NAPOLEON – Ottawa Glandorf is used to being the team with a long winning streak but on Thursday evening the Titans found themselves as streak breakers as their 39-28 victory snapped Napoleon’s 32 game winning streak at the Grand Canyon.
OG opened the game with a basket by senior post Erin Kaufman but quickly found themselves on the wrong end of the scoreboard on the back of baskets by Sophie Chipps and leading scorer Emma Pedroza to make it a 6-2 Wildcats lead.
The Titans continued to fight their way up hill and tied the game at 6-6 with a Maggie Verhoff jumper but trailing at the end of the period 12-8 on a pass from Chipps to a wide open Ella Tassler who found the bottom of the basket as the buzzer rang out.
Resembling both a demolition derby and a track meet in the second quarter the game took multiple turns in the second stanza as the two teams who ended their season a year playing for a state title traded baskets and the lead.
Napoleon jumped out to a 15-12 lead with 5:20 remaining before the half but would only be able to muster a single point, a free throw by Ella Rausch the rest of the way. Ottawa Glandorf continued to trim back their deficit behind the sisters Kaufman who pulled the Titans within a point on a free throw by Erin and into the lead on a make from Katie with 1:20 to take a 17-16 lead into the break.
Storming out of the locker room the Wildcats quickly regained the upper hand in the opening minutes of the second half thanks to Chipps who connected on a shot from inside and outside the arc to put the hosts on top 21-20.
Ottawa Glandorf junior Emma Brinkman took over the game on back to back possessions for her team in the middle of the third as she came off the bench to knock down a pair of shots from deep to make it 26-21 OG into a timeout with 2:38 left before upping her teams advantage once again late in the quarter with a layup.
“We talked with Emma about a need to create some points off the bench, and when she came in we ran a couple of quick hitters for her and she responded. Those shots were big for her confidence and led to her later layup off the dribble” said OG head coach Troy Yant.
Napoleon’s Pedroza slipped through a pair of would be defenders with under a minute to go to cut the lead to 28-25 on a jumper but saw her team unable to stop Erin Kaufman just before the aforementioned layup by Brinkman on the next and final possession.
Similarly to their drought in the first half the Wildcats again found themselves without a basket for a long spell until Pedroza struck again with 5:35 left to cut the Titan lead to five with the final Napoleon basket of the evening from the field.
Over the final four minutes of the game the Titans Myka Aldrich and Kaelyn Grouthouse found easy layup opportunities against the aggressive Wildcat defense to help their team secure the victory.
“Obviously with the last week we’ve had, and coming over to Napoleon during their celebration things could have gone really bad but the girls turned in our best game of the season and some girls stepped up in a tournament style game. Hopefully this is a game we can really build off of” said Yant.
Napoleon celebrated their 2020-21 state championship team before the game and unveiled a tribute to the team and celebrated the season with the return of seven departed seniors and a raucous round of applause from fans of both sides in attendance.
Emma Pedroza led the Wildcats (8-1) with 10 points on the evening while teammate Sophie Chipps finished with 9. Next up for Napoleon is the annual Northwest Signal Holiday Tournament Classic on December 28th, and 29th.
Erin Kaufman finished as the only player in double figures for OG (6-1) with 13 while also leading the team in rebounds and assists while stepping up to lead the Titans with the loss of junior Chloee Glenn.
“I think the gravity of Chloee’s injury has finally settled in and Erin realizes she needs to lead the team. She was as focused on the task tonight as she has been all season” said Yant.
Scoring:
OG (39):
Lily Haselman 2
Maggie Verhoff 2
Kaelyn Grouthouse 3
Emma Brinkman 8
Myka Aldrich 4
Erin Kaufman 13
Katie Kaufman 7
FT: 3/6
3PT: 2 (Brinkman 2)
TO: 11
Napoleon (28):
Claire Durham 1
Sophie Chipps 9
Vivienne Macheck 1
Ella Tassler 2
Emma Pedroza 10
Ella Rausch 3
Olivia Bump 2
FT: 7/11
3PT: 1 (Chipps)
TO: 9
JV: OG 35-25