BERLIN – Ottawa Glandorf’s offense might have succumbed to the frigid temps on Saturday afternoon but their defense was at times white hot in a 35-25 victory over Smithville at the annual Classic In The Country event.
Smithville jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the first two minutes of the contest on baskets from Heidelberg bound Aly Wickens and Mt. Vernon Nazarene signee Naomi Keib but found themselves unable to keep the momentum going against a strong Titan defense.
Utilizing a handful of Smithville turnovers the blue and gold dashed out to a 12-9 advantage at the first stoppage on connections from Malone commit Katie Kaufman, Carlie Brinkman, and Karsyn Erford that ended with the sophomore Erford connecting from deep.
Firmly entrenched in a defensive struggle the two squads combined to score just 10 points in the second stanza that saw all five for Smithville come from a :30 burst from junior Madi Singer that pushed her team in front 14-12.
Despite hitting on just one of their five charity tosses in the quarter and four of 13 in the game, the Titans drew even on a make by Liv Grothause and to an advantage on hoops from Kaufman and Erford.
“We knew tonight was going to be a tight game, thought the defense was lockdown. The offense was discombobulated but scored enough points tonight” said OG coach Troy Yant.
Perhaps the biggest storyline surrounding the Titans in the days leading up to their third trip to Classic In The Country was the possibility of missing Myka Aldrich, a senior who was being honored in California on Saturday after being named a soccer All-American earlier this month.
Fortunately for Ottawa Glandorf the Western Buckeye League soccer player of the year was in attendance after a redeye flight to help fight off the Smithville attackers. Aldrich ended the contest scoreless but pulled down three rebounds in addition to a game high five steals. “I would take 100 Myka Aldrich’s to build a great program with. She’s got soccer skills and fortunately some of her soccer skills lead to her being a great defensive player. She did a great job on some of their best players” said Yant.
Sophomore Karsyn Erford, a player that Yant opined has “the highest basketball IQ we’ve had since Kadie Hempfling” scored six of her game high 15 to put the Titans ahead 28-17 after three.
Smithville, held to just a single basket in the third that brought them to within two at the time pulled within five in the middle of the fourth on consecutive makes by Singer to end a long drought offensively.
Keib cut the Titan lead to 28-25 with a basket at 3:08 but was held without for the final moments while OG found makes from Erford, Kaufman, and junior Kaitlyn Kimmet to end the contest on a 7-0 run.
“It’s great that we get a game like this midseason, we find out who is going to be there for us defensively so now we can build an offense that we want to play in a tight situation, and know how we’re going to play in that scenario” said Yant on the experience.
Smithville (8-5) was led in scoring by Madi Singer (11), and Naomi Keib (9) but were unable to find consistent scoring otherwise against the smothering Titan defense.
“We play defense, we play defense at home, we play defense in practice, we play defense in about every game so that part travels well” remarked Yant. “They did a good enough job to switch up what they were doing, limit us, and take away what we wanted to do in the paint at times.”
Ottawa Glandorf, ranked #2 in the polls in division 3 moves to 13-1 on the season and will head home for a Thursday night WBL clash against Bath. Karsyn Erford’s eight rebounds, four assists, and 15 points led the way while senior teammate Katie Kaufman added nine markers.
Box Score:
OG (35):
Liv Grothause 2
Karsyn Erford 15
Carlie Brinkman 6
Megan Horstman 1
Katie Kaufman 9
Kaitlyn Kimmet 2
FG: 15/39
3PT: 1/8 (Erford)
REB: 25 (Erford 8)
FT: 4/13
TO: 11
Smithville (25):
Madi Singer 11
Naomi Keib 9
Aly Wickens 2
Camryn Wickens 3
FG: 11/36
3PT: 2/16 (Singer, C. Wickens)
REB: 29 (Keib 9)
FT: 1/2
TO: 18