By: Nate Calvin
NAPOLEON – The Northwest Signal Holiday Classic championship game on Wednesday was the tale of two halves.
The first half saw undefeated Wauseon shoot 8/17 from the floor including 3/4 from deep and leading scorers Marisa Seiler and Autumn Pelok combined for 19 points as the Indians built a 24-20 at halftime.
The second half was a different story as Napoleon came out of the locker room with a renewed level of intensity.
Napoleon’s Ella Rausch and Wauseon’s Kadence Carroll traded hoops to start the half before the Wildcats went to work.
Tournament MVP Emma Pedroza started an 11-0 run for the Wildcats with a field goal followed by scores from Makayla Kruse and Vivienne Macheck, another bucket Pedroza, and a triple by Sophie Chipps to make it 33-26.
Ellie Rodriguez stopped the run for Wauseon with a three-pointer, but Pedroza struck again with a step back triple from the left wing at the buzzer to give Napoleon a 36-30 lead after three quarters.
In the quarter, Wauseon was forced into eight turnovers as they were just 2/3 shooting while Napoleon would go 7/16 in the quarter and outscored Wauseon 16-6.
Napoleon put the game away with a 10-0 run in the fourth quarter led by six more points from Pedroza and buckets from Rausch and Chipps as their lead grew to 46-31 with 3:06 left in the game.
Wauseon (8-1) ended the night 11/29 shooting (3/12 in second half) and committed 19 turnovers (11 in the second half).
A 26-14 rebounding advantage for Napoleon and the Wauseon turnovers helped the Wildcats put up 18 more shots than the Indians as they were 20/47 (13/26 in second half).
Pedroza finished with a game-high 19 points for Napoleon (10-1) and Chipps added 10.
Seiler and Pelok led the scoring for Wauseon with 10 points each.
WAUSEON 10 14 6 3 – 33
NAPOLEON 9 11 16 12 – 48
Nate can be reached at sports@thevillagereporter.com