Wapakoneta 52 Marion Local 49
BY PHIL McLEAN
Wapakoneta Daily News Staff Writer
MARIA STEIN — After holding a brief lead in the opening minutes of its non-league game with Wapakoneta, Marion Local trailed the Redskins for almost three full periods, and were looking an 11-point deficit, 42-31, as the third period came to an end.
But after Heidi Schlegel missed a pair of free throws to open the fourth period, the Flyers went on an unanswered 16-point run which saw Marion tie the game at 42 with 4:16 left in the period. The Flyers then took only its second lead of the game, and increase their advantage to five with two and a half minutes to go in the contest.
“I think we got a little relaxed and didn’t play with as much intensity,” Wapakoneta coach Rusty Allen said, after the 52-49 victory Tuesday night.
During the first three periods, the Redskins held a comfortable, if not commanding lead over the Flyers. Through most of the first three periods, Wapakoneta and Marion Local were separated by less than 10 points. It wasn’t until late in the third period that Wapakoneta increased its lead to double digits on the strength of a pair of free throws by Devon Golden and a two-point set shot by Tasha Helmstetter.
“They (Marion Local) came down and ran some plays and the Wuebker girl (Margaret), came down and hit a couple of nice baskets,” Allen said.
Wuebker had six points, including the layups which tied the game and moved the lead back to the Flyers side of the scoreboard. Alyssia Winner hit a pair of treys that put some life back into the Marion fans.
The Redskins started their come back with 1:45 to go in the game. Golden dropped a layup in the paint and then Christy Steinke hit a jumper just inside the 3-point line.
With 47 seconds left, Winner missed half of a two shot opportunity and Schlegel got a second chance at the free throw line, knotting the score at 48.
“We let them hang around and hang around and they thought they could play with us,” Allen said.
At the 25 second mark, Marion’s Rachael Puthoff hit half of a one and one, breaking the tie.
In the final 30 seconds, timeouts were falling like snow flakes as both coach worked on managing the clock.
Following a Wapakoneta timeout, Schlegel hit a layup to give Wapakoneta a 50-49 advantage. There were four seconds showing on the clock when the final timeout of the game was called.
Kailey Schneider stole the inbounds pass and was immediately fouled. She calmly went to the line and made both ends of the one and one. Then with a shade over three seconds, the Redskin defense did not allow the Flyers to reach half court as the clock moved to zero.
“We had a number of girls make some huge plays down the stretch,” Allen said. “Kailey makes a great steal on the inbounds pass and then knocks down the two free throws.”
Wapakoneta wrapped up 2008 with the 52-49 victory to improve to 7-1 on the season.
“Marion Local has a nice ball club,” Allen said. “We just let them hang around a little too long.”
Schlegel led Wapakoneta with 16 points, while Golden added 14.
The Flyers, now 4-3, were paced by Winner’s 18 points. Wuebker, only a freshman, had 15.
Marion Local took a hard fought junior varsity game 31-30. Emma Sawmiller led Wapakoneta with a team high seven points.
Wapakoneta will return to action Jan. 8 when Defiance comes to town. The Bulldogs, 3-5 overall and 1-1 in Western Buckeye League, last game was a 56-50 win over Ottawa-Glandorf on Dec. 18.

Boxscore
Wapakoneta 18 9 15 10- 52
Marion Local 11 9 11 18- 49


Scoring:
Wapakoneta: Bryan 0-1-1, Steveley 3-0-7, Schneider 0-2-2, Steinke 3-0-6, Golden 4-6-14, Helmstetter 2-0-4, Lowry 0-0-0, Schlegel 7-4-16. Totals 19-13-52.
Marion Local: Griesdorn 1-0-2, Winner 7-1-18, Wuebker 6-2-15, Lochtefeld 2-1-5, Brand 2-2-6, Puthoff 0-1-1, Bergman 1-0-2, Hartings 0-0-0. Totals 19-7-49.
Three point goals: Wapakoneta 1 (Steveley); Marion Local 4 (Winner 3, Wuebker).


Fouled out: None
Technical fouls: None
JV score: Marion Local 31-30.