Meredith Bockrath (22) of Kalida drives the ball into the lane against Minster on Tuesday night.
Jackelyn Johnson | The Lima News
KALIDA – Kalida girls basketball coach Adam Huber wants his team to be prepared for the upcoming postseason tournament, which starts next week.
Huber felt like playing one of the better teams in the Midwest Athletic Conference could certainly help.
In Tuesday’s non-league matchup with visiting Minster, Kalida battled back to force overtime and then pulled away in the extra session for a hard-fought 40-32 victory over Minster at Richard L. Kortokrax Court.
With the win, Kalida improved to 15-6. Minster slipped to 15-6.
“It was a gutty win. We will find a way to win,” Huber said. “Tournament games are going to be like this. It’s sometimes going to be low-scoring and ugly.
“I like this game, (played) this time of the year. It’s a great non-league game, late in the season. Everyone wants to win, but it really doesn’t matter if you lose the game. … It’s that tournament preparation that you get, plus it’s a quick turnaround. We played tonight. We play on Thursday. It is sandwiched between two league games for us, but I think that just keeps us focused on what we need to do each day.”
Avrie Unverferth led Kalida and all scorers on Tuesday with 12 points. Unverferth scored all seven of her team’s first-quarter points. Malia Romes, a 6-foot-2 sophomore wing player had eight points, six rebounds, and three blocks. Meredith Bockrath had six points, six rebounds, three steals and three assists. Madison Unverferth came off the bench and scored six points on two clutch 3-pointers for Kalida.
Addi Inskeep paced Minster with nine points and four boards. Inskeep recorded seven points in the first quarter. Teammate Kayla Lamm had six points and three assists.
Kalida led early in the first quarter but then went on to trail for most of regulation.
Minster led 15-7 at the end of the first quarter. Kalida cut the deficit to 4, 18-14 by the halftime break. Minster led 25-22 by the third stop.
Kalida finally reclaimed the lead in the fourth quarter.
Early in the fourth, Madison Unverferth canned a 3-pointer to knot the score at 25 apiece.
Moments later, Meredith Bockrath scored inside for Kalida and was fouled in the process. Bockrath completed the old-fashioned 3-point play to give Kalida a 28-25 advantage.
A little later, Madison Unverferth canned another 3-pointer to push Kalida’s lead to 6, 31-25.
However, by the end of regulation, Minster knotted the game at 32 apiece and forced overtime.
In the extra session, Kalida shut out Minster, 8-0.
“I just said to the team that if we gave out a game ball, it would go to Maddie (Unverferth),” Huber said. “It was so good to see her do that (hit two 3-pointers). For her to stay ready (to come off the bench) and be ready to catch and shoot, says a ton about her character.”
For the game, Minster connected on 33.3 percent of its field-goal attempts, while Kalida shot 43.8 percent from the field.
Minster committed 20 turnovers, while Kalida turned the ball over 23 times on the night.
“We usually take care of the ball. Both teams had a bunch of turnovers,” Huber said. “But I think that any time you beat a MAC team on Senior Night it’s good. I’m so proud of those two (senior) girls (Andrea Burgei, and Whitney Unverferth) because it’s always emotional and it’s your last home game of the regular season. But they fought through all of that, and they made free throws when we needed them to. I’m just so proud of them.”
Burgei had just three points for Kalida on Tuesday. However, the 5-foot-5 Burgei made six steals and came away with four rebounds. Whitney Unverferth scored two points.
Kalida held a slight 24-22 edge in the rebounding department.
Huber pointed to his team’s defensive prowess as a key to this season’s success.
“That’s who we are. Sometimes we make shots and sometimes we don’t,” Huber said. “Defense has been consistent all year. Minster had 15 (first-quarter points), but most of them were off our turnovers. We just kept giving them the ball. We couldn’t defend there. But once we settled down and did not give them live-ball turnovers, our defense was tough to score on.”
Kalida 40, Minster 32
MINSTER
Annie Hemmelgarn 2, Ava Stammen 2, Addi Inskeep 9, Lydia Mescher 5, Lilly Barhorst 2, Sadie Niemeyer 2, Anna Larger 4, Kayla Lamm 6. Totals: 12-7-32.
KALIDA
Andrea Burgei 3, Whitney Unverferth 2, Madison Unverferth 6, Allie Kuhlman 3, Avrie Unverferth 12, Meredith Bockrath 6, Malia Romes 8. Totals: 14-8-40.
3-pointers made: Minster – Lydia Mescher 1; Kalida – Madison Unverferth 2, Allie Kuhlman 1, Avrie Unverferth 1.
Records: Minster 15-6; Kalida 15-6
