COLUMBUS — At the time, it looked like it would be the longest second in the four games played on the first day of the girls state basketball tournament on Thursday.
In retrospect, it might have been a sign of things to come when two other games played on Thursday came down to shots taken in the final second.
For one single second, as Erin Kaufman’s half-court shot flew toward the rim, Ottawa-Glandorf could hope its rousing fourth-quarter comeback was going to end with an unbelievable, miraculous game-winning shot against two-time defending state champion Kettering Alter in a Division II semifinal game.
A few feet away, what Alter’s players and its sideline were feeling was something more like resignation that their run as state champions might be about to end.
But Kaufman’s shot hit the front of the rim. The game went to overtime. And even though O-G led first in overtime, Alter survived to take a 50-43 win to play in a state championship game for the fourth year in a row.
“It looked good from my perspective. It just needed a little more air under it,” Ottawa-Glandorf’s Kadie Hempfling said in the postgame press conference.
Alter guard Libby Bazelak said, “We all stopped. There was nothing we could do.” The Knights co-coach Kendal Peck said, “It looked good.”
“They were one play away (throughout the game) from winning. They’re a great team,” he said.
Later Thursday, Berlin Hiland beat Ottoville 44-41 on a 3-pointer taken as time ran out and Waterford did the same thing against Jackson Center in a 37-35 win in the two Division IV semifinals.
SUMMING UP, PART I: Ottawa-Glandorf coach Troy Yant reflected on Ottawa-Glandorf’s senior class and the Titans being state runner-up twice and a state semifinalist in the last three seasons after Thursday’s game.
“It will go down as the greatest four years we’ve had at Ottawa-Glandorf,” he said about the seniors’ careers. “It will be impossible to replace them, which is why you take it all in while you’re here.
“There were little kids at the send off who think we do this every year. They’re eight years old and we’ve been doing it ever since they can remember. We didn’t rely on one or two players for three years. I think they (the seniors) built something. I think they built something the younger players can rely on.”
Ottawa-Glandorf had a 79-7 record, including 27-1 this season, the last three years.
SUMMING UP, PART II: “We really wanted it this year. We just fell a little short, but that’s OK. I wouldn’t want to be part of any other team,” Hempfling said.
“I couldn’t be any prouder of coming back in the fourth quarter,” she said. “We could have folded like we did last year and I was able to play the whole game this year. We just fell a little short.
Alter won by 26 points over O-G last year after Hempfling had to leave the game in the second half after suffering a hand injury.
SUMMING UP, PART III: After Ottoville’s loss to Berlin Hiland, Ottoville coach Dave Kleman talked about the effort his team gave, what this group of players has meant to Ottoville’s program, how to handle defeat and how the future is still bright.
“What I’ve always said is put it all out on the floor and if it’s not good enough and we lose, we lose, and if we win, we’re going to be satisfied with that.
“You don’t have to be happy about it but I gave them tonight to mourn and cry about it and said I want to see a bunch of happy faces when we get up in the morning,” he said.
“I made a statement in 2013 (the last time Ottoville was in the state tournament before this year), that I had some good young kids coming up and don’t be surprised if we’re back here and they fulfilled that prophecy. Don’t count us out for next year and the year after that. We’ve got some good young kids coming. Our JV team was 21-1. We’re always aiming to come back down here and give it another shot.”
BY THE NUMBERS: Three players scored all of Hiland’s points in its win over Ottoville. Angela Troyer had 18 points, Kennedy Schlabach scored 15, including the game-winning 3-pointer as time ran out, and Morgan McMillen had 11 points.
Hiland had 11 turnovers in the first half but only two in the second half. Ottoville had 11 in each half.
There were 11 lead changes in Ottawa-Glandorf’s game semifinal against Alter.
Jackson Center coach Jeff Reese said he had no explanation for how his team could shoot 25 percent in the first three quarters and then hit 7 of 14 in the fourth quarter to come back to tie the game after trailing by 12 points before losing 37-35 on a buzzer beater to Waterford.
“That’s a good question. I can’t tell you anything we did differently. I think we just had a different mindset,” he said.
