DEFIANCE – Originally scheduled to take on the Panthers in Lexington the OG Titans moved past Delta on Wednesday night on the floor of WBL rival Defiance on the strength of their pressure defense en route to a 49-21 regional semifinals victory.
Ottawa Glandorf jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead and continued to add to their lead on baskets by their big three Erin Kaufman, Kelsey Erford, and Chloee Glenn for a 13-7 advantage at the end of the opening eight minutes.
Delta notched the first points of the second period, a three point goal from senior Braelyn Wymer to pull within 13-10 just :30 in to the stanza but would find themselves on the wrong end of the scoring for the next nearly 22 minutes of game action.
Utilizing their depth and ability to sub players in and out for short spans the Titans continued to add to their advantage on the scoreboard before the half thanks again to Erford who raced past the Panthers defense for a trio of fast break baskets and a three pointer that helped run the lead at the break to 26-10.
Held scoreless for the final 7:30 of the second period the Panthers were held to no makes from the field and just a quartet of free throws in the third period as the Titans continued to extend their lead.
Though Delta was able to work themselves into the paint and put shots on net the Panthers were forced to settle for charity tosses from Reagan Rouleau, Khloe Weber, and Brooklyn Green.
Katie Kaufman and sister Erin combined for six of the points scored by the Titan offense and were aided by Chloee Glenn and finally Myka Aldrich who took a teammates pass to the hoop and survived a foul from Delta to run the lead to 34-14 heading into the final period of play.
Three pointers were the way of the world for Ottawa Glandorf in the fourth quarter as the duo of Anna Siefker and Ella Okuley connected on a shot from deep each before teammate Emma Brinkman knocked down the last points for OG in the game by connecting on a pair from beyond the arc of her own.
Delta ended their long drought without a make from the field with 2:07 to go in the contest on a make by Braelyn Wymer and added a pair of makes after by Ella Ford and Brooklyn Green for their final markers.
Following their second loss of the season to OG, the Panthers bow out at 18-8 on the year and were led in scoring by Brooklyn Green with eight points.
Ottawa Glandorf (23-2) was paced by Kelsey Erford’s 16 points and will head to Lexington High School on Saturday evening for a regional finals matchup with Africentric seeking to avenge a 38-34 loss in last seasons regional finals to the Nubians.
Scoring:
OG (49):
Kelsey Erford 16
Anna Siefker 3
Ella Okuley 3
Emma Brinkman 6
Myka Aldrich 2
Erin Kaufman 6
Chloee Glenn 7
Katie Kaufman 6
FT: 6/9
3PT: 5 (Brinkman 6, Erford, Siefker, Okuley)
Delta (21):
Ella Ford 2
Reagan Rouleau 5
Braelyn Wymer 5
Brooklyn Green 8
Khloe Weber 1
FT: 10/16
3PT: 1 (Braelyn Wymer)