Jessi Green recorded 16 points, including 11 in the first half, to lead Remington to a 41-32 victory in Saturday night’s championship game.
Trinity coach Michael Vieyra was very pleased that the Celtics held McNeill scoreless until the fourth quarter and didn’t allow her a 3-pointer. He knows Remington is tough to beat though because they have other talented players who can lead the way.
“They’re such a good team that anybody can step in and score like that,” Vieyra said.
Green got the Broncos off to a great start by scoring all nine of their points in the first quarter. The senior added a bucket at the beginning of the second quarter to give Remington an 11-1 advantage. Green said that coach Ben Wertenberger told her before the game she was going to get quite a few chances to score because of her height.
“He said you know what you’ve got to do tonight and you’re going to have a lot of opportunities because of the size advantage,” stated Green, who is 5-10.
While Green was racking up points, Remington’s defense was clamping down on Trinity. The Broncos held the Celtics to a made free throw before Libby Reimer got Trinity’s first field goal with 6:08 remaining in the second quarter.
During the tournament, Remington concentrated on playing solid defense. The Broncos held its first two opponents to 37 or less points and then kept Trinity below double figures at halftime with eight.
“All through this week our main focus was defense,” Green said. “We know that the shots are going to fall (offensively), but we’ve got to get back on defense and we’ve got to keep moving our feet.”
One of the keys to Remington’s defensive success in the first half was keeping Trinity out of the lane. The Celtics don’t mind shooting from the outside, but they weren’t able to get many shots close to the basket because of the Broncos’ tight defense and their ability to box out.
“We knew that they were going to shoot a lot from the outside and crash the boards, so we had to push them out of the lane in order to get the rebound,” Green said.
Vieyra definitely would have liked better percentage shots than 15-18 footers, but he felt Saturday just wasn’t his girls’ night because they normally attempt a few outside shots.
“Any other day I think we would’ve been in the ballgame because I think some of the other girls (besides Konner Brening) would have stepped up,” he said.
Brening made four 3-pointers for the Celtics and three came in the second half.
Trinity’s shooting improved after halftime and the Celtics cut the deficit to 24-21 on a Brigid Reilly bucket. Vieyra felt one of the reasons his team climbed back into the game was because it started playing with more energy.
“We talked about being more aggressive with the basketball (at halftime),” he said. “Some girls were hesitant with the basketball. Instead of looking to the basket we were looking to pass it first, which isn’t our offense.”
The Broncos stopped the Celtics’ second-half surge with a 7-0 run that pushed their lead back to 10. Trinity got within five – 34-29 -- late in the fourth quarter on a 3-pointer by Kennedi Smith, but Remington sealed the win by making its last six free-throw attempts.
Green was happy to claim the tournament title, which she felt the Broncos were very much deserving of.
“We fought through every single game and I think the best team came out on top,” she said.
Chelsea Coats hit two of Remington’s late free throws and ended the game with seven points. Coats was a big part of the Broncos’ 7-0 run too as she scored five of those points. Lauren Berg contributed seven points as well for Remington.
Brening led the way for the Celtics with 12 points. Reimer was the next highest scorer with five.
Third place: Sedgwick 56, Inman 55 (OT)
Kalyn Deckard scored all six of the Cardinals’ points in overtime and ended up with 16 for the game as the host team finished with a third-place trophy.
Deckard got the first basket of overtime to give Sedgwick a 52-50 lead. Inman responded with five straight points capped by a Savannah Case bucket. The Teutons had a chance to nearly seal the victory after Deckard made the score 55-53 with a free throw, but they missed two shots from the line and Deckard hit a 3-pointer on the other end.
Inman had an opportunity to win the game in the final seconds, but the Teutons turned the ball over by traveling.
Kaitlyn Goalden finished with 18 points for Inman, including a bucket that gave the Teutons a 50-48 lead with 1:06 left in regulation. Sedgwick’s Jaime Lovett hit a shot 10 seconds later to force overtime. Staci Schroeder chipped in 14 points for Inman.
After Deckard’s 16 points, the Cardinals got 15 from AnnaBelle Little and nine from Lovett.
Fifth place: Fairfield 55, Belle Plaine 54
The Falcons rallied from a 42-37 deficit at the end of the third quarter to earn the consolation championship.
Brandy Burns had a game-high 28 points for Fairfield, including four 3-pointers, and the Falcons needed every one of her points to prevail. There were three Falcons who contributed five points.
Ciarra Myers’ 19 points were tops for Belle Plaine, which lost two games at the tournament by a combined five points. Brynn McIntyre added 12 points for the Dragons.
Seventh place: Wichita Independent 43, Canton-Galva 16
The Panthers held the Eagles to six points in the first half en route to a lopsided win.
Independent was consistent with its scoring in each half, posting 21 points before halftime and 22 after. Alise Coccetella led the way for the Panthers with 15 points and Adrien Valmont added eight.
Leah Schmitz was the top scorer for Canton-Galva with six points. The Eagles left the tournament winless and their best chance at victory came Thursday in a 50-47 loss to Fairfield.
2012 All-Tournament Team
Brandy Burns, Fairfield
Kalyn Deckard, Sedgwick
AnneMarie Hamersky, Belle Plaine
Mandy McNeill, Remington
Brooke Racette, Hutchinson Trinity
Kennedi Smith, Hutchinson Trinity
Madi Tuxhorn, Inman
Adrien Valmont, Wichita Independent
Ashley Zrubek, Hutchinson Trinity
