OTTAWA — Ottawa-Glandorf was in the zone and Kenton was out of the game.
The No. 1-ranked Titans found themselves in a close game, leading only 33-32 at halftime over Kenton in a match-up of two of the Western Buckeye League’s top girls basketball teams on Thursday night.
But O-G, led by Kadie Hempfling (27 points, 10 rebounds) and Kylie White (19 points, 12 rebounds) pulled away for a 60-49 win that kept it alone at the top of the WBL standings.
Maybe one of the big factors in shifting the balance of power in the final 16 minutes was the Titans deploying a zone defense that caused major problems for Kenton (13-4, 5-2 WBL).
In the first five minutes of the second half, the Wildcats turned the ball over six of the first nine times they had it, missed a lay-up and put up an airball. During those five minutes, O-G’s lead went from one point to 10 points at 42-32.
Kenton cut the lead to three points early in the fourth quarter but managed only three field goals in the first 14½ minutes of the second half and had 12 turnovers in the final 16 minutes.
“I don’t think it was the defensive intensity as much as they went to that 2-1-2 zone and we were just really slow to figure out how we were going to attack it,” Kenton coach Ryan Miller said.
Ottawa-Glandorf coach Troy Yant said, “We probably should have gone with the zone a little earlier. I thought the zone switched the tempo in our favor maybe a little better.
“I’m not going to take anything away from them (Kenton). That was the hardest game we’ve been in where we just had to fight every inch of the game. I didn’t feel comfortable even with a 10-point lead,” he said.
Rebounding might have played as big a role as defense in the Titans’ win. They had a 34-14 edge on the boards.
“We got slaughtered on the boards,” Miller said. “If we clean up the rebounds it might be a different game or it might be closer. That was the worst we’ve been out-rebounded this year.”
O-G (18-0, 7-0 WBL) jumped out to a 25-14 lead after one quarter. But with Hempfling on the bench with two fouls, Kenton ran off nine straight points to get within two points, 25-23.
But after a timeout, Hempfling returned and almost immediately scored to stop Kenton’s momentum.
It was a situation kept re-occurring throughout the game. When Kenton took a 32-31 lead in the final minute of the first half, Hempfling scored to give Ottawa-Glandorf a one-point halftime lead.
Her 3-pointer from the corner was a big part of O-G’s 9-0 run to start the second half when it went up 42-32. And when Kenton got within three points, 44-41, with six minutes to play, she responded with a 3-point play.
“I thought Kadie settled things down at different times and we were able to grind out some points when we needed them,” Yant said.
Miller said, “She’s just a great player, that’s why she’s WBL Player of the Year last year. I think she’s a more complete player this year than she was last year because she’s a playmaker.”
Kenton shot 50 percent (14 of 28) compared to 42 percent (24 of 58) for Ottawa-Glandorf. Half of Kenton’s field goals were 3-pointers.
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