OTTAWA – Liberty Benton started fast in Saturday afternoon’s state ranked battle with Ottawa Glandorf but it was the Titans who finished strong with a 40-35 come from behind win at Robert J. Hermiller Gymnasium.
Trailing 23-12 at the halftime break the Titans began to slowly chip into the Eagles lead led by senior guard Kelsey Erford who connected on the first of her three second half triples with 3:46 to go to cut the lead to 26-17. Baskets by Katie and Erin Kaufman, and a three by Lily Haselman over the final minute of the period cut the deficit to just four 28-24 at the period buzzer.
“The game was very ugly early. Liberty Benton did an excellent job of limiting our inside game and really just stymied our offense with their 2-3 zone” said OG boss Troy Yant on the games first half.
Held to five points in the third period the visiting Eagles turned the keys to their offense over to 5’11 freshman Lauren Gerken who pushed the advantage out to 30-24 on the first Liberty Benton possession of the fourth.
Three pointers by Erford in the opening minutes of the final quarter trimmed the lead to 31-27 and pushed the Titans ahead for the first time in the game with 6:15 at 31-30 and forced the visitors to take a timeout and attempt to silence the Supreme Court crowd.
Gerken tied up the game with 4:51 to go and pushed her team back into the lead at 33-32 but was unable to get any help in the scoring department as the Titans fast past attack fueled by Erford utilized scores by Chloee Glenn, and a wide open Myka Aldrich for a 36-33 lead.
Liberty Benton got as close as 36-35 on a pair of makes by Gerken but were outscored by a pair of fast break baskets by Lily Haselman to mark the final points in a 40-35 Titan victory, their third in a row in the series.
“I thought we played better after the break but the difference n the game is when Kelsey started to take over and started hitting some outside shots that then led the increased defensive effort to get a steal or two that led to an easy basket to get us back in the game. We then did just enough to hold on to the win” opined Yant after the contest.
Kelsey Erford led all scorers with a game high 16 points while grabbing Eagle misses and firing down court to open teammates to facilitate the scoring for the Titans.
Lauren Gerken paced the Eagle attack with 12 points and was followed by sophomore sharpshooter Riley Irwin’s 11 that included a trio of three point goals for the BVC’s leading deep shooter.
Liberty Benton, ranked #12 in the polls this week falls to 14-4 on the season and will be back in Blanchard Valley Conference action on Thursday evening taking on Leipsic.
#6 Ottawa Glandorf (17-2) has now won 17 or more games in each of Troy Yant’s nine seasons as head coach and will themselves be in action on Thursday in a WBL tilt as they host Defiance in a game broadcast live on WZOQ Radio
Scoring:
OG (40):
Kelsey Erford 16
Lily Haselman 7
Myka Aldrich 2
Erin Kaufman 8
Katie Kaufman 3
Chloee Glenn 4
FT: 6/8
3PT: 4 (Erford 3, Haselman)
Liberty Benton (35):
Sophie Aschemeier 2
Taylor Ward 3
Riley Irwin 11
Lauren Gerken 12
Lauren Smith 2
Chelsea May 4
FT: 8/12
3PT: 5 (Irwin 3, Gerken, Ward)
JV: 39-36 Liberty Benton