TOLEDO – Saturday afternoon the Toledo Christian duo of Mackenzie Royal-Davis and Kendall Braden combined for 37 points in a 63-46 victory over visiting Ottawa Glandorf in non-league action.
Royal-Davis pushed the Eagles into a 5-1 lead early in the first period as she knocked down a straight away triple and added a pair of hoops inside against the Titan defense before the quarter break. Kendall Braden, the reigning TAAC Player of the Year hit for five of her 16 on the afternoon in the same period to break a 10-10 tie and help keep the Eagles ahead 17-16 at the buzzer.
Ottawa Glandorf’s duo of Kaelyn Grothause and Myka Aldrich flipped Toledo Christian miscues into four points each in the first period tie but were held scoreless in the second period of play. Freshman sensation Karsyn Erford pulled the Titans to within 19-17 in the early moments of the stanza and gave the Titans their first advantage at 22-21 with 3:23 to go before the half as she connected on her fourth triple in the last six quarters of play.
Following a fast break two for OG by Emma Brinkman to extend the lead to three, the Eagles dashed to their own run behind Royal-Davis and a five point swing behind Jordan Rosales and Myiah Welborn to amass a 28-24 halftime advantage.
Held to just a pair of three point goals from Brinkman and a triple from Katie Kaufman to get within one, the Titans were forced to rely on just six of seven from the line while the Eagles got hot from nearly every spot on the floor.
Mackenzie Royal-Davis hit for eight points and was complimented by a three ball from Braden deep in the quarter to send the game into the final eight minutes with the hosts on top 49-37.
Toledo Christian’s offense was supplied by Braden, a Wright State University target in the fourth period as she knocked down a quartet of shots and accounted for over half of her teams markers in the closeout period.
Ottawa Glandorf finished the afternoon with 21 turnovers and again were held in check on the scoreboard outside of a pair of free throw makes from sophomore Kaitlyn Kimmet and seven points from their leading scorer on the day Karsyn Erford who again hit from beyond the arc as part of her second straight double figure game and third in her first five career outings.
Next up for the Eagles (6-0) is a Friday night outing at Cardinal Stritch and season trips to play Medina in downtown Cleveland at Rocket Mortgage Field House on January 4th, and an outing against Tri-Village at the annual Classic in the Country event in January.
On tap for the Lady Titans (4-1) is a Tuesday evening non-league tilt against rival Liberty Benton, and a Thursday evening WBL clash with Elida. Both games can be heard on WZOQ Radio.
Scoring:
OG (46):
Karsyn Erford 13
Lily Haselman 2
Maggie Verhoff 4
Kaelyn Grothause 6
Emma Brinkman 5
Myka Aldrich 4
Kaitlyn Kimmet 5
Katie Kaufman 7
FT: 11/15
3PT: 5 (Erford 2, E. Brinkman, Kimmet, Kaufman)
TO: 21
Toledo Christian (63):
Kaylona Butler 6
Ava Neitzke 4
Kendall Braden 16
Mackenzie Royal-Davis 21
Jordan Rosales 11
Macey Wensink 2
Myiah Welborn 3
FT: 7/12
3PT: 4 (Rosales 2, Royal-Davis, Braden)
TO: 16
JV: OG 44-7