Waynesfield-Goshen’s Taylor Spencer makes a steal during Thursday night’s game against Hardin Northern at Waynesfield-Goshen. See more high school basketball photos at LimaScores.com.
Don Speck | The Lima News
WAYNESFIELD — At the onset of the season, Hardin Northern set the goal of winning the Northwest Central Conference
Considering that the Polar Bears had not not one three conference games in a season since joining the NWCC, it seemed like it might be a bridge too far.
However, the determined Hardin Northern squad crossed into championship territory after upending Waynesfield-Goshen 66-44 to secure the NWCC title Thursday night.
With the victory, the Polar Bears finish conference play unbeaten with a 6-0 mark and improve to 15-7 for the year. The Tigers, who had to settle for the second straight year, finish 5-1 in conference play and fall to 9-13 overall.
Coincidentally the two teams square off next week in the opening round of the postseason.
“We haven’t had a winning season, I think since 1992 or 1993,” Polar Bear head coach Brady Mast said. “They (Waynesfield-Goshen) is a really nice team. We just had good night tonight and a week later it could be different.
“I don’t know if we thought we would win it but that is what they wanted and they worked hard to get it. It was great for our four seniors (Kylee Legge, Emma Martin, Bella Wilson and Katie Good). They have been working together for four years and we we probably had six wins in the last four seasons and they have just stuck with it.
A strong defensive effort inside coupled with some clutch shooting helped Hardin Northern collect the win in a game that they never trailed in as they owned a 17-13 lead after the first eight minutes and upped the advantage to 31-20 by halftime
It was the third quarter where Hardin Northern took over as they opened the second with a quick 8-3 run which does not seem like much but it saw a nine point lead jumped to double digit deficit for the Tigers who trailed 38-24 with 5:40 left n the third period a lead that never got under 12.
Freshman Lainey Thomas was one of four Polar Bears to break the double-digit barrier in scoring as she poured in 17 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. Thomas scored 15 of those points in the second half and was a 9 of 10 from the free throw line in the final two stanzas.
Hardin Northern’s Bella Wilson, who finished with 14 points, was instrumental in giving her team the lead with some big treys in the first quarter and four overall for the game. Katie Good and Emma Martin each chipped in 11 points.
“That is the good thing is that really all five on the floor have potential but we four solid scorers,” Mast said. “We can get that kind of sharing the ball with people we are effective. That is what keeps us successful. They can try to take somebody away but somebody else will step up.”
The Polar Bears’ balanced scoring was aided by the team’s ability to clamp down on the Tigers inside and Hardin Northern did a strong job containing Raegan Hutchinson who was limited to eight points.
The Tigers other sophomore standout Tatelyn Faraglia had a big night with 21 points and 17 rebounds.
“We knew we had to keep them off the boards and we didn’t keep them off entirely but I thought they did a nice job of containing that and that was a big key,” Mast said.”We usually go with our zone press on makes and man on misses but we decided to go with that 1-2-2 on our misses and that packed it in I thought we executed it great and didn’t allow them to get easy shots inside and then getting those rebounds. The girls did a wonderful job.
Reach Jose Nogueras at 567-242-0468.
