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The two combined for 26 points and 25 rebounds and Columbian held St. Wendelin to 29.4 percent shooting as the Tornadoes capped their second straight 20-0 regular season with a 45-36 victory over the Mohawks (17-3).
Senior Jill Stein, after scoring 12 points and hauling in 11 rebounds against St. Wendelin.
"We've preached to all our girls all year that you've got to play defense if you want to win championships," Kisabeth said emphatically. "St. Wendelin is a great team. I think we did a great job holding them to 36 (points)."
Leading just 23-21 at halftime, TC came out quickly in the third period. Maya Brown was the recepient of two nice passes for back-to-back buckets before Rohrbach (14 points, 14 rebounds) scored to force a timeout from St. Wendelin coach Aaron Smith. Stein (12 points, 11 rebounds, four blocks, three assists) split two free throws after a missed shot by the Mohawks and Rohrbach added a lay-up to push the Tornadoes lead to 32-25 after three quarters.
"We knew they were very guard-orientated and they would be quick and scrappy," said Stein, who has committed to play at Bowling Green State University next season. "We hadn't seen much like that this year. To have that before tournaments was great... We knew it wouldn't be a cakewalk and we knew that they had some key players we had to shut down."
Brown and Rohrbach each hit two free throws to open the fourth quarter scoring. A bucket by Katelyn Schiefer cut the lead to 38-29 with 2:57 left but that was the last time St. Wendelin would be within ten points before a 3-pointer by Lauren Geroski near the final buzzer.
Smith talked about the height disadvantage his team faced.
"We were giving up a few inches," he said laughing. "The problem is with our team is we were giving up eight inches on... one post and two or three (inches) on the other post, but we were giving up five inches on the two other guards. I mean, goodness."
Anna Williams added seven points off the bench for Columbian while the Tornadoes' leading scorer, Megan Miller was held to just two free throws late in the final quarter. Kisabeth noted her stellar defense on Geroski was a big factor in the win.
"The entire game Megan Miller had Geroski and Geroski is averaging 16 points a game," he said. "She got 11 but she got 11 because hit a (long) 3 at the buzzer. Megan Miller did a great job of disrupting her all game."
TC came out of the gate solid with buckets by Rachel Reamer, Stein and Rohrbach for a 6-0 lead less than three minutes in. Ellie Riser nailed a 3-pointer and a bucket near the end of the quarter to cut the Columbian lead to just 9-7 after one quarter. The Tornadoes started out hot in the second quarter, as Stein and Rohrbach each scored four points in a 10-0 run to open the quarter. Riser nailed back-to-back 3s and Geroski a jumper to cut it to 19-15. Later, trailing 23-18, Geroski pulled the ball out and dribbled the final 2:25 off the clock before dishing to Riser, who drained her fourth 3-pointer of the half to bring the Mohawks within two points at halftime.
Riser scored all of her game-high 16 points in the first half. Brown's defense in the second half shut her out.
"Riser comes up 16 points in the first half so the second half we took and put a little more height on her with Maya Brown and Maya Brown shut her down the next 16 minutes and she didn't score," Kisabeth said.
Geroski added 11 points on 5-of-16 shooting while 3-point threat Chelcie Rutter was held scoreless, missing all 10 of her shots on the evening.
Columbian won the junior varsity contest, 34-30.
St. Wendelin (36)
Cassi Papenfus 2-0-4; Lauren Geroski 5-0-11; Chelcie Rutter 0-0-0; Ellie Riser 6-0-16; Katelyn Schiefer 1-1-3; Jaunna Gase 0-0-0; Colleen Fondessy 0-0-0. TOTALS: 15-1-36.
Columbian (45)
Rachel Reamer 1-0-2; Maya Brown 3-2-8; Megan Miller 0-2-2; Jill Stein 5-2-12; Lexi Rohrbach 6-2-14; Anna Williams 3-1-7; Elizabeth Miller 0-0-0. TOTALS 18-9-45.
St. Wendelin 7-14-4-11 - 36
Columbian 9-16-9-13 - 45
Field goals: St. Wendelin 15-51; Columbian 18-37.
3-point goals: St. Wendelin 5-19 (Riser 4, Geroski); Columbian 0-4.
Free throws: St. Wendelin 1-2; Columbian 9-15.
Rebounds: St. Wendelin 19 (Papenfus 7); Columbian 39 (Rohrbach 14, Stein 11)
Turnovers: St. Wendelin 11; Columbian 20.
