WAPAKONETA – In a city made famous by one small step the Ottawa Glandorf Titans used one big run to amass a lead they would never surrender on Thursday night en route to a 61-35 victory over host Wapak.
Though OG opened the game with a basket from Kaelyn Grothause in the opening seconds, Wapak tied and took the lead over the next few minutes at 4-2 on baskets from junior Elisabeth Good with two and a half minutes gone.
Plagued by turnovers in the first period the Titans flipped the script on the Redskins through the rest of the half as they allowed just eight points on defense for the remaining time before the second stanza stoppage.
Seven Titans etched their names in the scorebook during the run that resulted in a 22 point burst and a 16-0 run to end the half, led by junior Katie Kaufman who scored 10 of her game and career high 17 points to push the blue and gold advantage higher and higher on the scoreboard.
Senior Reagan Courter’s basket with 5:35 cut the OG lead to 12-8 in the second quarter and was followed by a Kourtney Fullenkamp three to get within 15-12 before the Titans big run into the break.
Ottawa Glandorf, coming off of a season high six three point goals in a 59-58 win at Fairview on Saturday started their spree on this night mid way through the second quarter on a pair of makes by freshman standout Karsyn Erford.
“I thought at the end of the second quarter we started throwing the ball ahead to get some quick points in transition. Karsyn hit a few shots to allow us to kind of play our style of game, before that we played tight and miss some shots and free throws” opined Troy Yant following the game on his teams performance.
In the second half the visitors knocked down five triples from behind the arc from the hands of five different players to finish with seven on the evening and establish a new season high. Erford, Emma Brinkman, Lily Haselman, Kaelyn Grothause, and a banked in three from Megan Horstman sent the Titans into the final quarter break ahead 42-19.
Wapak connected on 8/10 shots from the free throw line in the second half of the game while their counterparts hit for 7/8 in the same span while each playing a physical brand of basketball.
Ottawa Glandorf outscored the Redskins 30-23 in the second half and were led by three in double figures. Two players, Katie Kaufman and Karsyn Erford ended the evening with new career high’s of 17 and 13 points respectively and were joined by teammate Kaelyn Grothause who finished with 11.
Elisabeth Good (11), and Reagan Courter (10) paced Wapak who falls to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in the WBL. Next up for the Redskins is a trip to Maria Stein for a non-league affair on Saturday against Marion Local.
OG (4-0, 2-0) remains one of the three unbeatens in the conference and will next be in action themselves on Saturday as they travel north to Toledo Christian for a non-conference tilt starting at 2:15pm that can be heard live on WZOQ Radio.
Scoring:
OG (61):
Karsyn Erford 13
Megan Horstman 3
Lily Haselman 7
Maggie Verhoff 3
Kaelyn Grothause 11
Emma Brinkman 5
Myka Aldrich 2
Katie Kaufman 17
FT: 10/18
3PT: 7/14 (Erford 3, Horstman, Hazelman, Grothause, E. Brinkman)
TO: 15
Wapak (35):
Elisabeth Good 11
Kierra Siefring 2
Kortney Fullenkamp 8
Reagan Courter 10
Maddison Springer 4
FT: 9/12
3PT: 2/11 (Fullenkamp 2)
TO: 20
JV: OG 53-3 (Karsyn Erford 14 pts)