FINDLAY – Ottawa Glandorf completed multiple comebacks Tuesday evening as they held off host Liberty Benton 43-37 in a key non-conference girls basketball matchup.
Liberty Benton scored on the opening touch of the contest on a layup just six seconds in from Lindsay May, and ran their advantage to 7-0 on a triple by future BGSU Falcon Lauren Gerken that forced Ottawa Glandorf boss Troy Yant to take an early timeout.
OG’s Katie Kaufman, a Malone signee got the Titans on the board with 4:01 to go in the first period and helped teammates Carlie Brinkman and Kaitlyn Kimmet to cut the lead to 9-5 with 1:35 remaining.
Sophomore guard Karsyn Erford returned to the Ottawa Glandorf lineup for the first time this season and paid immediate dividends for the blue and gold as she raced through Eagle defenders with under a minute remaining for her first points to bring her team within two. A pair of free throws by Kimmet and a basket underneath the hoop from Kaufman gave the visitors their first lead 11-9 just before the buzzer rang out at the end of the stanza.
Through the opening moments of the second the host Eagles jumped back in front on the scoreboard in large part thanks to the play of Gerken, a senior who averaged 16.3 points per game in her five previous outings against OG. Gerken’s four point run on consecutive trips down the floor pushed her squad ahead 15-11 before a triple from Addi Crow sent the lead to seven.
Triples from Erford and Kimmet kept the Titans afloat offensively and gave Troy Yant’s crew an opportunity to go into the locker room down just a single point after a one of two performance at the line from Kaufman just before the stoppage.
LB outscored Ottawa Glandorf 10-7 in the third stanza, led by a quartet of makes from Gerken and found themselves ahead 31-27 going into the final eight minutes.
After the visitors opened the fourth on a 5-0 run in the opening seconds thanks to Carlie Brinkman and Kimmet, the Eagles utilized a bucket from Gerken to retake the lead at 33-32. Unfortunately for Liberty Benton that basket would be the last the senior would see from the field on the evening.
“I thought Kaitlyn and Carlie did a great job of limiting Gerken especially down the stretch, and I thought our team defense got better later in the game” said Yant.
Offensively the Titans turned a big play from junior Megan Horstman into a 38-35 lead with just 2:16 remaining and added a 3/4 performance from the line from the returning Erford to keep the Eagles at bay and secure the 43-37 victory.
“One of the biggest buckets of the game was Megan’s layup out of the motion movement” said Yant. “Knowing that was the right shot in a one point game and having the maturity to take and make it when she hadn’t scored a bucket all night to put us ahead gave us the momentum we rode the rest of the way.”
Liberty Benton (4-2) was led in scoring by Lauren Gerken with a game high 22 points. Next up for the Eagles is a Blanchard Valley Conference clash on Thursday against Arlington.
Ottawa Glandorf (5-0) finished with three scorers in double figures led by Katie Kaufman with 13, her fifth consecutive double figure game to open the season. Kaitlyn Kimmet and Carlie Brinkman each finished with 10 for the Titans who will return home and host Wapak Thursday evening in a key WBL showdown.
“Tonight was a great win for the girls, especially with Karsyn’s return and being on limited minutes as well as Myka Aldrich being out” said Yant. “After falling behind early we settled down and played pretty good defense while being able to squeeze out enough points to stay with them. Katie played well in the post after having a couple of shots blocked and Kaitlyn hit a big three when we were struggling against the 2-3 zone that swung momentum our way. All and all a great win tonight.”
Scoring:
OG (43):
Karsyn Erford 8
Megan Horstman 2
Katie Kaufman 13
Kaitlyn Kimmet 10
Carlie Brinkman 10
3PT: 3 (Kimmet 2, Erford)
FT: 8/11
TO: 11
LB (37):
Lindsay May 6
Emma Hooper 6
Lauren Gerken 22
Addi Crow 3
3PT: 3 (Gerken 2, Crow)
FT: 2/3
TO: 17
JV: Ottawa Glandorf (5-0), 35-31