KENTON – Ottawa Glandorf opened defense of last seasons Western Buckeye League crown with a 56-40 road win Thursday night against host Kenton led by a trio of players in double figures.
The Titans jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the opening minute of the contest as junior Kaitlyn Kimmet scored a fast break basket on a pass from teammate Myka Aldrich and her first three point goal of the season on back to back possessions to open the game.
Kenton junior Macee Heckathorn pulled the deficit to 5-3 with 6:25 but never saw the lead push any closer as the visiting Titans held the Wildcats scoreless for the next 5:20 while amassing a 10-0 run of their own.
Senior Katie Kaufman, celebrating her 18th birthday on the evening pounced on the home defenders for six points and a handful of offensive rebounds as part of her 11 points and double digit rebounds and helped to facilitate scores for teammates Aldrich, and Carlie Brinkman who tosses in a shot that just beat the quarter horn.
OG continued to push their lead among multiple scorers in the second quarter, including 6’2 freshman post Madison McKee who notched her first career points with 5:03 before the half to give her squad a 27-10 advantage.
Heading into the halftime stoppage the Titans found themselves with a 32-17 lead despite a trio of triples and 10 points from Heckathorn. Kenton committed 14 first half turnovers while forcing Ottawa Glandorf into just seven.
“I thought our starters did a good job of setting the tempo in the first quarter, and the defense was really good in the first half which gave us a chance to work on some things and experiment” said Ottawa Glandorf 12th year head coach Troy Yant.
Held to just a trio of makes in the third quarter the Wildcats found themselves once again victims of Kimmet in the third as she sprang for a trio of makes from the field to run the visitors out to a 41-24 lead with a make with under a minute left before the buzzer.
Seven players scored for the Titans in the final eight minutes of play including McKee, Savannah Recker, and Greta Liebrecht who connected on her first points.
Though the Wildcats pulled closer to their opponent in the fourth behind a pair of threes from Sidney Payne and Addy Haudenschield, they were never able to cut deep enough into the deficit and fell for the 12th straight time to OG.
“Always happy to get that first WBL win and keep pace with the leaders in the league” said Yant. I thought Myka, Kaitlyn played really well and Katie was steady. We need to continue to work on our half court offense which is probably the hardest hit due to a short preseason and the injuries we’ve had. All and all this was a good night and we are 1-0 in the WBL.”
Kenton falls to 2-2 on the season and starts conference play 0-1. The Wildcats who next host Riverdale on Saturday were led by Macee Heckathorn who finished with 12 points on the night.
Ottawa Glandorf (3-0, 1-0) will be in action next on Saturday afternoon against Fairview. The Titans were led in scoring by the trio of Myka Aldrich (10), Katie Kaufman (11), and Kaitlyn Kimmet who finished with a season high 13 points.
Scoring:
OG (56):
Liv Grothause 3
Carlie Brinkman 8
Savannah Recker 2
Madison McKee 5
Katie Kaufman 11
Greta Liebrecht 2
Myka Aldrich 10
Kaitlyn Kimmet 13
3PT: 1 (Kimmet)
FT: 5/15
TO: 15
Kenton (40):
Kyla Bostater 3
Addy Haudenschield 3
Cailyn Hopkins 2
Sadie Larrabee 6
Sidney Payne 6
Macee Heckathorn 12
Olivia Nolting 4
Alexis Ratliff 4
3PT: 7 (Heckathorn 3, Payne 2, Bostater, Haudenschield)
FT: 3/4
TO: 27
JV: OG 43-7