OTTAWA – For the second times in as many games a visiting squad from the Glass City handed Ottawa Glandorf a rare home loss, this time around Toledo Christian walked away with a 52-38 victory.
Short handed do to a rash of injuries the Titans found themselves even further so on this night when junior guard Maggie Verhoff was lost to injury and helped into the trainers room late in the opening period.
Toledo Christian jumped ahead 2-0 on a basket by Macey Wensink and out to a quick 6-2 advantage on baskets by Kendall Braden and Mackenzie Royal-Davis in the first four minutes. Ottawa Glandorf turned Eagle turnovers into points and to their first lead at 7-6 with five minutes remaining when a three point goal from Lily Haselman found the bottom of the net.
Sophomore standout Kendall Braden pushed Toledo Christian back in front for good on the next trip down the Supreme Court floor for her squad with a triple of her own to help the visitors amass a 16-11 lead before the first buzzer.
Though the defense for the Titans had no answer early in the second for Kaylona Butler who accounted for six of her opening half 10 points in the frame, turnovers again led the run to close the deficit later on led by a Chloe Schroeder three pointer.
Late in the opening half three straight fast break baskets from Ottawa Glandorf sophomore Myka Aldrich cut the deficit to 26-24 heading to the locker room.
Aldrich and Emma Brinkman kept the Titans afloat with a pair of baskets to keep the contest a four point lead but watched on as Butler and Kendall Braden dropped in a pair of threes and 12 points to take a 40-31 lead to the final eight minutes after a Kaitlyn Kimmet floater fell through at the buzzer for OG.
Depleted and forced to utilize a deeper portion of their bench with four players out due to injury the Titans were unable to trim the lead any closer as Braden and Mackenzie Royal-Davis continued to hit shots and grow the lead to a 14 point victory of 52-38 for Toledo Christian.
“I really loved the effort of our team tonight to come into OG and get a win which is never easy, OG always plays hard. Defensively we played great in the second half and KB (Kendall Braden) really hit some big shots and made several hustle plays at the end. I am super proud of this group” said Toledo Christian (11-4) head coach Tim Wensink.
Ottawa Glandorf sees their record fall to 11-6 on the season, the most losses since Troy Yant’s first year at the helm. Next up for OG is a Thursday evening WBL battle at Celina. Erin Kaufman led the Titans with 13 points.
Yant opined “I thought we played hard tonight and fought back after a few miscues early. Myka Aldrich did a great job of getting some timely buckets to help us going into the half down just two. The first quarter injury to Maggie Verhoff coupled with Katie Kaufman sitting out due to injury forced us to use some untested rotations and our ability to stay with Toledo Christian was adversely effected. I thought our young girls played hard just to overcome the loss of four starters to injury.”
Scoring:
Toledo Christian (52):
Kaylona Butler 12
Ava Neitzke 1
Kendall Braden 25
Mackenzie Royal-Davis 11
Macey Wensink 3
FT: 11/17
3PT: 3 (Braden 3)
TO: 12
OG (38):
Chloe Schroeder 3
Lily Haselman 3
Emma Brinkman 3
Myka Aldrich 8
Carlie Brinkman 4
Kaitlyn Kimmet 4
Erin Kaufman 13
FT: 3/3
3PT: 3 (Schroeder, Haselman, E. Brinkman)
TO: 17