Delphos Jefferson’s Lauren French shoots against Leipsic’s Leah Kirkendall during Thursday’s game at Leipsic High School.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
LEIPSIC – After two consecutive tough losses, Delphos Jefferson coach Denise Lindeman was looking for her squad to get back on track.
On Thursday night at Leipsic, Delphos Jefferson did just that as it rolled to a convincing 60-37 victory over Leipsic in a Northwest Conference matchup.
The game was knotted 5-5, early on.
However, Jefferson quickly responded with a 12-3 run to close out the first quarter and never looked back.
With the win, Delphos Jefferson improved to 15-3 overall and 5-1 in the Northwest Conference. Leipsic fell to 7-9 in all games played, and 1-6 in the NWC.
“It was a great team win,” Lindeman said. “I thought the girls executed much better at the offensive end. (At the) defensive end, I thought our defense was a lot better than previously – Saturday against Ottoville (44-38 loss).”
Lyv Lindeman, coach Lindeman’s daughter, led Jefferson and all scorers on Thursday with 18 points. Lindeman, who will be playing basketball at Tiffin University next school year, also dished out seven assists and pulled down four rebounds. Lauren French, a 6-foot-3 senior post player had 13 points, 12 rebounds, and one block. Carolyn Mueller had 13 points, including three 3-pointers. Madison Burris had eight points, including two 3-pointers. Claire Brinkman added seven points for the Wildcats.
French has been sidelined most of the season, due to an injury. Thursday night’s contest was her fourth game back.
“It was good to see Lauren French play the way she did,” Lindeman said. “She (French) was good tonight. It’s nice to see her back.”
Coach Lindeman was pleased with how her daughter managed to get her teammates involved at the offensive end.
“All season, Lyv has gotten a lot of faceguard, one-on-one defensive pressure. So, we said to her, ‘Let the game come to you, and trust your teammates’. I thought today, she did a great job of doing that,” Coach Lindeman said.
Jazelle Perez paced Leipsic with 16 points, six boards, and one block. Leah Kirkendall scored 10 points, including two 3-pointers. Ava Henry added eight points, including two 3-pointers.
After Jefferson pulled out to a 17-8 advantage by the end of the first quarter, the Wildcats extended their lead to 35-19 by the halftime break.
Jefferson led 49-30 at the third stop.
“I thought the guards did a nice job of dishing to each other and making the extra pass,” Lindeman said. “Whenever you make the extra pass, good things happen. It was also nice to see our guards get some extra threes (3-point shots). Overall, it was a great team win.”
Jefferson shot 51.2 percent from the field, while Leipsic connected on 31 percent of its field-goal attempts.
Both teams committed 10 turnovers.
Jefferson held a 30-20 edge on the boards.
Delphos Jefferson 60, Leipsic 37
Score by Quarters
Delphos Jefferson 17 18 14 11 – 60
Leipsic 8 11 11 7 – 37
Delphos Jefferson
Madison Burris 8, Lyv Lindeman 18, Claire Brinkman 7, Carolyn Mueller 13, Claire Stokes 1, Lauren French 13. Totals: 22-10-60.
Leipsic
Leah Kirkendall 10, Brooklyn Cunningham 2, Ava Henry 8, Kaytlynn Schroeder 1, Jazelle Perez 16. Totals: 13-7-37.
3-pointers made: Jefferson – Madison Burris 2, Claire Brinkman 1, Carolyn Mueller 3; Leipsic – Leah Kirkendall 2, Ava Henry 2
Records: Delphos Jefferson 15-3, 5-1 NWC; Leipsic 7-9, 1-6 NWC
