SPENCERVILLE-It was an offensive titanic struggle in the first half of Monday night’s game between Fort Jennings and Spencerville. However the Bearcats turned up the pressure in the second half as they picked up the 56-26 victory.
“We made a few adjustments at halftime to try to get up the floor and press them,” said Spencerville head coach Greg Ekis. “Our numbers are a little low right now so we were hesitant to do so in the first half and I thought we did a great job in the second half with our pressure.”
It took a little bit for both teams to find the basket in the first quarter. Maggie Pothast gave the visitors a quick lead with a basket but the Bearcats responded with a bucket by Clara Goecke to tie it at two per side. Fort Jennings countered with four straight points from Pothast to lead 6-2 before the Bearcats tied on baskets by Goecke and Heidi Keller. Fort Jennings was able to leave the quarter with the lead on a pair of shots from Hannah Grote and Rachel Von Sossan.
The defense of both squads were able to limit the offense in the low scoring first half. Reagan Ricker connected on a pair of shots to lead 14-13. A free throw from Eilan Muniz gave Spencerville a 15-14 lead before a last second shot by Grote turned the lead back to the Musketeers at halftime.
“She’s a great player for them,” said Ekis speaking of Musketeers’ Pothast. “When she catches it in the post she finishes it very well.”
Spencerville changed defenses to a 1-3-1 full court press and it paid dividends on the scoreboard. Delanie Bowersock took advantage of a turnover into a basket and Kirsten Wurst was able to convert on a shot to regain the Bearcat lead at 19-18. Fort Jennings stopped a mini run from the host on a free throw by Ricker but Spencerville wasn’t done in the quarter.
Five straight points from Goecke stretched the lead to 26-19 before a three pointer from Wurst made it a double digit lead at 29-19. Bowersock and Lemar polished off the quarter with a couple of baskets to lead 35-21.
“As we move forward others are going to have to play a lot of minutes,” Ekis said in absence of Gabi Croft, who is out with an injury. “I thought Delanie did a great job and she started for us tonight and I thought Savannah coming off the bench did a great job tonight.”
Wurst went into takeover mode in the final quarter as a part of a 21-5 fourth quarter run. Wurst connected on six free throws in the quarter as well as a three pointer as part of a career high 19 points in the contest.
Spencerville improves to 3-6 on the season and will play in the New Bremen holiday tournament on December 28th versus the Cardinals at 7:30pm.
Fort Jennings 10- 6 – 5 – 5 – 26
Spencerville 9 – 6 – 20 – 21 – 56
Fort Jennings (26)
Maggie Pothast (8) Reagan Ricker (7) Hannah Grote (6) Rachel Von Sossan (4) Lydia Dickman (1)
Spencerville (56)
Kirsten Wurst (19) Clara Goecke (11) Heidi Keller (8) Eilan Muniz (6) Delanie Bowersock (6) Sydney Lemar (4) Savannah Griffith (2)
B-rockblythe.org 