CONVOY – Thursday evening a battle of unbeatens took place at Crestview and lived up the hype down to the last shot as Ottawa Glandorf remained unbeaten with a 47-45 road victory.
“Our defense was pretty good and kept us close enough for some timely shots and free throws to allow us to sneak out with a win against a very good team” said OG head coach Troy Yant.
Sophomore standout Karsyn Erford’s free throws with just 25.7 seconds remaining pushed the visiting Titans to a 47-45 lead and set the stage for a handful of timeouts called by Yant and counterpart Mark Gregory of Crestview.
Inbounding from in front of their own bench with the clock ticking down to 4.1 seconds the Knights turned to senior Cali Gregory for a chance at overtime, but watched as an off balance shot careened off the rim at the buzzer to signal the win for the visitors.
“I’m proud of my girls, OG just made a few more plays than we did down the stretch. They got to the line 22 times to out 11 and that was the difference. This was a great atmosphere for a big game” said Gregory.
Ottawa Glandorf raced out to an early 8-2 lead with 3:15 to go in the first period behind baskets from Karsyn Erford, Katie Kaufman, and a triple by Carlie Brinkman and seemed to be in position to run away with the game. Unfortunately for the Titans the Knights offense found a pair of back door layups to cut the lead to 10-8 heading into the first stoppage.
Cali Gregory, a senior and All-Ohio selection in two sports pushed Crestview into the lead 13-12 on a free throw with 5:28 as part of a run for the hosts and helped keep them in front heading into the break with assists to Ellie Kline and Myia Etzler.
Erford notched seven of the Titans 11 second quarter points and kept the offense alive by connecting on five of six from the line, including the final connection late to keep OG within 22-21 at the horn.
Three players, Etzler, Kline, and Cali Gregory scored four apiece in the third to keep the Titans runs small and from taking a lead on the scoreboard. Carlie Brinkman’s second triple of the game with :53 fueled an OG comeback with :18 to go and signaled the end of a personal five point run for the junior who hit for a dozen points before fouling out late.
Gregory, the University of St. Francis signee took over the offense for the Knights late in the fourth quarter with seven of her game high 18 points coming in the final 5:19 that included an old fashioned three point play. Trailing by two with 2:30 to go a basket from the 5’10 senior knotted the game at 43-43 just seconds after OG’s Katie Kaufman had given her own squad the advantage.
“Tonight wasn’t a game where much went according to script, with our sixth man Megan (Horstman) being out sick and with Carlie and Katie catching early foul trouble. Having those two sit the whole second quarter made it tough for us to really get anything going” said OG’s Yant. “We were forced to be creative, fortunately Karsyn played beyond her years keeping while keeping us within striking distance.”
Crestview (9-1) who defeated the Titans in Sandusky two years to the day in 2021 fell for the third time in their four all-time meetings with OG.
Cali Gregory led the Knights with 18 points and finishes her three career meetings with the Titans having scored 69 points. Next up for Crestview is a second straight challenge from a Route 65 squad as the Columbus Grove Bulldogs pay a visit for an NWC tilt on January 4th.
Ottawa Glandorf improves to 10-0 on the season and were paced by Karsyn Erford’s 16. Carlie Brinkman tossed in 12 for her second straight double figure scoring outing while senior teammate Katie Kaufman (11) reached double figures for the eight time on the year.
Saturday OG will welcome Fort Loramie to the Supreme Court for a 12:30pm non-league clash broadcast live on https://christiannetcast.com/listen/player.asp?station=zsportslive2
Scoring:
OG (47):
Liv Grothause 4
Karsyn Erford 16
Carlie Brinkman 12
Savannah Recker 2
Katie Kaufman 11
Kaitlyn Kimmet 2
3PT: 3 (Brinkman 3)
FT: 16/22
TO: 10
Crestview (45):
Myia Etzler 8
Kaci Gregory 5
Ellie Kline 14
Cali Gregory 18
3PT: 0
FT: 9/11
TO: 12
JV: Ottawa Glandorf 29-19