And the games begin

BLUFFTON — Solid play at the defensive end, along with solid rebounding will sometimes overcome subpar shooting and too many turnovers.

Columbus Grove controlled the boards and held Fort Jennings to 30 percent shooting from the field, en route to a 44-38 victory over the Musketeers in a girls Division IV sectional semifinal game at Bluffton on Tuesday.

With the win, Columbus Grove (10-11) will face No. 2 seed Kalida (11-9) in a sectional final at 6:15 p.m. Saturday.

Columbus Grove won the battle on the boards, 37-20. However, the Bulldogs committed 23 turnovers on the night. Nikki Stechschulte and Anna Ricker both scored 15 points and came away with seven rebounds apiece to lead Columbus Grove.

“We ended up with 22 turnovers and we still win the game,” Columbus Grove coach Chad Recker said. “We’ve struggled with that this year. Obviously tonight, rebounding and making free throws down the stretch saved us.”

In the fourth quarter, Columbus Grove made 9 of 13 from the charity stripe to hold off the Musketeers.

After Fort Jennings slipped into halftime with a 17-16 lead, Columbus Grove came out in the third quarter and took control. Stechschulte scored five points in the third stanza to lead the way for the Bulldogs. Despite getting into early foul trouble, Stechschulte still managed to score nine of her points in the second half.

Columbus Grove coach Chad Ricker said Stechschulte played smart in the second half.

“Nikki Stechschulte really knows how to play with four fouls,” Ricker said. “She did a good job in the second half of playing under control.”

Kelsey VonLehmden led Fort Jennings with 11 points and had four steals. Macy Schroeder added 10 points and three steals for the Muskies.

Fort Jennings coach Matt Myerholtz said Columbus Grove’s size took over in the second half.

“In the first half, I thought we did a pretty good job, defensively,” he said. “In the second half, they started to get the ball into the post more and got some easy baskets.”

Ricker said Kalida will pose a big challenge for his team on Saturday.

“In the regular season game I think we turned the ball over like 35 times,” Ricker said. “We will need to do a much better job of taking care of the ball against them.”

Continental 52, Perry 43

In the second semifinal Tuesday, Continental got 18 points from Taylor Williamson and 11 points from Vanessa Koppenhofer to pull away from Perry.

Teysha Upshaw led Perry with 16 points and had a game-high 15 rebounds. Teammate Abbie Patton added 12 points, including four 3-pointers.

Continental (10-11) will face No. 1 seed Ottoville (20-0) in the Saturday’s other sectional final. That game will tip-off around 8:15 p.m.

After getting down 25-21 by the halftime break, Continental outscored Perry 31-18 in the second half.

Continental coach Jaaci Carr said her team was a lot more aggressive in the second half.

“I told the girls at halftime that we needed to pick up the intensity,” she said. “Our defense really stepped it up in the second half.”