Shawnee’s Kamryn Morris shoots against Wapakoneta’s Maddison Springer during Thursday’s game at Lappin Gymnasium.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP — Shawnee girls basketball coach Rachel Rumbaugh set team goals for this season.
One of Rumbaugh’s goals was to get her young players more involved in the offensive production.
Senior Grace Freiberger has been the main scorer for Shawnee throughout her high school career.
In Thursday’s Western Buckeye League girls basketball matchup between Shawnee and Wapakoneta at Lappin Gymnasium, Freiberger stepped up once again as the leading scorer for the Indians as she tossed in a game-high 24 points.
However, six other Shawnee players made contributions at the offensive end on Thursday night, as Shawnee pulled away early en route to a convincing 50-27 victory over Wapakoneta.
With the win, Shawnee improved to 6-7 overall and 4-1 in the WBL. Wapakoneta slipped to 6-9 in all games played, and 3-2 in league action.
Freiberger, a 5-foot-7 senior guard, led Shawnee and all scorers with her 24 points, including four 3-pointers. Freiberger, who will be playing volleyball next school year at the University of Toledo, also came away with a game-high 11 rebounds, along with seven steals at the defensive end.
Kamryn Morris and Morgan Betts chipped in seven points each for Shawnee. Betts had five steals and two assists. Morris came away with three steals.
“We talk about everybody chipping in, and every girl chipped in on the scoreboard and on the defensive end,” Rumbaugh said. “So, we’re happy at the way the girls played tonight.
“We had several girls step up and hit shots. Kam (Kamryn Morris) hit one (3-pointer). Heaven (Watkins) hit one (3-pointer). We had a lot of different girls help out on the scoreboard tonight, which was the difference for our young team.”
Shawnee led 15-10 at the end of the first quarter. By halftime, the Indians pulled out to a 33-15 advantage. Freiberger scored 14 points in the second quarter, which included three successful shots behind the 3-point line.
Shawnee led 40-19 at the end of the third quarter.
Elisabeth Good led Wapakoneta on Thursday with eight points, including two 3-pointers. Good also had four steals. Teammate Kortney Fullenkamp had seven points, eight boards and three assists.
Wapakoneta struggled at the offensive end. On the night, the Redskins connected on just 19.1 percent of their field-goal attempts. In comparison, Shawnee shot 36 percent from the field.
Rumbaugh praised her team’s defensive effort.
“I honestly think it helped us that we could mix it up and play a couple different defenses against them,” Rumbaugh said. “We ran like two different presses, a little bit of man and a lot of zone. (Elisabeth) Good got into foul trouble in the first half, which helped. But they’re a tough team, and they have a lot of really good girls.”
On the night, Shawnee committed 18 turnovers. Wapakoneta turned the ball over 21 times, including 15 first-half miscues.
Shawnee controlled the boards, 42-34.
Rumbaugh added, “We want to push the ball. I thought we did a better job tonight than we have in the past five or six games. So, that was a game-changer for us.”
Shawnee 50, Wapakoneta 27
Wapakoneta 10 5 4 8 – 27
Shawnee 15 18 7 10 – 50
WAPAKONETA
Elisabeth Good 8, Audrey Welsch 3, Riley Szelagowski 3, Kierra Siefring 2, Kortney Fullenkamp 7, Maddison Springer 4. Totals: 9-6-27.
SHAWNEE
Kamryn Morris 7, Morgan Betts 7, Anna Menke 4, Grace Freiberger 24, Sydney Burris 2, Brynn Patterson 2, Heaven Watkins 4. Totals: 18-8-50.
3-pointers: W–Elisabeth Good 2, Audrey Welsch 1; S–Kamryn Morris 1, Grace Freiberger 4, Heaven Watkins 1.
Records: Wapakoneta 6-9, 3-2 WBL; Shawnee 6-7, 4-1 WBL
