ST. MARYS – Senior guard Lily Haselman produced her biggest scoring night of the season and helped the Titans rally back in the second quarter to defeat St. Marys 54-48 on Thursday night.
Ottawa Glandorf jumped out to a quick 4-2 lead on baskets by Katie Kaufman and Kaelyn Grothause but found themselves trailing the Roughriders as St. Marys sophomore sharpshooter Reese Rable canned a deep triple with 5:01 to give the hosts a 7-4 lead they would run to 13-8 into the quarter break.
Trading baskets through a majority of the second quarter the two team engaged in a game of whatever you can do I can do as players on each side found the bottom of the hoop on off balance and sometimes nearly insane takes.
St. Marys pushed their lead early in the period to 16-10 on an Ella Jacobs three point goal but consecutive baskets by Katie Kaufman and a run out by Grothause helped to keep the Titans within a point.
Emma Brinkman brought OG to even at 20-20 on the first of her two threes in the game with 3:06 to go in the half and helped to aid teammates Katie Kaufman, Kaitlyn Kimmet, Grothause, and Chloee Glenn who pushed the Titans to a 29-25 lead at the second quarter stoppage.
In the opening moments of the third period Lily Haselman made her mark on the contest as she doled out a pair of assists and connected on a trio of baskets for seven of her squads 16 in the period that included her second three pointer of the evening, doubling the total she entered with on the season prior to the game.
“I thought Lily was the difference maker, her intensity on defense and her steals helped to spearhead our third quarter run. Tonight was her best game of the season, steals, threes, layups, and a couple of great assists” said OG boss Troy Yant on his senior after the game.
Held to just a pair of makes from the field and one from the free throw line the Roughriders bad news continued as their second leading scorer Cora Rable found herself subjected to the bench with foul trouble.
The final eight minutes proved to be a much better time for the hosts as a trio of shots from deep from Ella Jacobs, Reese Rable, and Cora Rable cut the Titan deficit to 51-44 at the 4:12 mark.
Post players Chloee Glenn and Katie Kaufman’s trio of hoops helped to keep the Titans in front while the Riders made their run but the final salvo was served by Kaitlyn Kimmet who hit on both of her free throw chances with 30.7 remaining to cement the OG victory and stave off the comeback attempt.
“I’m proud of our girls effort tonight, they battled back and showed a lot of resilience in the fourth quarter. Ella Jacobs came through with a big game for us while Morgan Hesse battled through illness and Cora Rable showed great leadership” remarked St. Marys head coach Jon Burke.
St. Marys falls from the ranks of the WBL unbeatens that began the evening with three before losses by the Riders and Bath Wildcats to just one in the Lady Titans. Next up for the Roughriders (8-5, 3-1) is a Thursday evening trip to Van Wert to battle the Cougars on January 12th.
Ottawa Glandorf (10-2, 4-0) has now defeated the Roughriders in 13 straight meetings and will return to action on Saturday afternoon at 1:30pm when they travel to Fort Loramie to battle the Redskins.
Ella Jacobs and Morgan Hesse paced St. Marys with 14 points but were tied for the game high with OG’s Katie Kaufman’s 14 point output. Lily Haselman ended the evening for the Titans with her highest point total of the year while handing out three assists to go along with six steals and five rebounds.
Scoring:
OG (54):
Lily Haselman 12
Kaelyn Grothause 9
Emma Brinkman 6
Myka Aldrich 2
Kaitlyn Kimmet 8
Katie Kaufman 14
Chloee Glenn 4
FT: 4/8
3PT: 5 (Haselman 2, E. Brinkman 2, Grothause)
TO: 16
St. Marys (48):
Ella Jacobs 14
Reagan Allemeier 3
Ashlie Nuss 2
Morgan Hesse 14
Reese Rable 6
Cora Rable 9
FT: 4/8
3PT: 6 (R. Rable 2, Jacobs 2, Allemeier, C. Rable)
TO: 17
JV: Ottawa Glandorf 42-32 (Lady Titans JV undefeated on the season)