NAPOLEON – Ottawa Glandorf Thursday night kept host Napoleon scoreless for just over half of the game on their way to a 53-16 non-conference road win.
Freshman guard Chloe Cicero’s free throw with 2:41 remaining in the first quarter cut the Napoleon deficit to 8-7 but would be the last points the Wildcats would score in the opening half of play. Napoleon’s next basket came from the hands of junior Makayla Kruse to trim the lead to 36-9 OG with 3:39 remaining in the games penultimate period.
During the 16:02 span the Titans defense kept their opponents offense in check, the visiting blue and gold amassed a 30-0 run led by balanced scoring mostly from the quartet of starters Kaitlyn Kimmet, Katie Kaufman, Karsyn Erford, and Carlie Brinkman.
“I thought we were very good defensively once we settled in with two early miscues that allowed the three pointers, but after that the entire team played very good defense” said OG mentor Troy Yant. “Offensively we were much more confident running our half court offense against a zone look and were able to force some miscues throughout that gave us extra opportunities. This was also one of our better games boxing out as a team.”
Kimmet for her part played the biggest role early on by knocking down a pair of triples, one for the games opening salvo and the other on the run near the volleyball line at the first stanza horn to push the Titans into a 13-7 advantage.
Fast break baskets by Erford and Brinkman populated the first half scoring for the duo and were aided in the post by Kaufman.
Leading 22-7 heading into the third the Ottawa Glandorf upper hand on the scoreboard continued to grow thanks to Erford, Kaufman, and Brinkman who teamed up for all but three of the 25 their squad would add in the third to their lead. Junior Megan Horstman’s old-fashioned three point play pushed OG ahead 31-7 with 5:52 for her only marker of the evening.
Carlie Brinkman, a 5’7 junior who ended the game with multiple steals and rebounds before sitting down for good in the fourth nearly owned the eight minute segment by herself as she tallied nine of her game high 13 on the back of multiple steal and scores.
Napoleon’s last points in the third came with no time remaining thanks to a running clock on a free throw by Lily Kruse. Unfortunately for the hosts that basket again represented the start of a long drought offensively that wouldn’t be broken for nearly five minutes in the final period until a pair of baskets by Ava Good and Gracie Butler with 2:04 left.
The Wildcats (4-5) are next in action on Saturday as they travel to take on Archbold while the Titans (9-0) are off until Thursday evening when they head to Convoy to take on the Crestview Knights in a key non-league throwdown.
Chloe Cicero led the Napoleon attack with seven points, three below her season average.
Ottawa Glandorf produced three double digit scorers in the game led by Carlie Brinkman’s 13. Katie Kaufman finished with her eighth double figure scoring output of the year with 12 points while Karsyn Erford’s 10 gives the sophomore four in her first five outings of the season.
“I thought Carlie and Karsyn led the way and Kaitlyn hit some big threes for us while Katie kept us balanced while scoring in the paint” said Yant. “If there’s anything we definitely need to work on after this game it’s free throws.”
OG finished the game shooting just four of 12 from the free throw line.
Scoring:
OG (53):
Liv Grothause 4
Karsyn Erford 10
Carlie Brinkman 13
Megan Horstman 3
Madison McKee 2
Katie Kaufman 12
Kaitlyn Kimmet 9
3PT: 3 (Kimmet 3)
FT: 4/12
TO: 12
Napoleon (16):
Chloe Cicero 7
Lily Kruse 1
Makayla Kruse 4
Ava Good 2
Gracie Butler 2
3PT: 2 (Cicero 2)
FT: 2/7
TO: 25
JV: Napoleon 32-30