(November 28, 2014) – WAUSEON: With two players already set to continue their playing careers at the collegiate level, the expectations for the Lady Indians of Wauseon are high.
And after Friday night, perhaps people should expect a bit more out of the Lady Blackbirds as well.
“It was a nice team effort with our seniors stepping up when we needed them to.”
These were the words of Pettisville Girls Basketball Coach Jason Waldvogel. His team pulled off a major upset against a very talented Wauseon team, winning in overtime 51-50. A member of the Buckeye Border Conference, Pettisville took down one of the elite teams of the North Western Ohio Athletic League with the victory.
As for those seniors referenced by Waldvogel, they did indeed come up big in the Blackbird effort. Dana Fricke contributed 19 points to the Pettisville cause. Fellow senior Mikala Avina made an impressive 4 three-point attempts, scoring 15 points in total. Meanwhile, sophomore newcomer Alexa Leppelmeier hit 2 three-pointers for 6 total points.
Another senior, Natalie Koenig, who will be playing for Ursuline College next year. had a standout performance in the tight game. She produced an astounding 32 points for the Lady Indians. Coach Waldvogel had anticipated such heroics from the Wauseon star, however.
“We knew Koenig was going to get her points.” Waldvogel admitted. “She is a great player. We just needed to keep everyone else from having a big night.”
Maddie Richer, a senior for Wauseon as well, was the next best scorer for the Lady Indians, putting up 7 points. Limiting Richer’s play was a tremendous accomplishment for Pettisville, as she has already played well enough to earn a scholarship to play basketball for Huntington University. Holding such a skilled player to 7 points was essential for the Lady Blackbirds to win this game.
She wasn’t the only obstacle the girls from Pettisville would have to overcome, though.
“I am really proud of our ladies. We had to overcome some things tonight.” Waldvogel stated. “We put ourselves in some situations with turnovers and missing free throws, but continued to battle.”
The Lady Blackbirds did have some issues at the free throw line. Making only 14 of their 24 attempts, they shot just 58% from the line. Wauseon made 74% of their extra point attempts. Turnovers were a problem for both teams. Pettisville made 17 possession-costing errors on the night, while the Lady Indians committed 21 turnovers.
Both teams shot the ball very well. The Blackbirds made 48% of their field goals, an extremely high percentage. Wauseon shot 40% from the floor, though they did take ten more shots than Pettisville. The Lady Indians also won the rebounding battle, pulling down 26 boards to the Lady Blackbirds’ 22.
Pettisville was able to win this game for two reasons. First, they executed a well thought-out defensive game plan to perfection. Other than Koenig and Richer, only three more players scored for Wauseon, and they combined for a mere 11 points. On the other hand, the Blackbirds had seven different player add to their points total, with players other than Fricke and Avina contributing 17 points. And Pettisville needed every one of them.
Wauseon will go on to do great things this season. No one really seems to doubt that, and the bar is set high for them.
Pettisville just raised the bar for themselves as well.