SPENCERVILLE – Led by senior guard Emma Leis’ game high 19 points the Spencerville Bearcats downed visiting St. Marys Tuesday night at the Walk-In Closet 48-40 in a non-league tilt.
St. Marys jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the opening eight mintues and forced a Spencerville timeout with 4:49 by head coach Greg Ekis. Out of the timeout the home team responded to the advice of their sixth year mentor to the tune of an 11-11 tie with :58 remaining on a three pointer by Heidi Keller, and to a 13-11 advantage on a Lilyan Goecke marker with :20 to go.
Emma Leis who entered the night with 915 career points continued her pursuit of 1,000 in her career in the second quarter as she added to her five first quarter points and continued to push the lead for the Bearcats with six points in the stanza.
Three pointers by Cora Rable and Kiley Tennant drew the visiting Roughriders to a 25-25 tie with 1:40 left before the half. Unfortunately for the guests their run would be surpassed by Spencerville just before the buzzer on a Heidi Keller triple that sent her squad into the locker rooms with a 28-25 lead.
While each team continued to run their offense at a track meet pace, turnovers began to pile up in the game. Spencerville’s baskets in the third came from Gillian Goecke and Gabi Croft on the fast break while Leis earned her pair from the free throw line.
Juniors Elena Menker and Noelle Ruane each tallied a basket in the same eight minute span but otherwise the Riders were forced to settle for free throw makes from Haley Felver, and Cora Rable.
Leading 36-33 to open the final period the Bearcats turned to the duo of Lilyan Goecke and Emma Leis to attempt to put the game away as the duo accounted for all but one of the 12 points in the quarter for Spencerville and helped to keep the Roughriders at bay on the scoreboard.
“Lily played very well and does a great job defending and rebounding. She is finishing well and did a great job tonight” said Spencerville head coach Greg Ekis after the game.
Two different occasions saw St. Marys pull to within a four or five point deficit in the waning minutes thanks to makes by Kendall Dieringer and a three by Cora Rable but not close enough as the blue and gold fell at the final horn 48-40.
Ekis opined “It was two good teams that both played very hard. I am very pleased with the way we played defensively. We need to keep practicing and getting better one day at a time.”
Leis led all scorers for the Bearcats (6-4) with 19 and was joined in double figures by Goecke with 11. St. Marys senior Haley Felver finished as the lone double figure scorer for her side with 10.
St. Marys (7-3) head coach Jon Burke said “Hats off to a good Spencerville team. They played tough defense and shot the ball well. This is a game we need to learn from and use to continue to improve.”
Next up for the Roughriders is the third of their seven game road trip on Thursday night in Van Wert while the Bearcats are home for their next game, a Saturday afternoon 1:30 P.M. tilt against visiting Shawnee.
Scoring:
Spencerville (48):
Gillian Goecke 7
Lilyan Goecke 11
Kirsten Wurst 3
Gabi Croft 2
Heidi Keller 6
Emma Leis 19
St. Marys (40):
Haley Felver 10
Elena Menker 4
Kendall Dieringer 6
Noelle Ruane 7
Cora Rable 9
Kiley Tennant 4
JV: St. Marys 48-18