St. John's, Jefferson each advance to districts

ROCKFORD — The sectional was played in Rockford, but Delphos owned the gym Saturday as St. John’s and Jefferson’s girls basketball teams advanced to the Division IV district tournament with wins in the sectional tournament at Parkway.

In the sectional finals opener, the Blue Jays knocked off Spencerville 64-35 before Jefferson took down Crestview 44-39.

The Blue Jays scored the first five points of the game and Spencerville never caught up. The win is the 600th in the history of Delphos St. John’s girl’s basketball.

The senior duo of Lindsay Reindel, 6-foot, 1-inch, and Zefiryn Bryan, 6-0, dominated the inside and allowed the Blue Jays (19-2) to get easy baskets against the Bearcat zone defense.

“We figured we had a height advantage,” Blue Jays coach Dan Grothouse said. “We moved the ball well, we got it to the open person on the inside. We got the ball, especially early, to Lindsay. It got them out of their zone. When they did try to double down we kicked it back out and our guys squared up and knocked down some big shots.”

In the first half, Reindel scored 15 points, including 11 in the second quarter, mostly on layups. Bryan added 11 first half points as St. John’s led 35-17 at intermission.

“We just take whatever the other team gives us, rather it’s the outside or fronting me in the post,” Reindel said. “We just find the open lane and take advantage. I felt like I had the height advantage.”

St. John’s was able to create offense from defense as it forced the Bearcats into 11 first half turnovers and 20 for the game. The Bearcats managed only 13 of 40 for 32.5 percent from the floor.

To start the third quarter, the Blue Jays scored seven quick points on three Spencerville turnovers to push the score to 45-17 early in the third quarter.

Zefiryn and Reindel each scored 19 points in the game and combined for nine rebounds.

Cortney Miller and Devon Keysor each had 11 for the Bearcats (3-17).

“We go man and we can’t match up and we go zone and we get beat on the boards,” Spencerville coach Darren Sharp said. “They definitely create a mismatch for us. But overall we played well and made some adjustments, but it was too much too early.”

The Blue Jays will face with Kalida at Van Wert at 6:15 p.m. Thursday.

Delphos Jefferson 44
Crestview 39

In the nightcap, Jefferson (18-3) defeated Northwest Conference foe Crestview (17-5) for the second time this season.

The game was a tale of two halves as the Wildcats stormed out to a 25-9 first-half lead before the Knights could respond and outscore Jefferson 30-19 in the second half.

In the first half, the pressure of the Wildcats crumbled the Knights forcing more first-half turnovers (12) than first-half Crestview points (9).

“Our pressure caused some problems for them,” Jefferson coach David Hoffman said. “They only had nine points at halftime.”

Offensively, Kennedy Boggs came off the bench to spark the Wildcats offense with seven first-half points as Jefferson led 25-9 after two quarters. Boggs scored a game high 17 points.

The second half was all Crestview as the Knights stormed back behind Jessica Burger, who scored 11 points, and Jo Thompson, who added 10.

The Knights closed the gap to 40-37 with 1:42 left in the game after a Burger jumper. After a missed free throw, the Knights got the ball back, but could not convert.

Courtney Lewis’ layup with 23 seconds left in the game followed by a pair of free throws by Boggs to seal the game and the trip to the districts for the Wildcats.

The Wildcats will face Ottoville in the second district semifinal game on Thursday at Van Wert.