ALL BBC SECTIONAL SEMIFINAL Aubrey Clemens puts up a shot from the low block in the Panthers 38 30 win at Pettisville VIEW 138 PHOTOS OF THIS CONTEST FOR FREE AT WWWTHEVILLAGEREPORTERCOM
By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
PETTISVILLE – (February 21, 2024) – Word is a cornered animal fights fiercest. In this case the animal was a group of Panthers.
Down 17-4 halfway through the second quarter to Pettisville, the Stryker Panthers had to either die in a Division IV sectional game or fight.
Like I said, don’t mess with a cornered animal, especially a group of Panthers. This pack of cats attacked and harassed the Blackbirds into 18 turnovers in the last three quarters to come from minus 13 to a 38-30 triumph to make it into a sectional final.
“I just challenged them at halftime,” Stryker coach Conner Ruffer explained. “It came down to us playing with some guts and determination. They took that halftime talk and came out and just wanted it a lot more in the second half.” “We came together as a group and not individuals.
It was all Pettisville in the first quarter as the Blackbirds scored the first eight points. Amanda Grimm’s three-point play on a fourth chance off the offensive glass, Olivia Miller’s dish to a wide-open Becca Strauss for a lay in and Miller’s three-point play made it 8-0 with 3:03 left.
Taylore Rethmel’s triple finally took the lid off the basket at the Stryker end, but Miller hit a bomb from the top of the key and two free throws to make it 13-3 after a quarter. Stryker was a frigid 1/9 from the floor.
The high scoring Miller had canned eight straight Blackbird points. Pettisville’s junior guard would not score again until there was less than a minute left in the game.
Grace Crawford’s up fake and foul line jumper ballooned the Pettisville lead to 17-4 with 4:14 before halftime.
Suddenly… the faucet on the offensive end was shut down. Pettisville shot 60 percent in the second quarter but only got off five shots as Stryker forced seven Blackbird turnovers.
The Panthers were still ice cold going 2/13 but the two were triples from Rethmel and Reiss Creighton to slice the deficit to 19-10 by half.
Lily Wiemken’s putback two minutes into the third maintained a nine-point Bird margin but for the rest of the quarter, Pettisville didn’t hit a field goal and were pressed into seven more turnovers.
Abby Oberlin started a 15-1 scoring burst with a triple and Creighton added another. Each of the afore mentioned Panthers drilled right wing jumpers, Creighton’s giving the Panthers their first lead at 23-21 with 2:17 on the clock.
Emma Fulk’s triple from way above the top of the circle made it 27-22 heading into the fourth. Oberlin’s three-pointer and Aubrey Clemens basket off a turnover nine seconds later opened up a 32-23 Stryker lead with 5:20 to go in the game.
“Our rebounding in the second half was huge,” Ruffer said. “Sometimes we didn’t finish really well but we gave ourselves extra opportunities that we sometimes converted or got to the foul line with. That with the number of turnovers we caused was really huge.”
A parade of Pettisville players to the line gave the Blackbirds a chance to climb back into the contest but Pettisville (14-9) could only convert 4/10 from the stripe.
After scoring eight points in the first quarter, the Panthers allowed Miller only 1/2 from the foul line in the last 48 seconds.
“That came down to us stepping up aggressively on defense,” stated Ruffer regarding the Panthers shutdown of Miller.
“Sometimes I’m hesitant to do that with our numbers but we play better when we are aggressive. When she got a screen, we just switched off it, it was just a huge team effort there.”
For the game after starting 7/16 in the first half, Pettisville was just 3/17 from the field in the second and had 19 turnovers.
Stryker (12-11) hit only 20 percent from the field but a 25-12 second half rebounding advantage and a big plus in the turnover margin allowed them to take 15 more shots than the Blackbirds.
Oberlin was the only player to hit double figures on the night with 12.
STRYKER (38) – Froelich 4; Oberlin 12; Leupp 0; E. Fulk 3; Creighton 8; Clemens 3; Rethmel 8; Totals: 3-7-11 – 38
PETTISVILLE (30) – Strauss 5; Klopfenstein 0; Bennett 2; Grimm 5’ M. Remington 0; Miller 9; Crawford 7; Blosser 0; Weimken 2; Totals: 9-1-9 – 30
STRYKER 3 7 17 11 – 38
PETTISVILLE 13 6 3 8 – 30
GAME STATISTICS
STRYKER: FG – 10/48 (20%); FT – 11/18 (61%); Rebounds – 30; Turnovers – 11; PETTISVILLE: FG – 10/33 (30%); FT – 9/18 (50%); Rebounds – 33; Turnovers – 20
