KALIDA – Ottawa Glandorf started slow on Friday night in their visit to the Palace in Kalida but rallied in the second half to down the host Wildcats 46-40 in their 2022-23 season opening contest.
With a game already under their belts the host Wildcats raced to an 8-0 lead in the opening moments of the contest behind baskets from Meredith Bockrath, Malia Romes, and Camille Hovest while also forcing their visitors into a handful of turnovers.
Ottawa Glandorf dented the scoreboard for the first time with 2:02 remaining in the first quarter thanks to the first career marker from freshman Karsyn Erford and pulled within 8-5 before the horn on a triple from senior Emma Brinkman.
Three point goals for Kalida from junior Whitney Unverferth helped the Wildcats begin to pull away again through the course of the second stanza to the tune of 19-11 and to 21-11 at the break. Similarly to the way they began the first, Ottawa Glandorf started slow in the second period and didn’t push through a basket until a make by Kaitlyn Kimmet with 4:20 on the scoreboard.
OG opened the second half with a fast and furious effort from Maggie Verhoff and Kaelyn Grothause who combined to hit for 14 points and help account for a defense that held Kalida without a field goal for the final 4:58 of the period.
Tied 28-26 with under a minute left in the quarter Verhoff tossed in a runner and completed the three point play to give the Titans their first lead 29-28 heading into the final eight minutes of play.
Embroiled in a contest that finished with over 40 fouls on the night the Titans kept the Wildcats at arms length in the fourth with a performance of 8 of 10 while keeping their opponent off the scoreboard again for an extended period of time early on.
Kalida pulled to within 36-34 on a pair of free throws by Camille Hovest at 3:55 but found themselves unable to cut into the deficit any further on a triple from Verhoff and the free throw performance from a trio of teammates.
Ottawa Glandorf outscored Kalida 35-19 in the second half to run their winning streak in the series to 10 straight games.
“I thought it was a very physical game and we couldn’t get anything going in the first half. I felt like Kaelyn Grothause and Maggie Verhoff led us attacking in the third where we finally got started offensively where Kimmet and Kaufman started playing and attacking the basket to draw fouls and get to the free throw line. Katie came up big when we needed some big buckets and Lily had a great run on the defensive end” stated Ottawa Glandorf 11th year head coach Troy Yant.
On the season the Wildcats who were led by Camille Hovest with nine points fall to 0-2 and will next be in action on Tuesday evening when they host Coldwater in a non-league tilt.
OG finished with double figure efforts from Maggie Verhoff (10), and a game high 12 from Katie Kaufman and will be off until Thursday, December 1st when they host their first Western Buckeye League contest against Kenton.
Yant finished his season opening postgame thoughts saying “We’ve got a lot of work to do but the second half was a great first step in preparing for the season.”
Scoring:
OG (46):
Karsyn Erford 2
Lily Haselman 2
Maggie Verhoff 10
Kaelyn Grothause 9
Emma Brinkman 3
Kaitlyn Kimmet 8
Katie Kaufman 12
FT: 17/25
TO: 17
3PT: 2 (E. Brinkman, Verhoff)
Kalida (40):
Andrea Burgei 6
Whitney Unverferth 6
Livia Recker 2
Meredith Bockrath 7
Brooke Erhart 4
Camille Hovest 9
Malia Romes 6
FT: 10/14
TO: 26
3PT: 4 (Burgei 2, W. Unverferth 2)
JV: Ottawa Glandorf defeated Kalida 38-36 on a game winning shot by Megan Horstman with under five seconds left.