The Flyers hit five of their first six shots in the second quarter.
“We finally settled in,” Streib said. “We knew they were gonna come out and pressure us. That’s Minster girls basketball. But we were finally able to run some offense and get some good looks. We knew it was gonna be physical, and we were gonna have to finish through contact.”
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Bruns’ heads-up hustle play buzzer beater gave them their first lead.
As Marion Local’s offensive efficiency increased, their rebounding proficiency became much more punishing.
“We had zero offensive rebounds at half,” Minster coach Mike Wiss said. “They just did a super job on the glass against us … You can’t give up 49 points on shots that are inside five feet. Did they hit a few shots? Yeah … But they’re rebounding offensive boards for putbacks and getting to the free throw line. That’s what we’re gonna talk about.”
Minster’s Reece Albers barrels toward the hoop and draws a foul, as she’s apt to do.
The third was more akin to the second than the first. Ashman and Thobe knocked down consecutive three-pointers to extend the lead to 39-32 late in the third, which tied for the largest lead by either team in the game.
Albers’ tough dribble drives kept her on the free throw lane, but she couldn’t keep pace with Marion Local, which made 12 of 15 free throws – Bruns hit seven of eight.
Perfect free-throw shooting on six attempts did the job in the fourth quarter. The Flyers didn’t allow a single field goal in the final period until the game was put away with under 20 seconds to go.
“Right now everyone’s zero-and-zero,” Ashman said. “We start from scratch and we get better every single day.”
Zero-and-zero. A warning to the haughty, and an encouragement for the broken down. Twenty-two games down, a whole season to go.
Minster’s Sophia Dirksen is harassed by Marion Local’s sophomore forward Faith Ronnebaum.
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