ST. MARYS – A strong offensive second half pushed host St. Marys past New Bremen 49-38 on Tuesday night in a non-conference clash of Route 66 rivals.
Trailing 22-19 at the halftime stoppage the Roughriders came out firing to open the third as they knocked down a trio of triples on their way to taking over the lead on the scoreboard.
Kendall Dieringer, working off of a 14 point outburst in the first half started the run for the blue and gold as she cut the lead to 29-27 just moments after a three point goal from teammate Cora Rable started the scoring run for the Roughriders.
While senior sharpshooter Noelle Ruane was beginning to warm up from her scoreless first two periods of play with the first of two from behind the arc, junior teammate Morgan Hesse tied up the game at 34-34 with 3:02 and forced the Cardinals to take a timeout.
New Bremen senior Mallory Messick pushed the visitors back on top out of the timeout with her only basket of the evening but found the lead to be short lived as Ruane’s second triple gave the Riders a 37-36 lead they would never relinquish with 2:26 remaining just moments before she struck again on a fast break layup.
Ella Jacobs opened the fourth stanza with a basket for the hosts to take a five point lead before the Cardinals ended a long spell without a score on their only make of the last eight minutes to pull back within 41-38 on a two pointer by Kaylee Freund.
The Roughriders tempo continued to force miscues by their opponent and turn them directly into points as baskets by Ruane and Karsyn McGlothen provided the final markers in an 11 point victory.
“We made some adjustments at the half and played a lot better in the second half” said St. Marys head coach Jon Burke after the game.
Early on in the first half the duo of Chloe Bornhorst for New Bremen and Kendall Dieringer of St. Marys engaged in a personal one on one scoring contest for their sides as the pair were responsible for all but four of the 18 scored in the first.
Leading 14-6 early in the second quarter Dieringer tossed in her twelfth point on a fast break layup. New Bremen’s Kaylee Freund helped the visitors to a three point lead at the half as she connected from deep on three pointers from the wing as part of a nine point personal run.
New Bremen (7-5) was led by the duo of Freund (15) and Bornhorst (11) in double figures and will next be in action on Thursday evening as they travel to Coldwater for a Midwest Athletic Conference contest against the Cavaliers.
St. Marys (10-3) stops a two game slide and will host Van Wert in a Thursday night Western Buckeye League tussle. Kendall Dieringer paced the Rougriders with 18 and was joined in double figures by Noelle Ruane who accounted for all 12 of her points on the night in the second half.
Scoring:
St. Marys (49):
Ella Jacobs 2
Morgan Hesse 9
Kendall Dieringer 18
Noelle Ruane 12
Cora Rable 3
Karsyn McGlothen 5
FT: 10/13
3PT: 4 (Ruane 2, C. Rable, Dieringer)
TO: 17
New Bremen (38):
Lily Lennartz 8
Kaylee Freund 15
Ella Pape 2
Mallory Messick 2
Chloe Bornhorst 11
FT: 3/6
3PT: 5 (Lennartz 2, Freund 2, Bornhorst)
TO: 15
JV: 25-22 New Bremen