Girls basketball: Ottawa-Glandorf bounces back
OTTAWA — Ottawa-Glandorf first rammed it inside.
Then, the Titans began canning 3-pointers.
That added up to a tough night for Columbus Grove.
Ottawa-Glandorf notched a 43-22 victory against Columbus Grove in a girls basketball game Thursday night at Hermiller Gymnasium.
Erin Kaufman led the Titans with 11 points and six rebounds.
Erin’s sister, Katie Kaufman, had eight points and four rebounds.
Maggie Verhoff scored eight.
Kenzie King paced Grove with nine points on three 3-pointers.
O-G is 7-2. Columbus Grove is 8-3.
“Coming off the Crestview loss (51-45 on Tuesday) we needed a big win and the girls responded,” O-G coach Troy Yant said. “
The Titans continue to move forward after the season-ending injury to 5-foot-10 Chloee Glenn. It marks the fifth game O-G has played without Glenn (19 points, 10 rebounds average), who is out for the year after having knee surgery.
“We still have some growing pains,” Yant said. Trying to replace Chloee Glenn isn’t easy. We spent a lot of time this summer preparing for a two-post offense, with two very good offensive players (with Erin Kaufman). I think Katie (Kaufman) can get there. She just hasn’t had the experience that Chloee has had playing in these kind of games.’’
King hit a quick 3-pointer and that helped Grove pull out to a quick 5-2 lead.
But the rest of the half belonged to O-G.
The Titans turned to 6-foot Erin Kaufman and when she got it foul trouble, it looked for 6-foot sophomore Katie Kaufman.
Erin Kaufman sank a 3-pointer to tie the game at 5, but she picked up her second foul with 1:55 to go in the second quarter.
In came Katie Kaufman and she hit a putback and a layup to give O-G a 9-5 lead after the first quarter.
“I think we had to move the ball quite a bit to open the inside game,” Yant said.
O-G continued on its 12-0 run in the second quarter with Katie Kaufman’s layup and freshman Kaelyn Grothause’s 3-pointer.
That gave O-G a 14-5 lead with 7:01 left in the first half.
The Titans sank three 3-pointers to close the first half, with Emma Brinkman hitting two and Chloe Schroeder sinking one.
That gave O-G a 23-9 lead at the half.
“It was a tough matchup for us,” Grove coach Brian Schroeder said. “Obviously, we don’t have a ton of height, but I thought we did a good job in the first half of guarding their post.
“But, offensively, we couldn’t function and that’s a credit to their length and their athleticism and physicality. We couldn’t get anything going all night. … And they did a nice job of making life hard on Kenzie (King).’’
The Titans hit 9 of 16 at the half, including 5 of 7 on 3-pointers.
Grove had 20 turnovers for the game, while O-G ha 16.
O-G won the boards, 27-20.
O-G’s defense smothered Grove sharpshooter King and she struggled to get free for her 3-pointers. O-G rotated Lily Haselman, Maggie Verhoff and Myka Aldrich on her.
“Defensively, I thought we did a really good job on King,” Yant said. “We knew they were going to screen for her, but we told them, ‘You can’t get screened.’ And they did a good job of fighting over all the screens.’’
The Titans led 31-15 after three quarters.
Grove got as close as 31-20 with 6:39 to go when King nailed a 3-pointer.
But O-G went back inside with three straight layups by Katie Kaufman, Aldrich and Erin Kaufman and the Titans’ lead was back to 37-20 with 3:27 to go.
Ottawa-Glandorf’s Myka Aldrich, left, and Columbus Grove’s Savanah Ridenour compete for a loose ball during Thursday night’s game at Ottawa-Glandorf. See more high school basketball photos at LimaScores.com.
Ottawa-Glandorf’s Erin Kaufman putsup a shot against Columbus Grove’s Sage Clement during Thursday night’s game at Ottawa-Glandorf
Columbus Grove’s Kenzie King puts up a shot against Ottawa-Glandorf’s Lily Haselman during Thursday night’s game at Ottawa-Glandorf.
Ottawa-Glandorf’s Myka Aldrich puts up a shot against Columbus Grove’s Savanah Ridenour during Thursday night’s game at Ottawa-Glandorf,.
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