(PHOTOS BY BREANA RELIFORD / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
BATTLE FOR THE BALL … Wauseon’s Aunali Reyes (left) battles for a rebound with Abby Oberlin of Stryker. VIEW 113 PHOTOS OF THIS CONTEST FOR FREE AT WWW.THEVILLAGEREPORTER.COM
NONLEAGUE CONTEST … Wauseon senior Johanna Tester snaps off a jumper from the head of the key in the first half of Monday’s win at Stryker.
By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
STRYKER (January 27, 2025) – When Stryker made a third quarter run that chopped a 12-point lead to a deuce, Wauseon tightened up defensively and created nine turnovers in the last 11 minutes of the game to go on a 26-8 run and take a 55-35 victory.
“We have kind of lived or died on our defensive pressure,” Wauseon coach Shelly Borton said. “We had way too many breakdowns in the first half defensively.”
“We weren’t getting switched out and weren’t rotating, so we were giving them some easy looks and things weren’t falling for us to get into our press.”
“We just were pretty stagnant but once we got into our press after a score, we got some things moving and offense became a little easier.”
Johanna Tester’s early triple helped the Indians gain a 7-2 lead, but Grace Froelich and Reiss Creighton countered from outside the arc to reduce the margin to 12-8 at the quarter.
Aubrey Clemens hit a three-ball with 6:42 to go in the half that brought the Panthers even closer at 15-13 but the Indians rang up 14 of the next 18 points.
Mackenzie Stasa started an eight straight run between her and Aunali Reyes with a bucket off a back cut.
Reyes canned 2/2 from the line, Stasa got one off a swipe and score and Reyes put the Tribe ahead 23-13 with a move in the post.
Froelich stopped the rally with a foul line jumper, but Aizlynn Coronado scored in transition, then after another Froelich bucket, Ella Tule and Sophia Rupp got in tight in the last 20 seconds to give the Indians a 29-17 halftime advantage.
Stryker made that 12-point lead disappear in four minutes. Anna Donovan scored on a putback, Abby Oberlin and Clemens knocked down triples and Froelich netted 2/2 from the stripe to bring the Panthers back to 29-27 with 3:50 left in the third.
With the Indians going 0-for their first 6, their defense created offense to again open the game back up. Stasa went coast-to-coast on a steal on the first of four Panther turnovers that fueled a 12-0 salvo to end the quarter.
Rupp got a bucket on a sweet step-through move, Stasa got another bucket off another turnover and Tester followed with another five seconds later to make it 41-27 heading into the fourth.
After the Panthers got the gap reduced to 41-31 on buckets from Froelich and Oberlin, Wauseon rattled off the next eight to put the game away.
Tester got the first six on a stick back, a basket off another turnover, and 2/2 from the line. Stasa’s angle jumper after a Stryker miscue made it 49-31 with 3:48 left.
“Stryker is doing a lot of good things with the numbers they have,” Borton stated. “They played hard for four quarters, they got into passing lanes, they switched well on screens, they really disrupted us more than we were prepared for. I thought they did a really good job.”
Stasa’s 14 led the Indians and Tester had 11. Froelich scored 13 to lead Stryker (7-10). Stryker had 22 turnovers in the game compared to eight for Wauseon (14-4).
WAUSEON (55) – Stasa 14, Tester 11, Leatherman 0; Coronado 8; Hamilton 2; Rupp 7; Tule 5; Reyes 8; Kissel 0; Sanford 0; Totals: 21-1-10 – 55
Stryker 35 – Froelich 13; Oberlin 5; Creighton 7; Clemens 6; Donovan 4; Fulk 0; Totals: 8-5-4 – 35
WHS 12 17 12 14 – 55
SHS 8 9 10 8 – 35
