ELIDA -Two differently taken roads will converge at the Elida Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon when Ottoville takes on Pandora Gilboa in the district finals.
Ottoville (22-2) raced down the straight and clear path to defeat New Knoxville 67-29 while their PCL counterparts P-G navigated the road laced with pot holes and bumps to outlast NWCC champion Waynesfield Goshen 47-40 on Thursday evening.
Paced by senior Carly Thorbahn (24 points) and sophomore Brooklyn Koester (20 points), the Big Green jumped out to an early 19-6 lead and never looked in their rear view mirror as they sped away from the Rangers.
Thorbahn, a University of Findlay signee notched three first quarter triples and finished with six from beyond the arc in the contest. Leading 36-15 early in the third the newly minted District 8 Player of the Year in Division 7 joined an exclusive list at OHS.
Working from the corner off a screen the dynamic Thorbahn connected on the last of her half dozen triples for point 1,001 to become just the 10th member of the Big Green to do so.
#ThatMomentWhen @ThorbahnCarly became the 10th member of @ottovilleschool 1,000 point club pic.twitter.com/a9SQc2HkoT
— Michael Hirn (@MichaelHirnPBP) February 21, 2025
Brooklyn Koester hit for six from beyond the arc herself in the contest and pulled within a single make from deep of tying teammate Erica Thorbahn’s 2023 mark of 60 in a season for second most all-time in Ottoville history.
New Knoxville (7-18) was never able to find a rhythm against the hounding Big Green defense and were forced into 23 turnovers. Junior Addi Albers paced the Rangers in scoring with 16, 12 of which came in the final two quarters and represented all but three of her squads second half markers.
Pandora Gilboa’s first chance at a district championship trophy since 2010 was earned Thursday night across a long and winding road in a victory over Waynesfield Goshen (16-8).
The Rockets traded punches through the opening eight minutes with the Tigers but were unable to slow down 6’0 senior post Raegan Hutchison who finished off her six point first period with a basket to give her troops a 10-9 advantage.
Waynesfield Goshen’s tight defense and a handful of Rocket miscues combined to outscore Pandora Gilboa 10-4 in the second quarter to run the lead to 20-13 at the halftime break.
Juniors Ava Huffman and Savannah Knueven carried the load offensively for P-G in the second half as they combined for 24 of their 32 points in the final 16 minutes.
Multiple lead changes through the third and into the opening half of the fourth saw each team gain and then quickly relinquish the lead in front of a rowdy crowd hanging on every pass and foul.
Trailing 38-37 with 2:38 remaining, Knueven connected on a pair of tosses from the free throw line and moments later helped Huffman break out for a fast break attempt that put the Rockets ahead for good 40-38.
Senior Tatelyn Faraglia, a 6’0 sharpshooter and last seasons NWCC Player of the Year was held to just 10 points in the game, nearly half of her average on the season by the Rockets defensive unit.
Pandora Gilboa (14-10) connected on 14 of 24 from the line while Waynesfield Goshen was only able to find the bottom of the basket on six of their 14 tries.
Ottoville will be seeking their 16th district championship at 12pm on Saturday when they tussle with P-G and the programs first since 2019, the year of their last state appearance.
Saturday will be the second meeting between the two Putnam County League rivals, Ottoville took the first meeting between the two schools 69-28 in Pandora on January 14th.