By RYAN WALKER
BERNE — Bluffton pushed away Manchester 57-47 in Round 1 of the girls’ basketball sectional Tuesday night.
With the win, the Tigers (17-6) advance to play Bishop Luers (14-6) in the sectional semi-final match at 6 p.m. on Friday at South Adams High School.
The only deficit the Tigers faced was in the first half when the Squires’ (14-9) Hadley West drilled a pair of three-pointers. At the 3:16 mark, Emma Walker’s bucket got the lead to 10-7, but in came Konley Ault.
The sophomore guard forced a turnover and went coast-to-coast for an easy layup, one of many on her 20-point night. That helped energize Bluffton head coach Doug Curtis’ trademarked defense into a fastbreak offense, scoring the next four times and gaining a 17-10 edge.
Momentum translated right away in the second quarter, as Isabella Stout and Maryn Schreiber scored in the first two and a half minutes in between a Madyson Sonnigsen triple.
The lead stretched to 24-12, and Manchester head coach Allison Kauffman had to burn her second timeout with 5:33 left in the half.
Whatever was said in the huddle must have worked for the Squires, as they nonchalantly started coming back while the Tigers got cold.
Leading scorer Brooklyn Buzzard hit her first three of the game to respond. Then, a free throw and a basket by Peyton Ream and another Buzzard three inched them closer. The 11-3 run got them within four points at a 27-23 Tigers’ lead at the break.
“I thought it was huge,” Curtis said of his team’s transition points. “Konley dominated the first half and I pulled her out to give her a little rest right there and we kind of lost her momentum a little bit. And then second half, we picked it right back up again.”
Bluffton would fight right back in the second half.
Led by Tressa Renner’s three and Sonnigsen’s four-point play, the Tigers began to play its game again. By the end of the quarter, it was a 45-36 spread, and in the fourth quarter, a 9-0 jolt carried Bluffton to victory.
Curtis thought that the team’s performance was key from its bread and butter, defense and fastbreak points. The two players he highlighted were Schreiber, who scored 11 points in her double-double with 12 rebounds, and Ault, 20 points, nine rebounds and led the attack with five steals.
“Two things in particular — one is Konley Ault,” Curtis said. “She was able to score when we’re struggling to score plus she ended up with nine rebounds. rebounds… I thought she was a big factor in some of those dead spots we had and getting some momentum going with some baskets.”
“I thought Mayrn battled the entire game,” he continued. “And she was battling the whole time (in the post) against people bigger than she was, but it isn’t always about points, you know, and she did a really good job.”
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BLUFFTON 57, MANCHESTER 47
At South Adams
MANCHESTER (14-9): Emma Walker 6-11 6-7 18, Brooklyn Buzzard 5-19 1-2 13, Hadley West 2-4 0-0 6, Kimberly Schroll 2-3 0-0 4, Peyton Ream 1-8 1-2 3, Molly Schannep 1-5 0-0 2, Hanna Stout 0-0 1-2 1, Gracie Lauer 0-2 0-2 0, Ava Sautter 0-0 0-0 0, MCKelvey Espeset 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 17-50 9-15 47.
BLUFFTON (17-6): Konley Ault 8-16 4-6 20, Maryn Schreiber 4-10 3-4 11, Madyson Sonnigsen 3-8 2-3 11, Isabella Stout 4-12 2-4 10, Tressa Renner 1-4 0-0 3, Haley Gibson 1-10 0-0 2, Marly Drayer 0-3 0-0 0, Cayah King 0-0 0-0 0.TOTALS: 21-63 11-17 57.
Manchester 10 13 13 11 —— 47
Bluffton 17 10 18 12 — 57
Three-point FG: Manchester: 4-16 (Buzzard 2-10, West 2-2, Ream 0-2, Schannep 0-2), Bluffton: 4-17 (Sonnigsen 3-8, Renner 1-2, Stout 0-2, Gibson 0-4, Drayer 0-1). Rebounds: Manchester: 31 (Buzzard 7, West 7, Ream 5, Walker 4, Schroll 4, Lauer 3, Schannep 1, Espeset 1), Bluffton: 37 (Schreiber 12, Ault 9, Stout 6, Sonnigsen 3, Drayer 3, Gibson 2, Trenner 2). Turnovers: Manchester: 17, Bluffton: 13. Fouls: Manchester: 16, Bluffton: 15. Fouled Out: Manchester: Lauer. Technicals: None.
