Titans bottle up Roughriders
Ottawa-Glandorf has been the model team in the Western Buckeye League and St. Marys wants to .be that program.
And while they’ll have to wait another season to knock off that program they want to emulate, the Roughriders have a few positives to take away from Thursday’s game.
Last year’s WBL Player of the Year Kelsey Erford and 5-foot-9 post Chloee Glenn kept the Roughriders from gaining momentum off O-G turnovers to hand the Riders their first league loss of the season with a 44-31 defeat at Memorial High School.
The Titans (8- 0, 2- 0 WBL) jumped out to an 11-3 first-quarter advantage just for St. Marys to cut the lead to four in the second quarter but the Titans pushed their lead to 10 at the half and to 16 in the opening 1:18 before the Riders closed the gap to 12 with 2:39 left.
But O-G overcame four turnovers and coming up empty in three trips to the free- throw line to remain unbeaten on the season. “There were key moments where we missed shots and we had some opportunities to get some momentum back and we just didn’t capitalize,” Roughriders coach Jon Burke said. “That is a really very good O-G team and a very physical O- G team and it is honestly a different team they have had in the past because
they can slow the ball down, get in the paint and be physical with you.
“I felt like we had moments where we really had a chance to get back in the game and we just couldn’t sustain it.”
Erford scored the first six points for the Titans to open the game with a 6-1 lead with 5:27 left in the first quarter. Kiley Tennant continued to attack the basket, drawing a foul and knocking down a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 8-3 with 2:48 left. But Anna Siefker’s 3-pointer put the game at 11-3 with 2:27 left after the Titans endured back-to-back turnovers and two missed shots in three possessions.
But the Roughriders kept the game at six, 15-9 with a jumper by Noey Ruane and a layup by Felver to conclude the first quarter. St. Marys eventually pulled within four, 15- 11, on Ruane’s jumper from the free-throw line with 5:49 remaining in the first half, but O-G took the momentum away on a bucket by Glenn, followed by a Erford’s putback to push the lead to 19-11 with 3:57 to go.
St. Marys committed six turnovers since its last basket as Erford scored the game’s next four points to lead 23- 11 before Cora Rable’s bucket with 8.3 seconds left in the first half.
Leading by 10, O-G pushed to its biggest lead to open the third.
Kaydree Frey grabbed a rebound on a missed shot and connected and following a turnover, Erin Kaufman went to the foul line after a miss, rebound and foul on an attempted shot. The junior post knocked down both foul shots to record the Titans’ eighth point on St. Marys’ turnovers and to lead 29-13 with 6:42 left in the third quarter.
It remained a 16-point game before Ruane fed Elena Menker inside and Menker returned the favor, finding Kendall Dieringer as she answered Myka Aldrich’s drive-in layup to trail 39-25 with 4:57 remaining in the fourth.
But on the verge of turning into a 20-point game, St. Marys closed the gap one last time with 2:59 left.
Trailing 43-25, Rable connected on the first free throw, missed the second, but the miss was rebounded as Dieringer drained a 3-pointer. The Titans turned the ball over before getting the ball across midcourt when Rable got another basket to turn an 18-point deficit down to 12 in 20 seconds.
“What we were supposed to be doing the entire game, which was really pressuring their defense and ball handling and getting out in transition,” Burke said when asked what the gameplan was after closing the game to within 12. “The rest of the game, our half- court offense was not cutting hard and setting good screens and late in the fourth quarter I felt panic set in that we’ve gotta go.
“Then they started to drive to the basket and that made the difference. It was something we were supposed to be doing all night but we weren’t turning the corner and we weren’t getting the passes that we needed to and a lot of that was because of O- G’s offense.”
O- G scored just one point in its final six possessions and committed three turnovers, but the Roughriders could not capitalize with a turnover and no points in two trips to the charity stripe.
“I think our defense played really well tonight,” Burke said. “I think we did a nice job in the post. Glenn and Kaufman are very hard to stop in the post and I don’t know that we completely stopped them but we contained them.
“Erford got to the basket really well but I think there were some positives that we can take away from this game.”
Despite the first league loss of the season, Burke found several positives from his team.
The Roughriders forced 24 turnovers on the Titans, limited them to 44 points and did not let the game get away. In last season’s matchup, the Roughriders entered the fourth quarter tied at 36-36, but were outscored 21- 6 in the fourth quarter.
“One of the positives that we are going to take out of this is this is the first year that I’ve been coaching that we have a winning record coming out of an O-G game,” Burke added. “Usually, we’ve been 1- 6, we’ve been 3- 4 and now we are 5-2 and moving forward we feel good about where we are at.
“We need to learn from this game and keep improving.”
The Roughriders did get a win in junior varsity action with a 47-15 victory. Morgan Hesse led the way with 14 points, followed by Amelia Ankerman with 13 points and Ella Jacobs 12 points.
St. Marys’ game on Saturday has been postponed with Arlington pausing its boys and girls basketball contests. The Riders’ next game will be Tuesday at Bellefontaine.