Wauseon—A pair of high scorers ruled the night Tuesday in Wauseon, as Natalie Koenig would put up 21 points for the Indians, and Conner Varner would contribute 25 points to the Panther cause. The Tribe would come out victorious in the end, taking down the Panthers by a score of 58-49.
The Tribe started the night off with the hot hand, as both Maddie Richer and Natalie Koenig would both hit three point shots for the Indians. For the Panthers, Varner’s offensive explosion also started off well, scoring six of the eight points in the quarter for Stryker. As the quarter wound down, Wauseon held a 12-8 lead.
Conor Sullivan would contribute five points for Stryker in the second period of play, trying to mount a comeback, and get lead to change hands to the Panthers. However, the Indian offense had what could be their most complete team game of the season as eight different players scored for the Tribe, including yet another three pointer from Koenig, which allowed them to take a 27-19 in to the locker rooms for the intermission.
The third quarter would see yet another Koenig three pointer fall, but Varner would answer back with a three of her own. The Indians continued to play well as a team though, and their lead grew to 44-31 at the end of three quarters of play.
Free throws would play a major role in the second half of the contest. Stryker would only be able to make it to the charity stripe for two shots in the second half. On the other hand, Wauseon would go to the line for 12 shots, and capitalizing on ten of those free throws, including Sariah Yackee sinking 6 consecutive free throws in the fourth period. The clutch shooting allowed the Indians to survive a comeback attempt by the Panthers when Varner and Sullivan combined to hit four three point shots in the final quarter. The Indians would hold on though 58-48 and get their third win in a row after dropping their first four game of the season.
Scoring for the Panthers was lead by Varner who put up an impressive 25 points in the contest. She was followed by Sullivan with 15, Maddie Uribes with four points, Ashley Maines put three points on the board, and Megan Grabez rounding out the scoring with two.
The Tribe had three double digit scorers as Koenig lead the team with 21, Yackee scoring 14, and Richer putting up 12. Sally Frank had three points for the Indians, and Kylie Archibeque, Anna Marshall, Lexi Lane, and Hannan Blaylock all scored two points a piece.
-Mitchell Peebles