ELIDA – Ottoville rolled past Putnam County League rival Pandora Gilboa 73-32 on Saturday afternoon to claim the program’s 16th district championship.
Seeking their first trip to the regional level since making a run to state in 2019 the Big Green (23-2) came out white hot in the first quarter.
Seniors Erica and Carly Thorbahn and sophomore Brooklyn Koester dominated the Elida Fieldhouse scoreboard in the opening eight minutes as the trio combined for 23 of their squads 33 points.
Working behind a steady dose of their trademark pressure defense the Big Green forced 13 first quarter turnovers and 22 in the first half.
Pandora Gilboa juniors Ava Huffman and Savannah Knueven knocked down a pair of free throws and a triple respectively in the opening to cut the Big Green advantage to 33-7 after one.
Nine players found the scorebook for Ottoville in the first half, led by Koester’s 12 and Erica Thorbahn’s 11.
Seeking their third all-time district championship, the Rockets sought to cut into the lead in the third behind Huffman, Knueven, and senior Ciel Wise.
Huffman notched five of her seven points in the period while Ciel Wise connected on a shot from beyond the arc as part of a five point stanza.
Ottoville again utilized their balanced scoring and pressure defense in the second half as eight players connected on at least one basket.
Knueven led the Rockets in scoring with 10 in the game while Koester led all scorers with 14 for Ottoville. Erica Thorbahn passed the 900 point mark in her career for the Big Green as she notched 13 and was joined in double figured by sophmore Kendall Schnipke who tallied 10.
Though the Rockets see their season come to an end with a 14-11 mark, second year head coach Cody Pelton’s troops earned their first winning season since 2017 and the teams first playoff victory and sectional title in over a decade.
Senior post Devin Draper provided the biggest moment of the final seconds of the afternoon for the Rockets as she connected on a deep three point goal, the first and last of her career at PGHS.
Tuesday night the Big Green will travel again to the Elida Fieldhouse as they tangle with Hilltop, winners over Edgerton 48-36 in the Bryan district finals.
Scoring:
Ottoville (73):
Kate Turnwald 7
Brooklyn Koester 14
Erica Thorbahn 13
Jocelyn Langhals 5
Carly Thorbahn 9
Adeline Miller 5
Kendall Schnipke 10
Paige Turnwald 6
Briley Wertenberger 4
FG: 30/53
3PT: 5/11 (Koester 2, E. Thorbahn, C. Thorbahn, Langhals)
FT: 8/11
REB: 20
TO: 5
P-G (32):
Maddie Rutschilling 4
Ava Huffman 7
Savannah Knueven 10
Ciel Wise 6
Devin Draper 5
FG: 9/21
3PT: 3/5 (Draper, Knueven, Huffman)
FT: 11/13
REB: 17
TO: 26