ELIDA – Thursday night Ottawa Glandorf trailed 2-0 but outscored host Elida 52-18 the rest of the evening to claim a 52-20 Western Buckeye League road win and move to 3-0 in conference play.
Under a minute into the contest the Bulldogs jumped ahead on a basket from senior Alexis Ward 2-0 but found themselves unable to dent the scoreboard for a second time for over four minutes. OG’s hounding defense provided scores from Katie Kaufman, Carlie Brinkman, Megan Horstman, and finally a triple from Karsyn Erford to jump ahead 9-2 as part of a 24-6 lead at the end of the first period.
“We were able to get pressure on their guards and create some turnovers that allowed us to get points in transition while being able to mix up our defense enough to give them different looks early while keeping the pressure up” said Titan 12th year head coach Troy Yant.
Plagued by 20 first half turnovers the Bulldogs deficit continued to grow in the second quarter thanks to a spell of nearly eight minutes without a basket during which the Titans amassed a 26-0 run. Fueled by Erford and Brinkman’s first half 23 combined and a pair of triples among their scores, the visiting blue and gold jumped out to a 46-6 lead before surrendering a score to Emma Mitchell just before the break.
Fast break baskets by Myka Aldrich, Megan Horstman, and Savannah Recker helped the Titans round out the final pair of their seven first half scorers.
Elida sophomore Emma Mitchell, the leading scorer for her team on the night with eight accounted for half of her squads eight points in the third period of play as she opened and closed the quarter with a short jumper and a pair of free throws to double the Bulldogs point total to 16. OG’s final points of the night came from a triple by Horstman and a fast break layup from Liv Grothause to push the Titans into the fourth ahead 52-16.
All four points in the fourth period of play came at the hands of the orange and black of Elida with a pair of Ward free throws and a make by Mitchell with just :13 left to play. Ottawa Glandorf was held scoreless for the final 9:45 of the contest but emerged with a 52-20 running clock victory for their 16th consecutive win over the Bulldogs.
“In the half court the defense was pretty good and limited them early” said Yant. “Finally we were able to hit some threes to cap off a pretty good first half.”
Elida, (2-8, 0-3) will return to action on Saturday as they travel to Botkins while the Titans (11-1, 3-0) are off for a week until next Thursday when they welcome St. Marys in for a pivotal WBL showdown.
Carlie Brinkman (12), and Karsyn Erford (11) led Ottawa Glandorf in scoring.
Scoring:
OG (52):
Liv Grothause 2
Karsyn Erford 11
Carlie Brinkman 12
Megan Horstman 7
Savannah Recker 2
Katie Kaufman 8
Myka Aldrich 4
Kaitlyn Kimmet 6
3PT: 5 (Kimmet 2, Erford 2, Horstman)
FT: 7/11
TO: 15
Elida (20):
Leah Ramirez 2
Lilly Sifrit 6
Alexis Ward 4
Emma Mitchell 8
3PT: 0
FT: 4/4
TO: 29
JV: OG 39-22