Flyers earn home win over Minster

MARIA STEIN — Marion Local grabbed an 11-point lead after one quarter of play and the Flyers won by the same amount, beating Minster 53-42 Thursday night at The Hangar in Midwest Athletic Conference action.

Marion Local’s Lindsey Koenig led all scorers with 21 points on Thursday.

Minster’s Morgan Sparks kicked off the scoring with a made two-point field goal, but Marion Local responded with a made three-pointer and then Lindsey Koenig got on the board with two of her own to make it 5-2.

Katie McClurg then drilled a 3-pointer from straightaway to cut the lead to 6-5 for the Wildcats.

Later in the first, McClurg stole the ball and laid it in as the Wildcats took its first and only lead of the game at 8-7.

But the Flyers had an answer and Koenig responded on the other end with a three of her own near the top of the key to put Marion Local back on top at 10-8.

Molly Winner then scored down low for two for the Flyers and later Chloe Ronnebaum hit a three-pointer to make it 15-8.

Stella Huelsman scored inside and Winner scored down low again to make it 19-8 at the end of the first quarter, capping off an 11-1 run to end the period.

The Wildcats opened the second quarter on a 4-0 run but Koenig broke it up with a bucket down low to make it 21-14.

Sammy Hoelscher scored near the five minute mark after grabbing a rebound off a miss and hitting a short jumper in the lane to make it 24-14.

Later, Lilly Barhorst managed two points inside to make it 28-20, and following a made free throw by the Flyers, Kaycie Albers hit a threepointer from the left side to cut the lead to 29-23.

Near the two minute mark, Koenig nailed a three from the left wing to put the Flyers up 32-23.

The teams traded buckets until the end of the half with Minster’s Ella Mescher hitting two free throws before halftime to make it a 34-27 game heading into the break.

Avae Unrast kicked off the scoring in the second half, hitting a left-wing three and the Flyers extended its lead to double digits.

Barhorst answered with a two on the right side, but later Hoelscher managed two from the left side and the Flyers were back up 10.

Under five minutes, Koenig scored again, this time on the right block, to make it 41-29.

Following a timeout, McClurg hit a triple from the right corner to make it 41-32. Minster had a chance at the free throw line to shrink the lead even more, but Albers missed a pair.

On the other end for the Flyers,

MINSTER — A close battle throughout the first half, Marion Local used a strong third quarter to pull away from Minster on Friday night and earned a 53-45 victory over a close conference rival.

The Flyers outscored Minster 16-4 in the third quarter, with Jack Knapke scoring eight of his gamehigh 21 points in the period.

“We played really well in the third quarter and that was a big key. We knew this was going to be a war going in,” said Flyers coach Kurt Goettemoeller. I give Minster’s staff a ton of credit — they’re kids played extremely hard.”

The first quarter was pretty evenkeeled as the teams were deadlocked at 8 points apiece.

Late in the second quarter, Minster’s Brogan Stephey hit a straightaway 3-pointer to tie the game at 21.

With 52.6 seconds left in the half, Knapke rebounded the ball off a missed shot, missed the putback attempt, but was able to rebound his own miss and laid it back in and was fouled in the process. Knapke hit the free throw and the Flyers took a 2421 lead into the locker room.

The third quarter belonged to the Flyers.

Knapke scored down low to make it 26-21, but Austin Wellman answered in the paint for the Wildcats to make it 26-23.

Peyton Otte scored for the Flyers on a putback layup and later Knapke knocked down a free throw to put the Flyers up by six.

Later, Knapke blocked Minster’s Johnny Nixon and scored down low on the other end to make it 31-23 with 4:10 left.

Knapke scored again on a threepoint play at around the 2:10 mark to put the Flyers up 11 and Minster called timeout.

Minster turned the ball over following the stoppage and Jadyn Mescher nailed a three from the left corner to make it 37-23 with 1:35 left.

Nixon scored on a putback layup

to cut it to 12, but Otte drilled a three-pointer from the right wing just before the buzzer to put the Flyers up 40-25 heading into the fourth.

“We knew it was going to be a war,” said Goettemoeller. “We had a really nice third quarter, got a big lead ... We told them at the quarter break that they’re not going to go away, they’re going to keep fighting.”

And Minster did keep fighting, clawing their way back little by little in the fourth.

Following a steal and layup by Mescher, Minster’s James Niemeyer hit a three from the left corner to cut the lead to 42-28.

At around the four minute mark, Nixon hit a three from the top of the key to make it 42-31 and the next trip down the floor he scored again to cut the Flyers lead to nine.

Knapke would later score down low, but Stephey answered with a drive to the bucket to cut it back to nine..

Later, Stephey scored again, this time on a nice stop and pop midrange jumper to cut the lead to seven at 44-37.

Both teams traded possessions in the last few minutes of the game, with lots of free throws shot, and Kole Richard hit a three from the right wing to make it a 52-45 game with 6.7 seconds left but that was all the closer they would get.

Marion Local’s Brady Ronnebaum hit one of two free throws down the stretch and the Flyers held on for a 53-45 win.

Minster struggled from the line on Friday, going just 15-of-30 from the stripe.

“We have four or five minute stretches where we can’t score and we kind of go out of our minds for a little bit. If we could make it consistent, we’d be right with them,” Wildcats coach Mike McClurg said of Minster’s third quarter performance.

Minster outscored Marion Local 20-13 in the final quarter, with Goettemoeller noting that his guys struggled to close out the game.

“We did not make free throws. We lost it a couple of times on turnovers, but it was mainly just free throws, so we have to step to the line with confidence and close it outright,” he said. “But overall, it was a good effort from our guys.”

The Flyers looked to get Knapke involved throughout Friday night and he was a monster, scoring 21 on 8-of14 shooting and hauled down 13 rebounds to give him a double-double.

“Nixon got in foul trouble a little bit, which helped, but we didn’t do a good enough job in the first half. We could have exploited it more,” Goettemoeller said about getting Knapke involved more in the first half. “At halftime, we definitely talked about the fact that we need to get him the ball in the post. He had a great game for us. Credit our kids in the second half of doing a better job of getting him the ball in the right spot.”

With the win, the Flyers improve to 3-1 in the MAC and 10-2 overall.

Minster falls to 1-5 in the MAC and 4-12 overall.

The Flyers will be back in action tonight facing Jackson Center at home and Minster is on the road at PandoraGilboa.