CELINA/COLDWATER – Monday afternoon and evening’s OVISCO Girls basketball classic and AAA Holiday Boys basketball classic semifinal contests ended the same way on the floors at Celina and Coldwater, wins by the Marion Local Flyers and Coldwater Cavalier boys and girls programs to secure berths in their respective tournaments.
Coldwater kicked off the day of games at the Celina Fieldhouse by defeating rival St. Henry 56-30 to claim their second win of the season. The Cavaliers started the contest on an 11-1 run in the first quarter behind baskets by seven different players and took a 14-6 lead into the start of the second stanza.
Sophomore Riley Rismiller led the Cavalier offense in the second quarter as she repeatedly extended the lead for her team with short makes inside the post for 10 of her first half dozen points.
Despite opening the day with just two three pointers made in 23 attempts on the season, the Redskins offense stayed within striking distance on the scoreboard as as the trio of Alayna Ahlers, Jalynn Everman, and Miranda Siefring just before the half connected on triples.
In the second half the Cavaliers outscored the Redskins 28-12 on their way to the victory as Rismiller hit for eight in the third period and helped to hold St. Henry to just a single make by Mya Ontrop with 4:15 remaining in the quarter on the defensive end of the floor.
Coldwater (2-6) ends a four game losing streak and will play for the OVISCO Championship on Tuesday evening while St. Henry falls to 0-6 and will open the same evening in the Consolation game.
Top Scorers:
Riley Rismiller (CW) 21 pts
Madison Wendel (CW) 10 pts
Claire Wendel (SH) 8 pts
Game two at the Fieldhouse saw the Marion Local Flyers race out to a 19-0 lead in the first quarter and finish with a 61-31 victory over host Celina.
Three point goals for the Flyers from Heidi Rethman, Stella Huelsman, and Olivia DeMange fueled the opening quarter 24-2 run for Marion Local while the Bulldogs found themselves held to a single make by Taylor Klingshirn with 2:25 remaining for their first and only marker to stop a 19-0 opening game run.
Celina sophomore Kyilla Billingsley ended a nearly five minute run without a basket for the host team in the second quarter when her marker put a stop to a 7-0 Flyer run and cut the lead to 26-4 at 5:29 remaining in the half.
Though the game was well in hand on the scoreboard at 56-15 heading into the final eight minutes of play the Bulldogs continued to attack the basket behind their leading scorer Klingshirn who knocked down three triples on her way to 14 of her game high 17 points.
The Bulldogs (0-5) will play St. Henry at 6:00 P.M. on Tuesday evening in the Consolation game while the Flyers (6-2) will look to knock off the Cavaliers for the second straight season in the OVISCO Championship game at approximately 7:45.
Top Scorers:
Taylor Klingshirn (Celina) 17 pts
Alana Pohlman (ML) 15 pts
Heidi Rethman (ML) 13 pts
The 9th annual Asset Allocation Holiday Classic kicked off the evening in Coldwater as the host Cavaliers snapped a 17 game losing streak to rival St. Henry and earned themselves a finals appearance on Wednesday evening as an Ethan Post corner three pointer with :20 to go secured a 46-43 come from behind victory over the Redskins.
St. Henry, the three time defending event champion jumped out to a 10-6 first quarter lead on a pair of three point goals by Jaden Lange and Carter Ontrop. While his teammates were connecting from the outside in the opening quarter, Logan Lefeld worked inside for six of his eight opening half markers and a 20-12 lead at the break for St. Henry in the second stanza.
Most of the back half of the third quarter saw the two teams continue to trade the lead back and forth on baskets by Coldwater’s Tyler Schwieterman, Ethan Post, and the only make from the field by Zack McKibben while the Redskins were paced into a 32-28 lead at the buzzer by Lange, Bennett Gels, Casey Bruening, and Luke Gels.
Trailing 34-33 after his make from behind the arc on the previous possession, Coldwater senior Ethan Post knocked down his second of three triples in the period at 5:03 to give the Cavs a 36-35 lead and watched as it grew to 43-37 behind a pair of free throws by McKibben and the only two of the game for Carson Muhlenkamp with 2:40 remaining.
Casey Bruening pulled the St. Henry deficit to two at 43-41 with 1:55 to go and then tied up the contest with :43 at 43-43 on the last of his seven points in the contest before the final make by Post for the victory.
Coldwater (4-3) has never won the AAA Holiday Classic but will play for the title on Wednesday night while the Redskins (5-3) will open the evening in the Consolation matchup at 6:00 P.M.
Top Scorers:
Ethan Post (CW) 21
Tyler Schwieterman (CW) 13
Logan Lefeld (SH) 11
The final of the four games involving the two schools was a defensive struggle that saw the Marion Local Flyers survive a late surge by the Celina boys for a 27-23 victory.
Marion Local led the score at the end of the first quarter 13-6 as the Flyers deposited a trio of triples from Alex Eyink, Brandy Ronnebaum, and Dane Goettemoeller and a pair of fast break baskets from junior Peyton Otte.
Not to be outdone by the Flyers, Celina’s four makes from the field in the first half saw a pair from deep by seniors Jack Duncan and Reeves Black to get within 22-12 at the break.
Sophomore post Josh Rasawehr accounted for six markers in the first half of play inside the paint and from the free throw line for the other Bulldog points.
Brady Ronnebaum’s third three point goal of the game with 5:20 to go in the period upped the Flyer lead to 25-15 but represented the last time his team would score from the field in the contest.
Celina continued to cut into the Marion Local advantage on the scoreboard and got as close as 25-23 while being able to keep their opponents out of the scoring column, but found themselves unable to climb to even as only Reeves Black on a three pointer was able to score for the Bulldogs outside of eight from Rasawehr.
A Bulldog foul with .9 remaining in the contest provided the final two points of the night as Ronnebaum laced a pair of free throws for the four point victory.
Celina falls to 2-4 on the season and will play against St. Henry on Wednesday in the early outing while the Flyers (3-5) will attempt to win their second title and deny Coldwater their first trophy at 7:45 P.M. in the finals.
Top Scorers:
Josh Rasawehr (Celina) 14
Brady Ronnebaum (ML) 13
All four games can be heard Tuesday and Wednesday evening live on WKKI