OTTAWA – Behind career highs from multiple players, the O-G Lady Titans blitzed visiting Liberty Benton over the final three quarters en route to a 71-34 non-league victory Tuesday night at the Supreme Court.
Senior Kaitlyn Kimmet and junior Karsyn Erford paced the Titans (3-0) with 17 points apiece and were joined in double figures by a pair of teammates. Freshman sensation Leah Escamilla poured in a career high 11 while junior Liv Grothause punched in with 10.
“I thought Kimmet played a heck of a game both offensively and defensively,” said O-G head coach Troy Yant. “We had balanced scoring with Karsyn getting 14 in the first half. Liv was also very good as well, and Leah gave us great production off the bench while Gracie Lammers had her best offensive game of the year.”
Falling behind 3-0 in the opening seconds of their home opener on a triple by Eagle senior Avery Knepper, O-G wasted no time knotting things up on a Kimmet triple.
Liberty Benton and Ottawa Glandorf traded the lead for the better part of the first quarter, but the Titans pulled away in the closing minutes thanks to their tremendous pressure defense and run out baskets led by Erford.
Leading 20-16 to begin the second, O-G allowed just two points, a Megan Gerken make across the next eight minutes.
Erford paced the Titan engine which raced up and down the Supreme Court floor like a Ferrari in the second stanza to an 18 point run. In addition to scoring nine of her team high tying 17 in the second, the Titan junior helped facilitate scores by Grothause, Escamilla, and Kimmet with pinpoint passing through would be defenders.
L-B leading scorer Corra Dehart, a second team Blanchard Valley Conference selection as a freshman a season ago accounted for her first points since the opening stanza with 6:00 to go in the third when she knocked down a triple.
Unfortunately for the Eagles (4-2), they would find themselves limited to just five second half makes from the field and a trio of free throws the rest of the way against the suffocating Titan defense.
“Defensively I didn’t think we were locked in early, and we allowed too many easy looks,” said Yant. “We need to clean up a few things before Kenton on Thursday.”
Kimmet, a 5’11 senior paced the offense for the blue and gold in the third as she repeatedly found herself working close to the basket and able to dominate. Alongside sophomore guard Gracie Lammers career high eight markers, Kimmet connected on a pair of shots from the field and a quartet from the line to finish off her new career high of 17.
Ottawa Glandorf entered play through their first two games with seven connections from behind the arc. On this night the Titan offense finished with five long balls from five different players on their way to their largest win ever and first running clock victory against their Route 224 rival.
Dehart paced the Eagles with 12 points and was joined in double figures by Avery Knepper who ended with 11. Next up for L-B is a BVC home tilt against Leipsic on Thursday.
The Titans return to action on their home floor Thursday evening as well, hosting Western Buckeye League foe Kenton in the second of a three-game home stand.
Scoring:
O-G (71):
Liv Grothause 10
Karsyn Erford 17
Carlie Brinkman 3
Gracie Lammers 8
Megan Horstman 3
Leah Escamilla 11
Kaitlyn Kimmet 17
Brie Fuka 2
FT: 11/14
3PT: 5 (Erford, C. Brinkman, Horstman, Kimmet, Lammers)
TO: 12
L-B (34):
Ally Ferris 2
Avery Knepper 11
Megan Gerken 4
Liz Niese 1
Kylie Modd 2
Claire McDaniel 2
Corra Dehart 12
FT: 3/4
3PT: 5 (Knepper 3, Dehart 2)
TO: 28
JV: Ottawa Glandorf 44-26