By Bob Gonderinger
The Independent

Steph Muhlbach, the lone senior on the Ravenna roster, hit four free throws inside the last minute for the Bluejays as they captured the championship of the Lou-Platte Conference Tournament. Ravenna took top honors as it defeated Adams Central 43-36.

"I don't know if it was a pretty game, but I think both teams played really hard," Ravenna coach Jeff Thober said. "Down the stretch it could have gone either way. Steph is the heart and soul of this team, and she's a real leader. I'm happy for everybody that we won, and I'm especially happy for her."

Adams Central coach Tim Marker said his team deserves credit for staying with the Bluejays all the way to the game's final moments.

"We're really proud of what we've accomplished," he said. "We've had three close battles with Ravenna in the last two years, and they've found a way to win late each time. They did it again tonight.

"I thought they kept playing great pressure defense all the way to the end, and we had too many turnovers in the last part of the game."

Ravenna (16-5) got off to a fast start in the early going, jumping to an 11-2 advantage with one minute gone in the second period. However, the Patriots finally broke through, as Breanna Bohlen scored to start a six-point run.

Ravenna used its size to get a couple of inside baskets late in the half and took a 17-13 lead into the locker room.

Adams Central (14-4) made a strong move in the third quarter, as Bohlen hit back-to-back threes and sophomore Jalynda Hodson began to flex her muscle inside with consecutive baskets to put the Patriots on top 25-24.

Adams Central opened the fourth with a bucket from Sharidan Rayburn to lead by three, its biggest margin of the night, but the contest stayed a one possession game until the three minute mark.

Mallory Irvine pushed the Ravenna lead to four as she hit a 3-pointer, then Muhlbach snaked inside for a layup to give the Bluejays a 39-33 advantage.

Bohlen responded with another three off a great screen by Rayburn, but that set the stage for Muhlbach to deliver at the line.

"Bohlen is good she's a player," Thober said. "We adjusted to her shooting, but she found a way to get open late. Towards the end of the game we spread things out, then Mallory picked up her fourth foul. We were debating taking her out, and then two seconds later she hits the three."

Muhlbach led the Bluejays with 15 points and six rebounds, while Bohlen and Hodson each finished with 11 for the Patriots.

"We've been searching for a game like this all year," Thober said. "We've played great ball, but we haven't always come away with wins.

"We beat two very solid teams in the final four, so this means a lot to us. This really prepares us for the stretch run. We beat two very solid teams in the final four, so this means a lot to us. This really prepares us for the stretch run."

Boys

Ravenna hit the ground running and simply never stopped as the Bluejays overwhelmed St. Paul in the boys championship game, taking an 84-52 win.

Ravenna used red hot shooting inside and out to pile up its big offensive numbers. The inside came from center Greg Nissen, who was 8-of-8 from the field to finish with 18 points and 10 rebounds, while the Bluejays went 11-of-24 from outside the three-point line.

Nissen walked a tightrope for much of the game as he picked up his third foul with over a minute left in the first quarter, and from that point on Ravenna coach Paul Beranek carefully alternated his bench with Nissen, who wasn't whistled for his fourth until two minutes into the final period. Beranek said his team got the performance from the bench that it had to have.

"One of the biggest attributes of this team is the bench," he said. "They're underrated, blue collar kids and total team guys. When it's their chance, they understand the level of play that's expected. We're a different team with Greg out, but I felt the other guys really rebounded well.

"Offensively, last night we shot poorly, so I was glad to see the guys have a break and shoot the ball with confidence. We hang our hat on our three-point shooting - we live and die by it. Again, it all came down to confidence."

Ravenna (18-1) nearly blew the Wildcats out of the gym in the opening quarter, jumping to a 20-4 lead. St. Paul responded in the second period, opening with a 9-2 run to cut the lead to seven, and it appeared that the Bluejays would have a fight on their hands. Instead, Beranek saw his team respond by finishing the half with a 25-9 run that put St. Paul (15-3) on the wrong end a 48-25 score.

St. Paul came out in the second half and put up 21 points in the third period, but that strong performance only managed to cut two points off the lead, as Ravenna kept up the pressure from outside.

"We thought we could make a run," St. Paul coach Rick Peters said. "Our kids are young, and they hung in there. We talked at half about just playing ball and having fun and seeing what happened. It's tough to make up the gap when you're that far down."

Peters acknowledged that Nissen's presence in spite of his foul troubles was a huge factor.

"They kept him in there," he said. "And we didn't do a good enough job of attempting to go inside against him. He did a nice job staying out of trouble."

Beranek credited the Bluejays with keeping their intensity straight through to the end of the game.

"At halftime the guys talked about staying hungry and aggressive," he said. "Last night we got complacent, and that was resonating in their minds. We watched St. Paul last night, and we were thinkiing about what we could do to beat them. I think we matched up with them better than we thought we would initially."