ST. MARYS – Kalida shot 1/15 from the field in the opening period but found themselves with the final make when it counted most.
Tied 41-41 with under nine seconds remaining in overtime, the Wildcats turned to sophomore Addilyn Huber for the games biggest moment. Inbounding out of a timeout just in front of their own bench, Kalida’s lob to Huber was ripped from the hands of a St. Marys defender before being deposited at the bottom of the net with 1.9 seconds remaining for the win.
Kalida moves to 2-0 on the season with a 43-41 OT win over St Marys (2-1) on this shot by Addilyn Huber with 1.9 remaining pic.twitter.com/Guxnqziweg
— Michael Hirn (@MichaelHirnPBP) November 27, 2024
St. Marys jumped out to an early 16-4 lead at the end of the first eight minutes of play thanks to a pair of triples from Reese Rable. Juniors Sophia Menker and Lauren Jacobs aided the scoring run for the Roughriders (2-1) who finished the opening half by hitting nearly half of their shots attempted.
“We didn’t shoot well early and our transition defense wasn’t on point in the first quarter,” said Kalida 15th year head coach Adam Huber. “We gave up too many easy baskets.”
Kalida continued to pull within four during their 12-4 second quarter run that saw the Riders commit seven turnovers.
Similar to the hard luck that befell their opponents in the first, St. Marys was held to just one field goal in the third, a make by Rable with 5:51 that kept the host blue and gold in front 22-16.
Junior Claire Nartker’s three point goals in the second half tied the game at 26-26 late in the same period and helped to extend the Wildcats lead in the fourth. Olivia Meyer put the visitors on top for the first time in the game 28-26 in the opening moments of the fourth.
Held to just a single point in the contest through the first 28 minutes, sophomore standout Claire Turner made her mark over the next four minutes of regulation for St. Marys. Turner not only dropped in a two that gave her Riders a 34-28 advantage with 3:45 left, she also snagged a loose ball in the corner and fired a triple try through the net as time expired to send the game to overtime tied at 37.
Claire Turner buries a 3 at the buzzer to send us to OT tied at 37 pic.twitter.com/vT5Xvu2jaU
— Michael Hirn (@MichaelHirnPBP) November 27, 2024
Sophia Menker twice gave St. Marys a lead of two in the fourth quarter and overtime en route to a game high 14 points in the loss.
Huber ended the night for Kalida (2-0) with a dozen points and was joined by teammate Claire Nartker in double figures with 10.
“We told our girls after the game that we have experience and won a lot of games last year that were close by simply finding a way,” said Huber. “We kept chipping away tonight and made enough plays, but we need to finish better by hitting free throws and rebounding. I’m extremely proud of the way they kept fighting tonight.”
Next up for the Wildcats is a visit from Coldwater on Tuesday night. St. Marys will also return to action on December 3rd as they welcome the MAC’s Parkway to the Horseshoe.
Scoring:
Kalida (43):
Addilyn Huber 12
Nicole Siebeneck 2
Claire Nartker 10
Allie Kuhlman 7
Ady Miller 1
Meredith Bockrath 7
Olivia Meyer 4
3PT: 5 (Nartker 2, Huber 2, Bockrath)
FT: 8/11
TO: 11
St. Marys (41):
Sophia Menker 14
Cadence Hirschfeld 4
Lauren Jacobs 5
Logan Henschen 1
Audrey Reineke 2
Claire Turner 6
Reese Rable 9
3PT: 4 (Rable 2, Turner, Jacobs)
FT: 7/16
TO: 17
JV: 31-18 St. Marys