Still cresting

First Posted: 3/12/2015

ELIDA — Ottoville has hit full-tournament mode.

After slow start to the year, Ottoville has punched it in to another gear.

Ottoville went out to a huge lead and cruised home with an impressive 52-34 victory over New Riegel in the Division IV girls basketball regional semifinals Thursday at the Elida Fieldhouse.

Ottoville ran out to a 14-2 lead and simply crushed New Riegel every way it could.

“The girls are believing right now,” Ottoville coach Dave Kleman said. “They played with a lot of energy. We’re sharing the ball and nobody has an agenda out there right now about having to score points or having to play so much. We’re just playing really well as a team and we’re executing, offensively.”

Ottoville (19-7) advances to the regional finals against Fostoria St. Wendelin (23-4) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Elida. New Riegel ends its year 20-5.

Ottoville started the year 4-5, but since then it has gone 15-2.

“We’re just hotter than a firecracker right now,” Kleman said.

Added Ottoville’s Annie Lindeman, “This is definitely when we hit our peak. This is what we get excited for. It’s great. We love it.”

In the second regional game of the night, Fostoria St. Wendelin defeated Pettisville, 41-38. St. Wendelin’s 6-foot-3 junior Kamryn Troike had 15 points and 13 rebounds, while Allie Rutter scored 14.

Lindeman, a 6-foot senior, led the Big Green with 16 points and was 4 of 7 on 3-pointers. She also had seven rebounds and four blocks. Freshman Bridget Landin had 10 points and 10 rebounds. Brooke Mangas had eight points and Alexis Thorbahn had seven points.

Ottoville ran out to the early 9-2 lead and led 19-7 after the first quarter. The Big Green had no trouble shredding the New Riegel 1-2-2 press for open looks at the other end.

Lindeman had two 3-pointers in the first quarter and Thorbahn had one.

“I’ve been into it the whole tournament,” Lindeman said. “It’s a great thing to have your team be confident enough in you to keep giving you the ball back.”

After beating the press, Ottoville simply shot over the New Riegel 3-2 zone.

“I’m all for it (playing against a zone),” Kleman said. “But we’re not bad against the man, either.”

Landin had five points in the second quarter, as Ottoville took a 28-12 lead at the half.

It was never in doubt after that.

Ottoville led 44-22 after three quarters.

Defensively, Ottoville came with a sticky man-to-man press and continued to play man in the halfcourt.

While Ottoville forced only 10 turnovers, the Big Green made New Riegel take most of its shots on the perimeter. It wasn’t until the final quarter that New Riegel was able to find ways to get the ball inside.

“Quickness is a heck of a weapon,” Kleman said. “When you have people like Alicia Honigford and Brooke Mangas out front hawking their point guard all night, and then you throw Bridget Landin in there who is 5-11, who moves like one of the guards, and we just keep rotating, we have a lot of quickness.”

The freshman Landin’s 10 rebounds, including three on the offensive end, helped the Big Green outrebound New Riegel, 29-20.

“We knew this summer she (Landin) was going to be something special,” Kleman said.

Ottoville shot 57 percent from the field and was 6 of 12 on threes. New Riegel shot 42 percent and was 1 of 9 on threes.

The one-sided score caught Lindeman by surprise.

“We thought everything from here on out would be tough,” Lindeman said. “These games are always a tough fight. We just came out on top.”