Ottoville’s Isabelle Furley shoots against Delphos Jefferson during Saturday’s game at L.W. Heckman Gymnasium.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
OTTOVILLE — Last week Ottoville suffered a non-league loss to state-ranked Ottawa-Glandorf.
That, along with Saturday’s matchup against Delphos Jefferson, were two of what Ottoville coach Vaughn Horstman calls his team’s “power five” games on the schedule.
On Saturday afternoon at L.W Heckman Gymnasium, Ottoville got a 44-38 win over one of its toughest non-league opponents, handing Jefferson its second-straight loss following a 14-1 start.
“It’s a coaching game where you have to adjust on the fly in ones like this,” Horstman said. “We have another one of these left against Liberty-Benton at the end of the season right before the tournament, and that’s not going to be an easy one either. We play the best of the best in the area every year, and that gets us ready for tournament time.
“They (Delphos Jefferson) had Wayne Trace, Crestview and us this week, and that’s tough three games on anyone, so we might have caught them at a good time.”
It appeared as if the Wildcats snapped out of their recent shooting slump in the second quarter, where they opened with 12 of the first 15 points.
Lyv Lindeman, who finished the game with 20 points, scored 10 in the quarter to give her team a 25-19 lead at the break, but Ottoville switched up its defensive game plan at the half and held the visitors to just 5 of 21 from the field the rest of the way.
“We didn’t shoot the ball very well. It’s as simple as that,” said Delphos Jefferson coach Denise Lindeman. “We couldn’t shoot, and we had too many turnovers. Ottoville played a good game today.”
Delphos Jefferson started to help off shooters in the third quarter, allowing Ottoville to hit four triples and take a 35-34 lead.
An equally strong effort on the defensive end led to a pair of threes from Paige Turnwald and one each from Carly and Erica Thorbahn.
Lindeman also hit two shots from beyond the arc, but Ottoville outscored Jefferson 16-9 in the third quarter.
“The girls really started communicating well in the third quarter, and we changed our defense up a little bit from a 2-3 zone to a box or triangle and one,” Horstman said. “Once Lindeman tried to cut through, we decided to stay with her at that point. It’s a team matchup to guard her. She’s so strong and basketball smart. She’s a state-caliber track athlete, so you (have to) try to slow her down before she gets going.”
Kyrstin Moore and Carolyn Mueller regained the lead for Delphos Jefferson at the 6:20 and 5:16 mark of the fourth quarter, but Ottoville shut out the Wildcats for the final five minutes, scoring the game’s last seven points.
Carly Thorbahn paced Ottoville with 11 points, followed by Paige Turnwald’s 10, and Isabelle Furley at nine. Furley and Thorbahn combined for six of their team’s eight 3-point field goals.
Ottoville shot exactly 50 percent from the field (16 of 32) compared to 34 percent from Jefferson (15 of 44).
The Wildcats won the rebounding battle 19-11 and committed fewer turnovers with nine, while Ottoville lost the ball 11 times.
Ottoville 44, Delphos Jefferson 38
Delphos Jefferson 9 16 9 4 – 38
Ottoville 11 8 16 9 – 44
Delphos Jefferson
Lyv Lindeman 20, Madison Burris 6, Kyrstin Moore 5, Carolyn Mueller 5, Lauren French 2, Total 15-1-38.
Ottoville
Carly Thorbahn 11, Paige Turnwald 10, Isabelle Furley 9, Erica Thorbahn 6, Kendall Schnipke 4, Brooklyn Koester 2, Jocelyn Langhals 2, Total 16-4-44.
3-pointers: DJ Lindeman 3, Burris 2, Mueller 1, Moore 1; OV Furley 3, C. Thorbahn 3, E. Thorbahn 2;
Records: Delphos Jefferson 14-3; Ottoville 14-4
Reach Chris Howell at 567-242-0468 or on Twitter at @Lima_Howell
