By: Tim Kays
The world is full of clichés. ‘Turnabout is fair play’ is an old standard that might have applied to the Lady Golden Bears of Bryan as they took on the Lady Roughriders of St. Marys Memorial for the D-II Sectional hoops title.
It was after all those same WBL girls that handed the Lady Bears a 46-39 setback on January 23. In the February 20 rematch for all the Sectional marbles though, Bryan seemed to go by ‘Know your enemy’ and ‘Peak at the right time’ as the Lady Bears took the lessons learned from their first encounter and turned them into a 48-36 win to advance to the D-II Districts.
Two of those lessons stood out for the entire contest…disciplined composure, and lights out defense.
Senior McKendry Semer got the hometown girls on the board first with a connection in the paint, but the Lady Riders quickly answered back, then took the lead on a Noelle Ruane three.
It was at that point that the Lady Bears began to put the defensive clamps on their opposition, while the offense continued to patiently work the ball against a physical St. Marys defense.
Nowhere was the effects of the Bryan defense more profound than on the Riders’ Kendall Dieringer. The leader of the St. Marys four guard offensive attack, Dieringer landed the first deuce for her team on the night, and then was totally stifled until the fourth period thanks in no small part to the persistent defensive presence of Allie Zimmerman. Dieringer, who came in with a 13.1 points per game average, was held to just 6 for the game.
The Bryan buzz saw defense also served to mentally derail the Lady Riders, as their play on both sides of the ball became sloppy.
St. Marys players were missing uncontested layups, and after the Ruane trifecta, the arch became a veritable no man’s land. Bryan regained the lead, and try as they did, the Lady Riders were never able to mount an offensive strategy to challenge the Lady Bears’ defense.
At the half, St. Marys was 5 of 14 shooting from inside the arch, 1 of 9 from outside, and nothing but zeros from the line.
Bryan wasn’t exactly shooting the lights out by comparison, but they slowly pushed up the score, while their physical, snarling defense made the basket look like a thimble for the Lady Riders.
A 14-11 first period advantage translated into a 22-15 Bryan lead at the half as Semer and Shallyn Miley each hit for 6 points, Zimmerman and Kloee Antigo each added 3, and Delilah Taylor and Brooke Lamberson each added 2.
St. Marys started the second half with a 4-0 run on Bryan, but Antigo found Semer down low for a physically contested deuce. The Lady Riders cut the Bryan lead to three, but Semer answered with a deuce on a Miley assist.
While neither team was setting the nets afire, the Bryan defense continued bringing heat of their own as the St. Marys offense continued to languish. The only three-point rainmaker thus far for the Lady Riders had come from Ruane, and her next two attempts drew nothing but air.
The lessons learned by Bryan in fast, physical defense stemming from the January 23 loss were being turned around against St. Marys, and after an 11-7 advantage in the third period, the Lady Bears slowly built a 33-22 lead going into the final frame, capped off by a pair of Lamberson free throws with no time remaining on the clock.
The fourth period saw both teams going toe to toe, and the Lady Bears continuing to force sloppy play from St. Marys. If there was an exclamation point to be found to describe the disorientation of the Lady Riders, it occurred as the clock was ticking down to the 6:00 mark in the game.
After the Bryan defense forced an over-and-back turnover, Lamberson took the ball out for the Lady Bears. She got the inbound pass off to Addie Arnold, who got it back to Lamberson.
She hit Miley, who found Antigo low in the paint. Antigo lost control of the ball, but nobody wearing a St. Marys uniform accounted for the presence of Miley who, flying in like a lightning bolt from the right side, grabbed the ball and put it in uncontested.
It was only good for two on the scoreboard, but it left the Lady Riders thunderstruck. Elena Menker nailed a three for St. Marys, breaking a drought that stretched back to the first period, but any hope for a momentum swing was thwarted by a Lamberson bucket.
Dieringer scored her first points since the first period, and the Lady Riders added another trey, but Bryan had answers from Taylor, and connections from the field and the free throw line from Zimmerman and Lamberson to expand the lead and salt away the win.
Miley knocked down a game high 13 for the Lady Bears, while fellow seniors Lamberson and Semer each struck for 10. Zimmerman posted 8 points, with Taylor finishing with 4, and Antigo 3.
The offense did their job, but it was the defense that set the course for the victory as Bryan held Lady Roughriders ace Dieringer to less than half of her 13.1 points per game average.
The Lady Bears are going to need to bring that defense to the D-II Paulding Districts, as they will be facing #2 seeded Lima Bath in the February 25 semifinal game.
Bath punched their ticket by mauling Maumee 67-8 in the semifinals, then winning their Sectional title by trouncing Toledo Rogers, 67-36
Tim can be reached at tim@thevillagereporter.com
