VAN WERT – Ottawa Glandorf trailed 6-2 in the early moments of Thursday night’s Western Buckeye League tilt at Van Wert but rallied past the Cougars for a 59-26 victory to remain unblemished in conference play this season.
The host Cougars (4-13, 2-4) utilized a pair of deep balls from Katie DeAmicis and Kendra Deehring to take a short lived 6-2 lead with 4:08 left in the opening period but a 7-0 rally capped off by a triple from Megan Horstman gave the Titans a 9-6 lead they would never relinquish.
“The game has an almost surreal feel, like the girls were pressing too hard. We missed some early shots and even though we were getting up and down the floor it felt like we were rushing our shots trying to make up for what we had missed earlier and it had a compounding effect” said OG coach Troy Yant on the Titans slow offensive start.
Sophomore Karsyn Erford and senior Katie Kaufman led an offensive resurgence for the visiting blue and gold in the second stanza as the two combined for 10 of their teams 14 markers en route to a 27-16 advantage at the break.
Van Wert junior Kendra Deehring scored with 2:42 left before the half after cutting the lead to 24-16 on a layup and did not return.
Defensively the Titans clamped down on the Cougars in the third while amassing 21 points of their own. Van Wert’s lone bucket of the period came on a runner from freshman guard Jazzlyn Florence with 1:37 showing on the scoreboard to cut the OG lead to 46-18.
Ottawa Glandorf themselves flipped double digit host turnovers into scores from Erford, Kaitlyn Kimmet, and on four occasions by senior Myka Aldrich who deposited layups on Titan run outs.
“Finally at the start of the third quarter we were able to convert on some swipe and scores and add to our lead, that let us suddenly play a little more relaxed. Much of that turnaround was due to some layups made by Myka Aldrich” opined Yant.
Sophomore Katie DeAmicis struck again from beyond the arc in the fourth on two different trips for the Cougars as part of her team high nine points. OG’s Savannah Recker, Madison McKee, Greta Liebrecht, Libby Niese, and Grace Kahle all connected from the field in the final eight minutes to secure the victory.
“Tonight wasn’t our best overall game but it did give us a chance to use the fourth quarter to develop some players for down the road, and that is always a positive. Freshmen Libby Niese and Grace Kahle got their first varsity points tonight” remarked Yant.
OG, ranked 2nd in the weekly state polls moves to 16-1 overall and 6-0 with their 16th consecutive conference victory and will be back in action Saturday afternoon against Toledo Central Catholic. Saturday will also mark Youth Titan Day for Ottawa Glandorf beginning with the JV contest at 11am.
Karsyn Erford led all scorers with 14 points on the night while teammates Myka Aldrich, and Katie Kaufman joined her in double figures with 10 each.
Scoring:
OG (59):
Karsyn Erford 14
Carlie Brinkman 4
Savannah Recker 2
Megan Horstman 3
Madison McKee 4
Katie Kaufman 10
Greta Liebrecht 2
Myka Aldrich 10
Kaitlyn Kimmet 8
Libby Niese 2
Grace Kahle 2
FT: 8/14
3PT: 1 (Horstman)
TO: 20
Van Wert (26):
Kendra Deehring 7
Katie DeAmicis 9
Jordanne Blythe 2
Jazzlyn Florence 4
Amaya Dowdy 4
FT: 2/4
3PT: 4 (DeAmicis 3, Deehring)
TO: 38
JV: 43-2 Ottawa Glandorf