OTTAWA – Ottawa Glandorf (18-2, 8-0) clinched at least a share of their 15th Western Buckeye League title on Thursday night at the Supreme Court as they dispatched visiting Shawnee 52-13.
The Titans pressure defense forced 36 Indian turnovers and held their opponent to 12:00 without a score while amassing a 32-0 run of their own through the first to third quarters.
Similar to a run earlier this season at Napoleon that saw the blue and gold hold the Wildcats to no markers for 15:01 while finishing off a 28-0 Titan spurt.
Juniors Carlie Brinkman and Kaitlyn Kimmet controlled the scoring for the hosts in the opening frame as they combined to knock down four from behind the arc and three of four from the free throw line. Kimmet’s three triples sent the Titan lead from 10-5 with :59 remaining to 19-5 just before the buzzer while Brinkman punched across six of her game high 13 in the stanza.
After a bucket from Brynn Patterson cut the OG lead to 8-5 in the first with 2:01, the Indians found themselves unable to score in the second while ending the half with 24 miscues. OG’s lead swelled to 37-5 at halftime on baskets by Katie Kaufman in the post, Liv Grothause and Brinkman on the run, and a fourth and final made shot from deep by Kimmet.
Sophomore Anna Menke led just two scorers for the visiting squad on the night and finished with nine and ended the Titan run at 6:01 in the third to cut the deficit to 40-8 on the first of her two second half triples.
Shawnee (7-12, 4-4), playing short handed without all-time leading scorer Grace Freiberger and junior Sydney Burris, finished off a three minute drought in the final moments on makes from Menke and Patterson. Unfortunately for the Indians they would draw no closer on the scoreboard as the Titans bench began to trickle in and run out the running clock for the win.
“It was nice to see other players take a bigger offensive role tonight” opined OG boss Troy Yant. “I thought the girls carried over from practice a few things we’ve been working on, especially in our team defense but we missed more layups early than I would like but we got good looks in our transition game and in our half court offense. There’s still room for growth.”
Ottawa Glandorf will look to wrap up their 11th outright conference crown next Thursday against visiting Defiance but will hit the road Tuesday night visiting rival Archbold. Shawnee’s back in action on Saturday afternoon as they pay a visit to Lima Central Catholic.
Scoring:
OG (52):
Liv Grothause 4
Karsyn Erford 2
Carlie Brinkman 13
Gracie Lammers 1
Megan Horstman 3
Savannah Recker 3
Madison McKee 4
Katie Kaufman 8
Myka Aldrich 2
Kaitlyn Kimmet 12
FT: 4/6
3PT: 8 (Kimmet 4, Brinkman 2, Horstman, Recker)
TO: 11
Shawnee (13):
Anna Menke 9
Brynn Patterson 4
FT: 0/0
3PT: 3 (Menke 3)
TO: 36
JV: 40-21 OG (Calverie Fox/Madison McKee 11 pts each)