OTTOVILLE – Led by the duo of Alexa Honigford and Nicole Knippen the Big Green opened up Putnam County League play on Thursday night at L.W. Heckman gymnasium with a 55-49 victory over rival Miller City.
Just six seconds into the opening quarter and on their first possession of the game Ottoville took a 3-0 lead they would never relinquish in the contest on a deep jumper from Knippen. Only :14 later, the Big Green upped their lead to 5-0 on their second possession on a Tori Thomas basket.
Miller City junior standout Abi Lammers helped to keep the visiting Wildcats in the contest in the opening minutes as she tossed in eight of her team high 17 points that included a make at 5:25 to cut the lead to a single digit at 9-8 and force a timeout.
Engaged in a fast paced track meet the Big Green knocked down five first stanza three point goals to race out to a 26-13 advantage, including a Miller City rally ending triple from Knippen with 2:38 to go that kept the hosts in charge 16-8.
“As a team we were able to get some great looks in transition which opened up our outside game to hit some key shots” remarked Ottoville second year head coach Michelle Leach on her teams performance.
While a switch of defenses to a zone helped to limit the Ottoville offense to just four points in the second quarter, Miller City flipped the script on the Big Green’s early success and cut the lead to just 30-26 at the break on the back of Lammers, Liz Otto, and a five point run by sophomore Grace Pfau in the opening moments of the period.
Though Miller City was able to keep Nicole Knippen scoreless and away from the basketball in the second quarter, the reigning PCL Player of the Year knocked down a pair of triples in the third and propelled her team to a 43-38 lead to help quell a Wildcat rally once again. Alexa Honigford connected on her second three pointer and added a basket inside in the period to fuel the run as well for Ottoville.
In the waning moments of the third the Wildcats pulled within two at 40-38 on a three pointer by senior Adrienne Kuhlman before the Knippen score.
As is the case in a lot of close games the two teams held one another to a free throw contest in the final eight minutes of play that saw the Big Green pull away for the win as they connected on eight of thirteen tosses to secure the 55-49 victory.
“Both Nicole and Alexa had amazing effort on both ends of the floor and hit some big free throws down the stretch, their positive leadership was evident the entire game” cooed Leach on her two senior leaders who hit eight of their combined eleven fourth quarter shots at the line on their way to a combined 39 points.
Miller City (3-1, 0-1) finished with three players in double figures led by Lammers 17. Adrienne Kuhlman ended the evening with 11 while Grace Pfau finished with 10 that included a pair of three pointers. The Wildcats are back into PCL play on Tuesday night as they travel to Leipsic to battle the Vikings.
“Tonight was an outstanding hard fought game between two county teams” said Leach of the victory that moved her team to 3-1 on the season and 1-0 in Putnam County League play. Ottoville will travel to Coldwater on Monday evening to take on the Cavaliers in a non-league tilt.
Score by quarter:
Ottoville: 26-4-13-12
Miller City: 13-12-13-11
Scoring:
Ottoville (55):
Tori Thomas 7
Alexa Honigford 15
Elise Kramer 9
Nicole Knippen 24
FT: 13/19
3PT: 8 (Knippen 5, Honigford 2, Kramer)
TO: 15
Miller City (49):
Abi Lammers 17
Adrienne Kuhlman 11
Natalie Koenig 6
Liz Otto 5
Grace Pfau 10
FT: 10/15
3PT: 5 (Kuhlman, Pfau)
TO: 13
JV: Miller City 29-18