Reece Albers hit the big shots in the third quarter and led all scorers with 13 points. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Julie McMaken Wright)
Playing relentless defense was the only option in Saturday’s Division VI region final. There was no other possible path to victory.
Springfield, OH – There were certain non-negotiable requirements for the Minster and Anna girls who played in Saturday’s low-scoring Division VI regional final.
Veteran columnist Jeff Gilbert writes Ohio State basketball and OHSAA sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
First, know that if you didn’t come to play defense with as much effort as humanly possible, don’t bother taking off your warmup. But if you are ready to give 100% every second, then here’s the list of what it will take to help cut down the net.
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Get an active hand in the passing line. Guard like your life depends on it. Challenge every shot. Foul hard if you have to. Reach in, grab the ball, and tie up the opponent again and again. And no matter what, if the ball is loose, dive on the floor for it and fight for possession. Because every possession will matter, and each ounce of effort might be the ounce that makes a difference.
Both teams knew the game would be this way. They watched each other play great defense on Wednesday night when they won their semifinal games. And for most of three quarters, both teams gave no quarter.
Then Minster broke free from the vise that was suffocating both offenses. The Wildcats’ four-point lead became a nine-point lead in the space of 19 seconds. No two baskets by the same team had come nearly that fast until Reece Albers changed the game.
Minster’s Sadie Niemeyer stays in front of Anna’s Makenzie Mumaw during Saturday’s game dominated by defense.
Funny thing was, Tori Osborn had just given Anna a spark with a 3-pointer with 1:59 left in the third quarter to trim Minster’s lead to four. But at 1:15, Albers swished a long 3-pointer. Then the Wildcats’ defense, the clear identity of their team, turned the Rockets over before they could get the ball across half court. And there was Albers flying in for a layup and a nine-point lead with 56 seconds left in the third. She scored a game-high 13 points.
“She’s our wild card sometimes,” Minster coach Mike Wiss said. “She’s a great player, she’s got great anticipatory skills, and people look to her to make a play.”
In this game, nine points felt like a 20-point lead. But the Wildcats didn’t treat it like that. They continued to defend with zeal and put the Rockets away for a 37-25 victory to return to the state tournament for the first time since a three-year run from 2018-2020 when they won two titles. The Wildcats will learn on Sunday who they play in the state semifinals on Friday and where.
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“We had the momentum coming out of halftime, and once we got those big buckets, we kept going from there,” Albers said. “We never gave up, never gave them a chance.”
Minster (22-5) didn’t play defense quite this emphatically from day one. But losses to St. Henry and Marion Local got the team’s attention.
Addi Inskeep puts up a shot inside against what else but tight defense.
“If we wanted to get where we thought we could get, or have a chance to get to, we had to start to limit possessions for the other team,” Wiss said. “We’re not teaching anything that nobody else teaches. They got a little fire in the rear end right now.”
To get to state, the Wildcats had to win tournament games against MAC rivals Coldwater, St. Henry and Marion Local to get to regionals. And Anna was much improved from when the Wildcats beat the Rockets 44-25 before Christmas.
“You know how hard that is?” Wiss said of the tournament run. “That’s what makes it great.”
Anna also made the regional final with a commitment to defense in Rusty Allen’s first year as coach. The Rockets started 4-4 and finished 19-8.
“We’ve grown so much since that game,” Allen said of the December loss to Minster. “You got to give our girls credit. They bought into our system. They had to learn my style, and they adapted really well. And I had to adapt to them a little bit, too.”
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As much as the Rockets improved, however, the defense they faced Saturday was also at higher level than what they saw in the first meeting.
“We’ve said this a lot here in the last few weeks – it’s hard to prepare for what you’re gonna see because you just can’t simulate that stuff in practice,” Allen said. “You can talk about it all you want.”
Minster’s Annie Hemmelgarn looks for an open teammate against the defense of Anna’s Makenna Pettus.
Albers views the Wildcats’ defensive prowess as a product of team chemistry and that no one on the team is seen as a star player.
“Defense is just Minster basketball in general,” she said. “I feel like every Minster basketball program has hard defense, and we always get compliments from it. But we don’t take those compliments and be like all up on ourselves. We take it and get better from that.”
Wiss said the team word has become “inspired.”
“We play inspired basketball,” he said. “We’re not perfect, we’re not pretty, but we’re going to come at you, and we’re going to play hard.”
While the players on both teams knew to expect defense that would challenge their offensive efficiency, the coaches did to. Allen and Wiss have been friends since they played on the same American Legion baseball team in St. Marys as high schoolers. And while Allen coached girls at Wapakoneta for 14 years, his teams played Wiss’ teams every year.
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“It’s bittersweet,” Allen said. “I’m happy for him, and I know, if the roles were reversed it’d be the same way. It’s unfortunate we had to meet right here. I feel like we’re two of the better teams in the state. So it is what it is, but I’m happy it’s somebody that I know and a team that I know.”
Allen has a core of good young players, so he may well have more chances in the near future to win a regional title. And do it with defense.
“Obviously it hurts right now, but they’ll look back at this and they’ll have some pretty good memories,” he said.
Anna’s Liz Staudter goes airborne diving for a loose ball against Minster’s Reece Albers.
Making memories is at the top of Wiss’ priorities. Saturday was Day 100 since the start of practice. He recalled his message to the team on Day 1.
“Number one, we have but a brief moment,” he told them. “As long as the basketball season seems, it’s not for everybody – it’s for us. It’s going to go quick even though it’s long. And number two, everything we do this year is based on memories and relationships. We’re making memories. That’s what this is all about.”
And defense.
Because whether or not defense wins all championships, defense won this one.
Minster is going back to state for the first time since a three-year run from 2018-2020.
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