Girls basketball: Ottawa-Glandorf turns back Bath

BATH TOWNSHIP — Veteran Ottawa-Glandorf girls basketball head coach Troy Yant had an idea of what to expect when his team invaded Bath Thursday night for a key Western Buckeye League showdown.

However, Yant realized it wasn’t going to be easy to overcome.

Bath’s 2-3 zone kept Ottawa-Glandorf in check for most of the game.

In the fourth quarter, the Titans finally managed to get the ball inside that stingy zone defense and came away with a hard-fought 41-34 victory over Bath.

“We don’t play 2-3 (zone), so we don’t practice against it much,” Yant said. “It’s hard to go against a defense that you don’t simulate at practice. And when you simulate for a day with the JV (junior varsity squad), it’s not the same. These girls (Bath), obviously, play that defense a lot. It just took us a while to figure it out.”

Katie Kaufman led O-G (12-2, 5-0 WBL) with 11 points, six rebounds and one block. Kaitlyn Kimmet had 10 points and four boards. Karsyn Erford had 10 points, including 3 of 4 shooting from the free throw line for the Titans.

Elena Oliver led Bath (11-2, 3-2 WBL) with 14 points, including three 3-pointers. Rachel Clark had 11 points, two steals and two assists for the Wildkittens.

O-G jumped out to the early lead.

Bath did not register its first points of the contest until the 5:42 mark when Anne Oliver (six points, three steals) hit two free throws to make it 4-2, O-G.

The Titans were clinging to a 10-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Kimmet led O-G with eight first-quarter points.

Bath was 3 of 8 shooting from the field, while O-G connected on 4 of 8 of its shots from the floor in the first stanza.

Anne Oliver led the Wildkittens in the first quarter with six markers.

Bath came out strong to open the second quarter.

Just seconds into the second, Elena Oliver hit a mid-range jumper to knot the contest at 10 each.

Bath made a little run in the final two minutes of the half to slip out with a 19-18 lead by the break.

In the first half, O-G was 8 of 14 from the floor for 57-percent shooting. Kimmet led the Titans with eight first-half points. Bath was 8 of 17 from the floor for 47-percent shooting. Elena Oliver led the way for the Wildkittens with seven points.

After the contest was knotted 24-24 in the third quarter, O-G closed out the third on a 7-0 run to take a 31-24 lead.

O-G’s largest lead in the final quarter was nine points.

“You never know what to expect when you come to Bath,” Yant said. “You just hope that you come out of here with a win. They had great energy the whole game. Their girls did everything they could.

“I think the difference in the game, really, was Carlie Brinkman (four points) and Myka Aldrich (six points, three steals). They gave us some points, when we really didn’t expect them to do that.”

For the game, O-G shot 50 percent from the field. Bath connected on 37 percent of its field goal attempts.

Each team committed 18 turnovers.

O-G won the battle on the boards, 25-16.

“Later in the game, we were able to get some better spacing,” Yant said. “Katie (Kaufman) was kind of demanding the ball, and that kind of helped. Early in the game, we were mostly playing against that zone at the top. Early fourth quarter, we were able to get the ball in the middle (of the zone).

“Any time you beat Bath, it’s a huge victory. They’re so well-coached. They do everything well. We have a lot of respect for (Bath head coach) Greg (Mauk) and his program.”

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Mark Altstaetter wrote this story for LimaScores.com. Reach The Lima News sports department at 567-242-0451.