ELIDA – Ottawa Glandorf outscored Liberty Center 23-7 in the third quarter on Thursday night at the Elida Fieldhouse as part of a 53-18 dominating regional semifinals victory over Liberty Center.
Saturday afternoon the Titans (24-2) will square off at 7pm with Margaretta, the squad that defeated OG in the regional finals a season ago. The Polar Bears took down Harvest Prep in the evening’s opening tilt 48-36.
While they might have struggled as a team from the free throw line in the district finals against Delphos Jefferson, Ottawa Glandorf took charge of their charity tosses on this night by opening the game with a pair from Katie Kaufman and a 9/9 performance through the first three quarters.
Kaufman and Carlie Brinkman kicked off the scoring for OG in the opening moments to give their troops a 4-0 lead and ultimately an 11-4 advantage with help from sophomore Karsyn Erford in the first. Senior standout Eme Gray cut the Tigers deficit to 4-2 with 4:41 in the first but was unable to dent the scoring column again until a pair of makes early in the second for her teams only field goals of the half.
Fueled by Liberty Center miscues, the Titans flipped shots off of the backboard in the second period on the fast break from Erford and senior Myka Aldrich while connecting from the line on four attempts to amass a 21-9 halftime lead.
Offensive rebounding was a stat the Titans shined in on Thursday night as they outrebounded their counterparts 16-5 and 40-17 overall on the boards.
“Our top eight players all did a good job on defense and outside of just a few breakdowns I thought it was overall very good” said Titan 12th year boss Troy Yant.
Once again relying on their ability to steal and score, the Titans raced to a 23-7 third quarter on makes by Erford (17 points, 9 rebounds), Brinkman (7 points), and Kaufman (8 points) and a pair of triples from Kaitlyn Kimmet (7 points) and a banked three point goal from Myka Aldrich (7 points).
Liberty Center ended the game with six makes from the field by two players in Gray, and Bea Barrett. For her part, Barrett was on a mission for two minutes in the third as she connected on three consecutive shots as part of her eight point night. Unfortunately for the Tigers (23-3), they would only be able to muster a pair of free throws from Barrett in the final eight minutes on the scoreboard.
Barrett led all scorers with eight for the Tigers who will say goodbye to nine seniors with the loss.
“We got solid contributions from Karsyn and Katie when we needed it on offense, and some bonus buckets that really helped us out from Myka Aldrich tonight” finished Yant on the win.
Ottawa Glandorf has now won 19 of their last 21 at the Elida Fieldhouse and will seek to avenge their only loss since 2019 when they tangle with the Polar Bears with a trip to Dayton on the line.
Scoring:
OG (53):
Liv Grothause 2
Karsyn Erford 17
Carlie Brinkman 7
Gracie Lammers 1
Madison McKee 2
Katie Kaufman 8
Myka Aldrich 7
Kaitlyn Kimmet 7
FG: 20/48
3PT: 3/11 (Erford, Aldrich, Kimmet)
FT: 10/15
REB: 40 (16 offensive, Erford 9)
TO: 13
Liberty Center (18):
Eme Gray 6
Gracie Miller 2
Bea Barrett 8
Kailey Blanton 2
FG: 6/33
3PT: 0/9
FT: 6/10
REB: 17 (Gray 4)
TO: 16