Ottawa-Glandorf’s Myka Aldrich (left) tries to get the ball away from Wapakoneta’s Reagan Courter during Thursday night’s game at Wapakoneta.
Don Speck | The Lima News
WAPAKONETA – Wapakoneta was nipping at the Ottawa-Glandorf heels midway second quarter.
Then, came the O-G running game and a few big 3-pointers.
O-G was able to pull away with a 61-35 victory over Wapakoneta in a girls basketball game Thursday night.
Katie Kaufman came off the bench to sore 17 points to power the Titans.
Freshman Karsyn Erford, who is also playing on the junior varsity, had 13 points and was 3 of 3 on 3-pointers.
Kaelyn Grothause scored 11. Myka Aldrich had six rebounds.
Elisabeth Good scored 11 for Wapak. Reagan Courter had 10 points and four rebounds.
O-G won the boards, 36-19, including 15-2 at the offensive end.
O-G also forced Wapak into 20 turnovers. O-G had 12 turnovers.
Scroll down for more of the story
Wapak coach Marcie Alberts said her team was ready for the O-G man press, but it needed to convert at the other end.
“We went against six, seven kids the whole week in practice,” Alberts said. “It’s making shots, consistently. We got some good looks in the first half, but then we gave them some easy layups. If you miss, you have to sprint back and get a stop.’’
Ottawa-Glandorf led 9-6 after the first quarter.
Then, after a 22-6 second-quarter run, the Titans went to halftime with a 31-12 lead.
O-G held a 12-9 lead with 5:18 left in the second quarter.
That’s when Erford sank the first of her back-to-back 3-pointers.
The pair of threes sparked the Titans on a 10-3 run to pull out to a 22-13 lead.
“She played the same game in JV,” O-G coach Troy Yant said of Erford. “You think there’s a speed difference between the games, but she looks pretty casual out there. Her days of JV might be coming to an end. She looked pretty good.’’
O-G also forced nine second-quarter turnovers.
That kicked in the Titans’ running game.
Six of O-G’s nine second-quarter baskets were layups, with many coming out of the break.
Lily Haselman was applying plenty of pressure at the defensive end and gobbled up a couple of steals to start the break.
“We were able to run,” Yant said. “It was Lily’s first start this year and she got us going in the Fairview game. We wanted that spark. She was able to put pressure on the ball.’’
Kaufman scored 10 points at the half, including six in the second quarter.
O-G led 42-19 after three quarter and expanded its lead to 31, 53-22, halfway through the final quarter.
But Wapak continued to dive across the floor for loose balls and cut the margin to 53-33 a few minutes later.
“It was 32 minutes of busting our butts and giving 100 percent,” Alberts said. “That’s all you can ask. We’re going to miss shots, but our effort is always something we can control.’’
O-G’s Grothause and Maggie Verhoff both have returned to the starting lineup after going down with knee surgeries last year.
“Kaelyn (Grothause) has really paced us at both ends of the floor this year and Maggie (Verhoff) took the task of guarding Good out of the shoot and I thought she did a pretty good job,” Yant said. “They’re coming along nicely.’’
Chloee Glenn, the third O-G player who had knee surgery last year, remains sidelined.
“Hopefully, we get Chloee back in the next couple of weeks, and maybe by Christmas break, we hit on all cylinders,” Yant said.
Tom Usher wrote this story for The Lima News. Reach The Lima News sports department at 567-242-0451.
