Ottawa-Glandorf’s Chloee Glenn (left) reacts after scoring and drawing a foul during Saturday’s Division III district championship game against Delphos Jefferson at the Elida Fieldhouse. See more high school basketball photos at LimaScores.com.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
At a time in the basketball season when some teams begin reducing the number of people in their playing rotation, Ottawa-Glandorf’s girls basketball team is adding players.
That was a good thing for the Titans in a 48-34 win over Delphos Jefferson in a Division III district championship game Saturday at the Elida Fieldhouse.
And it could be an even better thing going forward as they move on to a Division III regional semifinal on Thursday at Elida.
Chloee Glenn scored 15 points and Karsyn Erford had 14 points to lead O-G (22-3) to its fourth consecutive district championship. Lyv Lindeman had 26 points to lead Delphos Jefferson (23-2).
Glenn’s playing time was limited during the the regular season because of a torn ACL early last season and an injury to her other knee this season.
“She went out the second game of last season and was supposed to be back in early December but she had some setbacks in therapy and when she came back there was some swelling. She has played a total of maybe five games. She has appeared in 10 games but she did not play a full game until the tournament,” Ottawa-Glandorf coach Troy Yant said.
The 5-11 senior played 25 minutes on Saturday and added five rebounds and four steals to her 15 points.
“I tore my ACL last year and I did something to my other knee during the beginning of this season so it set me more behind. I’m a little sore but it’s as good as I’m going to get so I just keep working,” Glenn said.
Ottawa-Glandorf took control of the game with a 14-0 run in the span of 3 minutes, 52 seconds in the second quarter that turned a 14-10 lead into a 28-10 lead with a minute and a half left in the first half.
Glenn, who hit 7 of her 8 field goal attempts, scored seven points in the last two and a half minutes of the second quarter when the Titans built a 30-13 halftime lead.
O-G also got starting point guard Kaelyn Grothause and Emma Brinkman back on Saturday after they had missed the last two weeks because of illness. Grothause scored seven points and had four rebounds and two assists in 18 minutes and Brinkman played briefly.
“You kind of got a glimpse of what this team can look like in the first half, especially in the second quarter,” Yant said.
The Titans’ lead never dropped below 13 points in the second half for the same reason they built their big early lead. They put the ball in the basket and Jefferson struggled to do that.
Ottawa-Glandorf shot 45 percent overall on field goals (20 of 44) and made 4 of 9 3-point attempts.
Delphos Jefferson shot 27 percent overall (14 of 51) and made only 4 of 25 3-pointers.
“They came out and rolled with us for the first quarter but I thought our defense was really locked down. Lily Haselman did an excellent job of disrupting their offense. Lindeman went off and got her points but that’s what we wanted – keep her from setting up her shooters and she wasn’t able to do that,” Yant said.
Haselman said, “I did pretty well. I kept her (Lindeman) out of the paint most of the time. It was a big win for us.”
Jefferson coach Denise Lindeman said, “My girls battled. They gave everything we had. We knew coming in that we had to make big shots to win this game. When the shots don’t go in the hoop, especially shooting 20 percent in the first half, it’s going to be hard to beat a team like O-G.”
She also said the Wildcats’ 6-3 center Lauren French, who averages 10 points a game and was held scoreless in 19 minutes on Saturday, was battling illness.
“It was a great season. There’s nothing to hang our heads about. We were 23-2. We won back to back to back (Northwest Conference) championships,” she said. “The effort and attitude my girls gave for 32 minutes, I can’t say enough about them. They never gave up.”
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Reach Jim Naveau at 567-242-0414.
