OTTAWA – Tuesday night Ottawa Glandorf celebrated senior night at the Supreme Court and passed judgement on visiting Archbold on the way to an at times dominating 59-22 victory.
Senior Chloee Glenn, playing for the first time since a road victory on January 7th opened the scoring for the Titans in her second start of the season as she connected on a pair of makes in the paint to push her team to a 4-0 lead in the opening minute plus of the contest.
Emma Brinkman, a senior sharpshooter helped the home squad finish off a 20-4 first stanza that saw Archbold held to just four points on two makes from the field connected on a triple with :32 seconds remaining for half of her points on the evening.
Archbold’s offense was held scoreless by a swarming Titan defense that forced 14 first half turnovers from the 53.8 second mark of the first on a make by Alanna Pedraza to a free throw connection with 1.1 seconds to go before halftime from Nyah Grime.
Unable to utilize the talents of Maggie Verhoff in her final game, Ottawa Glandorf head coach Troy Yant was able to dress and start the senior for the games opening tip but admitted afterwards that “I somehow survived without crying but did have my heart broken to have to take Maggie out of the game”.
Fast break baskets by underclassmen Karsyn Erford, Myka Aldrich, and Katie Kaufman helped the Titans punctuate their lead in the second quarter while a triple from Kaitlyn Kimmet and the final marker of a first half 10-point performance by Glenn sent the hosts into the locker room leading 35-5.
“It was good for us to try some different things to kind of ease Chloee into the lineup. We did a good job getting the ball to her and getting her some good looks. The nature of the game disrupted our rotations some but it was nice to see our pressure cause some problems, and even when we played zone we were able to stay aggressive” said Yant.
Archbold’s half time pep talk spurned a handful of baskets to help cut into the lead and included a 3-point goal from Carly Grime. Unfortunately for the Blue Streaks they were unable to lessen the turnovers that plagued their efforts in the first two stanzas as the Titans continued to turn their miscues into points on the other end.
Looking at the third quarter Yant stated “I was very happy with the intensity with which we played in the first half but felt like we had a few letdowns to begin the third. We were able to get some younger girls in and get some more experience though before we head into the tournament”.
Defensive spark plug Lily Haselman celebrated her last go round at the Supreme Court by stealing and racing past Archbold’s defense with 4:12 in the third to push the advantage to 43-12.
Through the last half of the fourth quarter the elder Titans were given both a moment in and coming out of the game to celebrate their home career coming to an end and each made the most of their opportunity.
Chloee Glenn began the farewell tour for OG with the final basket of her season and game high 14 points early in the quarter and watched as teammates Haselman and finally Emma Brinkman took their turn heading to the bench for the final time in the game.
Brinkman connected on a triple from just in front of her teammates with 3:39 to set in play the running clock and watched just a minute later as her younger sister Carlie knocked down a triple of her own to run the lead to 57-18.
Blue Streak seniors Meg Mello and Alivia Rodriguez helped pace their squad in the final eight minutes as they teamed with Charlie Forward for eight stanza markers.
Archbold (9-12) has dropped four of their last six games and will head into their regular season finale on Thursday against Wauseon before tangling with Van Buren in their postseason opener.
#5 ranked Ottawa Glandorf (18-3) sees their senior class move to 89-16 with the 59-22 victory and will next be in action themselves on Thursday when they travel to Defiance to end the regular and Western Buckeye League portions of their schedules.
Chloee Glenn led all scorers with 14 and was joined in double figures by junior Katie Kaufman’s 10. Alanna Pedraza and Charlie Forward each notched four to pace Archbold.
“It was good to see Chloee and Maggie on the floor again with Lily and Emma” finished Yant on his senior night thoughts.
Scoring:
OG (59):
Karsyn Erford 8
Lily Haselman 2
Emma Brinkman 6
Myka Aldrich 7
Carlie Brinkman 3
Kaitlyn Kimmet 7
Katie Kaufman 10
Chloee Glenn 14
Savannah Recker 2
FG: 21/29
3PT: 4/9 (E. Brinkman 2, C. Brinkman, Kimmet)
FT: 3/9
TO: 15
Archbold (22):
Alanna Pedraza 4
Sophie Rupp 2
Makena Thiel 2
Alivia Rodriguez 3
Leah McQuade 2
Carly Grime 3
Meg Mello 1
Nyah Grime 1
Charlee Forward 4
3PT: 2 (Rodriguez, C. Grime)
FT: 4/7
TO: 30
JV: OG 47-33 (Titans 21-0)