AYERSVILLE-The Spencerville Bearcats had their hands full on Saturday afternoon as they played for a sectional championship against top seeded Ottawa Glandorf. The Lady Titans took advantage of 21 Spencerville turnovers to cruise to a 54-22 victory.
Both teams struggled from the floor in the opening quarter but the live ball turnovers seemed to be the difference in the quarter. A three pointer by Karsyn Erford gave the home team a 3-0 before a three pointer from Gabi Croft quickly tied the game at three per side. The full court pressure and the post presence of the Titans changed the game as they went on a 15-2 scoring run to stretch the lead to double digits. The other Bearcat points came on a basket by Clara Goecke.
“They play extremely hard,” said Spencerville head coach Greg Ekis of the Titans. “They are a really hard offensive rebounding team and they got good size and they were able to offensive rebound a lot today and that hurt us at the end of the first quarter and into the second quarter.”
Ottawa Glandorf continued their balanced scoring as five different players reached the scoring column as Lily Haselman tallied five points to put the advantage over 20 points. Spencerville was led by Heidi Keller with five points in the quarter that included a shot from downtown.
Lady Titans continued to stay the course in the quarter as Carlie Brinkman notched six points as their push for a sectional championship became imminent. The Bearcats went through most of the quarter without a basket till a last second basket by Croft to cut the deficit to 47-19.
Keller knocked down a three pointer in the final quarter but those were the only points by Spencerville as they saw their season come to a close.
Spencerville finished the season at 12-12 and it was the final game for seniors Croft, Kirsten Wurst, and Sydney Lemar.
“Those three have done a tremendous job for us and they were great leaders,” concluded Ekis. “Things got tough early in the season and they didn’t quit and did a great job of leading us and that’s what we call on our seniors to do.”
Spencerville 5 – 8 – 6 – 3 – 22
Ottawa Glandorf 18 – 16 – 13 – 7 – 54
Spencerville (22)
Gabi Croft (10) Heidi Keller (8) Clara Goecke (2) Kirsten Wurst (2)
Ottawa Glandorf (54)
Karsyn Erford (10) Kaitlyn Kimmet (9) Chloee Glenn (9) Katie Kauffman (8) Carlie Brinkman (7) Lily Haselman (5) Myka Aldrich (4) Olivia Grothause (2)
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