Ottawa-Glandorf’s Kaitlyn Kimmet reaches for the ball against Liberty Center’s Emerson Gray during Thursday’s Division III regional semifinal at the Elida Fieldhouse.
Jessica Trinko | The Lima News
ELIDA — Ottawa-Glandorf’s girls basketball team proved the power of aggressive defense Thursday night.
The Titans held Liberty Center to just 18% shooting and only six buckets on their way to a 53-18 rout in the Division III regional semifinals at the Elida Fieldhouse.
“We’ve been focusing on defense this whole year,” said Carlie Brinkman, a 5-foot-7 junior wing who tallied nine points and three steals in the win. “We do it a lot in practice. I think it’s something special that our team has. We work really hard at it, and we’re all aggressive.”
At 7 p.m. Saturday in Elida, the No. 3-ranked Titans (24-2) face No. 5-ranked Castalia Margaretta, which beat Canal Winchester Harvest Prep, 48-36, in Thursday’s opener. Margaretta knocked Ottawa-Glandorf out of the tournament last year in the regional finals, 36-30.
The Titans’ boys basketball team’s district championship game against Spencerville has been moved to 2 p.m. Saturday at Lima Senior, so fans can watch both games.
The Titans held Liberty Center (23-3) without a score for four minutes in a 7-0 run in the first quarter, three minutes in a 6-0 run in the second quarter, four minutes in an 11-0 run to open the third quarter and for the final 7:39 of the game in a dominant performance.
Along the way, they had nine steals and out-rebounded the Tigers 40-17. As Ottawa-Glandorf coach Troy Yant said after the game, the players were “locked in” on defense. He credited the girls for “absorbing” the scouting report.
They held Liberty Center’s Emerson “Eme” Gray, who averaged 16 points a game on her way to first-team Northwest District honors, to six points in the first half and zero points in the second half.
Overall, the Titans outscored the Tigers 25-7 in the third quarter.
“The message at halftime was to make sure they remember what our defense is like,” Yant said. “They really put a defensive performance together. I thought the girls took care of that in the third quarter.”
Karsyn Erford, O-G’s sophomore 5-foot-7 guard, earned 17 points and nine rebounds to lead her team in both categories. Katie Kaufman, a 6-foot-1 senior and first-team all-Northwest District selection, sat out the second quarter with foul trouble but still had eight points and six rebounds. The Titans responded in that second quarter with a 10-5 edge anyway.
“We knew we had to step up considering (Kaufman) was out, and we weren’t going to let her down,” said Erford, who had six of her points in the second quarter. “After we got going, our defense kind of went and led our offense to scoring.”
Beatrice “Bea” Barrett came off the bench to score 10 points for Liberty Center, including six in the third quarter. She was one of nine seniors back from last year’s regional semifinal loss to Ottawa-Glandorf.
Now the Titans face Margaretta on Saturday, with hopes of avenging their own loss from last year and advancing to next week’s state tournament at the University of Dayton.
“We’ve been talking about it all year,” Yant said. “We felt like we were a good enough team to play at state last year. Unfortunately, we didn’t play a great game against Margaretta. That’s why tonight was maybe important to kind of really get rolling on defense and get some things clicking.”
Ottawa-Glandorf 53, Liberty Center 18
Score by quarters:
Liberty Center 4 5 7 2 — 18
Ottawa-Glandorf 11 10 25 7 — 53
LIBERTY CENTER
Eme Gray 6, Gracie Miller 2, Bea Barrett 10. Totals: 6-6-18.
OTTAWA-GLANDORF
Alivia Grothause 2, Karsyn Erford 17, Carlie Brinkman 9, Gracie Lammers 1, Madison McKee 2, Katie Kaufman 8, Myka Aldrich 7, Kaitlyn Kimmet 7. Totals: 20-10-53.
3-pointers: LC-None; O-G-Erford 1, Aldrich 1, Kimmet 1.
Reach David Trinko at 567-242-0467 or on Twitter @Lima_Trinko.
