Wapakoneta beats River View in Division II state semifinal

Dan Labbe, OhioHSsports.com, March 20, 2009 1:37 p.m.

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Warsaw River View's Kari Daugherty (44) is fouled by Wapakoneta's Devon Golden (24) during the second quarter of Wapakoneta's 40-31 win in a Division II state semifinal game. - (AP Photo/Terry Gilliam)

The Wapakoneta Redskins enjoyed their first state tournament game so much, they'll stick around and play another.

Behind 13 points from senior Devon Golden and 9 points from Emily Lowry, Wapakoneta won the first Division II semifinal of the day over Riverview, 40-31. The will play Hathaway Brown at 5:15 p.m. on Saturday.

"I wasn't really concerned about nerves," said Redskins head coach Rusty Allen of his team's initial state tournament appearance. "I was probably more nervous than they were."

On a night where neither team shot well, Wapakoneta used 21 trips to the free throw line and a flurry of missed open threes by River View to come away with the win. River View struggled to find balance all night, as senior Kari Daugherty accounted for 19 of the team's 31 points.  Olivia Neace added 8 for the Lady Bears.

"We felt Daugherty was the girl we needed to stop," said Allen. "We figured if we were going to get beat, somebody else was going to have to beat us."

The Redskins started fast, jumping out to a 6-0 lead capped by a Jordan Sawmiller layup with 3:55 to play in the 1st quarter. Wapakoneta capped the quarter with a pair of Christy Steinke free throws to take a 9-4 lead after one.

River View responded in the second quarter with a 5-0 run forcing Wapakoneta to use a timeout. The second quarter was very much the Daugherty show. The first team All-Ohio selection scored 11 first half points, scoring nine points in the second quarter.

On the other end, the Redskins first score of the quarter came with 3:16 left in the half on a pair of Kailey Schneider free throws to cut the River View lead to 13-11. Wapakoneta would not convert a field goal until there were 33.3 seconds left when Emily Stevely scored and was fouled to make the score 15-13 in River View's favor. Stevely missed the free throw, but Devon Golden put back the miss to tie the game at the half.

Wapakoneta scored 17 points in the final quarter after scoring just 23 in the first three quarters. Point guard Golden led the charge in the final quarter with 9 points as the Redskins sealed the win.