VW girls come up short vs. St. Marys

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

A second half shooting slump proved to be costly for Van Wert in a 46-35 Western Buckeye League loss to St. Marys Memorial on Thursday night.

A layup by Kyra Welch gave the Cougars a 30-29 lead with 4:10 left in the third quarter, but Van Wert was able to muster just five points the rest of the way. Meanwhile, St. Marys Memorial (8-3, 3-1 WBL) went on a 10-0 scoring run, including six points by junior guard Kendall Dieringer. The Cougars finally ended the scoring drought with a trey by Jaylyn Rickard with 4:20 left in the game.

“We’ve had a couple of games where we’ve had slow starts and good finishes, but tonight we had a good start and struggled in the second half,” Van Wert head coach Hannah Phlipot said. “We’re just trying find a way to put the four quarters together.”

Van Wert (4-6, 2-2 WBL) led 11-9 after the first quarter, with Allison Schaufelberger scoring four points, including a jumper to beat the buzzer. Rickard scored Van Wert first nine points of the second period by hitting four baskets, including a triple, and the Cougars led by as many as six. Sofi Houg scored Van Wert’s final five points of the quarter and the Cougars led 26-24 at halftime.

“In the first half we executed our game plan nearly perfectly,” Phlipot said.

Rickard finished the game with 12 points while Houg finished with nine, all in the first half. Schaufelberger, Houg and Kyra Welch each had five rebounds, but the Cougars were hindered by 18 turnovers. Van Wert shot just four free throws, but connected on three.

“Our girls have bought into what we’re trying to do and I think that we’re not playing our best basketball, but it’s January 7, and that’s not our goal to play our best basketball right now,” Phlipot said. “We want to continue to build on what we’ve got and I think we’ll eventually put together both sides of the ball for four quarters.”

The Lady Riders were led by Dieringer, who finished with 21 points, including nine in the fourth quarter. Noelle Ruane pulled down a game high seven rebounds.

Van Wert is scheduled to play Lincolnview on Saturday. The junior varsity game will tip off at 1.

Scoring summary

Van Wert 11 15 4 5 – 35
St. Marys 9 15 10 12 – 46

Van Wert: Carly Smith 1-0-3; Kyra Welch 2-1-5; Sofi Houg 3-2-9; Jaylyn Rickard 5-0-12; Allison Schaufelberger 3-0-6

St. Marys Memorial: Elena Menker 2-2-7; Morgan Hesse 1-0-2; Kendall Dieringer 7-6-21; Noelle Ruane 3-0-7; Cora Rable 1-2-4; Kiley Tennant 1-0-3; Karsyn McGlothen 1-0-2

JV: St. Marys Memorial 38-21