By ANDREW FEEBACK
WOODBURN — The Bluffton Tigers haven’t found themselves in too many games that have gone down to the final play this season.
They were in one Friday night at Woodlan, and a strong stretch in the middle of the game was enough to overcome a poor start and a worse finish as they withstood a late rally by the host Warriors to win 47-44.
Much like the other night against Wabash, the Tigers (9-1) were a bit slow out of the gate in this one, trailing 5-0 nearly three minutes into the contest.
“We came out in a different defense, and I didn’t think we did a very good job being aggressive in that defense,” Bluffton head coach Doug Curtis said. “The key was, if we’re going to play that defense, we have to be super aggressive at the start, and I didn’t think we were very aggressive.”
Bluffton closed the first quarter on a 13-2 run. As it turned out, the Tigers never trailed in the game again, but never quite got comfortably in front, either.
Isabella Stout, who led all scorers with 24 points, did most of the damage for the Tigers in the first half, scoring 16 straight for the team during one stretch and all but two of the team’s second-quarter points.
The inside play of Maryn Schrieber, who tallied 13, also helped the Tigers maintain a lead that got as high as 10 at various times in the second half.
They were also the only Tigers to get to the free throw line, combining to go 14 of 17 from the stripe. The rest of the team was 4 of 21 from the floor for just 10 points.
Woodlan also hung around in large part due to its offensive rebounding.
“They jam the rebounder every time, and we knew that,” Curtis said. “We watched in the JV game and we let them take it away from us twice. We’ve got to be tough with the ball every time we rebound it, get it to a guard and we’ll be fine.”
Schreiber’s bucket with 6:15 left in the game put the Tigers up 44-34, and it looked as though Bluffton was starting to pull away. With only one turnover in the second half, the Tigers looked much better than they had in the game’s opening minutes.
Then, it was like the opening minutes all over again.
Bluffton gave it up five times in the final quarter and failed to make a field goal the rest of the way.
“There were two big things there,” Curtis said. “No. 1, we’ve been in one of these games. We beat East Noble in a close game where we had the lead, had to hold the ball a bit and make smart decisions. We just haven’t been in those games, so we need to get in more of those games and we’ll get better at that. The other thing is, when we’re attacking, we’re always a lot better. You’re not attacking as much when you’re doing that perimeter stuff. We’ve just got to practice that and get better at it.”
Three straight baskets from the Warriors had it down to 44-40 by the four-minute mark.
The Tigers had plenty of chances to extend their lead, but just weren’t able to do it.
An offensive rebound and put-back from Alyssa Anderson brought the Warriors within two.
Bluffton maintained possession but had to be fouled four times to reach the bonus. Stout got one of two to drop for a 45-42 lead with 29 seconds left.
After a missed three-point attempt from Brooke Kneubuhler, Stout made two more to give the Tigers a five-point edge.
Makenna Smith missed from deep, but a long rebound came out to Reagan Widenhoefer, who threw up a one-handed toss but managed to get fouled with 8 seconds on the clock.
She made two out of three, and the Tigers just needed to inbound the ball and get fouled. But Stout lost the ball out of bounds in the backcourt before the Warriors could foul her, and Woodlan had a chance to tie.
Taylor Kneubuhler’s attempt from the wing came up way short, and the Tigers had their third conference win in as many tries.
Anderson led the Warriors with 14 points, while Taylor Kneubuhler added 11 and Wiedenhoefer had 10.
Bluffton will be back home to face Southwood on Tuesday night.
Woodlan took the junior varsity game 35-31. For Bluffton, Addison Yates scored eight points, Piper Morgan had six, and Savanna Hughett had five.
BLUFFTON 47,
WOODLAN 44
At Woodlan
BLUFFTON (9-1): Isabella Stout 6-9 11-13 24, Konley Ault 0-0 0-0 0, Marly Drayer 0-5 0-0 0, Maryn Schreiber 5-12 3-4 13, Haley Gibson 1-11 0-0 2, Tressa Renner 0-0 0-0 0, Madyson Sonnigsen 2-6 0-0 6, Cayah King 0-0 0-0 0, Sophie Eisenhut 1-1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 15-44 14-17 47.
WOODLAN (6-4): Reagan Widenhoefer 2-9 4-5 10, Makenna Smith 1-5 0-0 2, Alyssa Anderson 6-12 2-4 14, Mariah Thullner 0-3 0-0 0, Brooke Kneubuhler 3-13 0-2 6, Karina Peppler 0-0 0-0 0, Alix Jacquay 0-3 1-2 1, Taylor Kneubuhler 4-11 1-2 11, Chloe Gaff 0-0 0-0 0, Leah Elwood 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 16-57 8-15 44.
Bluffton 13 11 16 7 – 47
Woodlan 7 10 16 11 – 44
Three-point Goals: Bluffton 3-16 (Sonnigsen 2-6, Stout 1-3, Drayer 0-3, Gibson 0-4), Woodlan 4-17 (Widenhoefer 2-7, Taylor Kneubuhler 2-4, Brooke Kneubuhler 0-4, Smith 0-1, Thullner 0-1). Rebounds: Bluffton 29 (Schreiber 10, Sonnigsen 7, Stout 6, Drayer 3, Gibson 2, Renner 1), Woodlan 28 (Anderson 9, Taylor Kneubuhler 8, Brooke Kneubuhler 4, Smith 3, Widenhoefer 2, Elwood 1, Thullner 1). Turnovers: Bluffton 17, Woodlan 10. Fouls: Bluffton 10, Woodlan 17. Fouled out: None. Technicals: None.
JV: Woodlan 35, Bluffton 31.
