Columbus Grove’s Lauryn Auchmuty hits a first-half three as Aubrey Burkholder of Bluffton defends. The Pirates hosted the Bulldogs on Thursday night.
Nate Reynolds | The Lima News
BLUFFTON — The saying “records are made to be broken” is often thrown around in the world of sports. But certain records are meant to be broken by certain people.
That was definitely the case on Thursday night when Lauryn Auchmuty of Columbus Grove broke a record set by her former teammate Kenzie King for most 3-point field goals in a single game.
Auchmuty hit 10 threes, nine of them in the first half, and finished with 34 points in Columbus Grove’s 52-19 win over Bluffton (7-14). The Bulldogs are now 16-4 on the year.
For Auchmuty, breaking King’s record was extremely meaningful, especially since the two players shared the court during their respective freshman and senior seasons.
“It’s really special because I looked up to Kenzie when we were younger,” Auchmuty said. “We were water girls together and I always wanted to be like her. I wanted to break records like she did.”
Auchmuty hit her 10th triple with 42 seconds left in the third quarter. That number also topped Carly Thorbahn of Ottoville’s PCL record of nine in a game, set back on Jan. 30.
Columbus Grove coach Brian Schroeder said that from his perspective, King and Auchmuty’s record-setting performances came under similar circumstances.
“They both got off to a hot start and were able to keep it going,” he said. “It’s a special thing as a coach to know how much time and how much hard work both of those players put into their game. Kenzie had a great career and Lauryn is having a great career so far. Whenever one of your players gets themselves into the record books, that’s something that’s really cool to see.”
Schroeder said the scores table let him know when Auchmuty hit her seventh triple midway through the second quarter. When he realized that she was that far along, he wanted to give his junior guard a few more chances to break the record. She delivered on that opportunity late in the third quarter.
“In warmups, I didn’t hit anything, but my shots started falling in the game, so I told myself that this was my chance to break the record,” Auchmuty said. “When I got to three, I knew I had to keep shooting and once I made my ninth three, Kendal Palte told me I had the school record, then my coaches told me I needed one more for the PCL record.”
The Bulldogs led 20-3 at the end of the first quarter and 44-9 at the break. Auchmuty scored the first 10 points of the game and 18 in the second quarter on six triples.
It was exactly the kind of effort that Brian Schroeder wanted to see from his team following a pair of lackluster performances last week.
“Last week we were pretty sick and we played pretty flat in our last two games,” he said. “This time of the year, I’d like to see us play clean basketball. It was pretty sloppy, so we wanted to come out tonight and focus on the task at hand. It’s Bluffton. It’s a rivalry game for us and it’s their senior night. You never know what you’re going to see.”
Columbus Grove now has a chance to clinch a share of the NWC title with a win over Delphos Jefferson on Thursday and a share of the PCL title with a win over Pandora-Gilboa on Saturday.
“We have two opportunities next week to win conference titles. Our girls have put themselves into that position and that’s really special. I’m just really thankful for the season we’ve had so far. We’ll get to work in the gym tomorrow and start to install our game plan for those games. Hopefully, we can have some good practices so that we can be ready to compete with those two really good teams.”
Columbus Grove 52, Bluffton 19
Score by quarters
Columbus Grove 20 24 6 2 – 52
Bluffton 3 6 5 4 – 19
COLUMBUS GROVE
Lauryn Auchmuty 34, Nicole Nesby 8, Jade Siefker 3, Elyse Fortman 3, Kendal Palte 2, Mya Verhoff 2, Totals: 18-4-52.
BLUFFTON
Cross 5, Utendorf 4, Bassett 4, Grandey 4, Warren 2, Totals: 8-1-19.
Three-point field goals — CG Auchmuty 10, Siefker 1, Fortman 1; BL Cross1, Grandey 1.
Records — Columbus Grove 16-4, 7-1 NWC; Bluffton 7-14, 1-6 NWC.
Reach Chris Howell at 567-242-0468 or on Twitter at @Lima_Howell
