First Posted: 2/28/2015
HICKSVILLE – It’s good to get the first game out of the way.
The Bath Wildkittens did that and put an exclamation point on the game with their defense.
Bath came out with its press and flattened Bryan 52-22 for the Division II sectional championship Saturday at Hickville High School.
The game was never in doubt, as Bath forced 20 turnovers in the first half and 25 for the game.
Racking up turnovers by the second kicked in the Bath running game which sprinted down the floor nearly at will.
“We turned them over and that was the key to the game,” Bath’s Maddie Dackin said. “That got us into our offense.”
Bath (21-1) advances to the district semifinals against Defiance (15-8) at 8 p.m. Thursday at Paulding High School. Bryan finishes the year 5-18.
In the first sectional title game of the night, Defiance knocked off Van Wert, 54-39.
Maddie Dackin led Bath with 11 points. Cassie Best had 10 points, while Bri Smith had eight points and four rebounds. Haylee Brenek had seven points. Ellie Dackin had two points and five rebounds.
“It’s very important we get all of our nerves out and then we can go forward and play strong,” Bath’s Ellie Dackin said.
Bath used its 2-2-1 full-court press to sprint out to a 12-0 lead. At that point, Bryan had turned the ball over eight times.
“Our defense is solid,” Bath coach Greg Mauk said. “Our defense has been solid all year and we’ve really hung our hat on that all year.”
Bath opened its lead to 21-5 with 4:30 left in the second quarter. During that 9-2 spurt to start the second, Maddie Dackin had two layups and a 3-pointer.
Bath led at the half, 25-9.
Just in case Bryan had any thoughts of a comeback, Bath ripped off a 12-0 burst to start the third quarter. That pushed the Bath lead to 37-9.
The only down side for the Wildkittens was they shot only 38 percent from the field, and were only 4 of 22 on 3-pointers.
“I thought we shot the ball poorly and didn’t finish around the rim,” Mauk said. “I thought we were a little bit off center, new gym, who knows? But I didn’t’ think we played the way I thought we should play.”
Ellie Dackin added, “Maybe it was our start-up, tournament-time jitters. We couldn’t get in a groove tonight (offensively).”
Bath won the boards, 34-26.
