It was a match-up of two State-ranked teams in the Panther Pit Saturday afternoon as Miami Trace (No. 7 last week in Division II) played host to the No. 3 team in the State in Division III, the Ottawa-Glandorf Titans.
The Titans won the game, 51-36.
Miami Trace sophomore Shay McDonald was the game’s leading scorer with 16 points. She hit two three-point field goals.
Senior Tanner Bryant scored eight, including two threes and senior Victoria Fliehman scored seven (with one three).
Bryant led Miami Trace with six rebounds. Fliehman had five.
Junior Cassidy Lovett led Miami Trace with four assists.
Senior Kadie Hempfling led the Titans with 14 points.
Sophomore Bri Schimmoeller scored 11 points (hitting three threes) and junior Ashley Schroeder added eight points.
Ottawa-Glandorf is now 14-1 on the year. Miami Trace is now 13-2 overall.
Condensing it all down, the Titans won the game by making half of their field goal attempts (19 of 38), while Miami Trace struggled offensively, hitting 12 of 44 shot attempts for 27 percent.
The game was tied twice in the first quarter and Miami Trace took a 12-10 lead at the end of the first period.
The second quarter was really the difference, as the Titans outscored Miami Trace, 18-4 to take a 28-16 halftime lead.
The second half was much closer, with Ottawa-Glandorf outscoring Miami Trace by a total of just three points.
“I think we were (the better team) today,” Ottawa-Glandorf head coach Troy Yant said. “(Miami Trace is) a pretty talented team. They have some great shooters and we were obviously worried about their shooters.
“I thought our girls did a good job,” Yant said. “Most of our girls played out of position, trying to guard girls who were bigger than them.
“We were fortunate to have that stretch there before the half,” Yant said. “The girls did a good job in the third quarter of maintaining the lead. It was kind of a tournament-like game. I thought it was a great game for us.”
“We missed a lot of make-able shots in the second quarter,” Miami Trace head coach Ben Ackley said. “It seemed like they went about four minutes where they couldn’t miss, including three straight threes. That kind of put us in a hole.
“They are just very, very solid,” Ackley said. “Any time we had a break down defensively, they took complete advantage of it. Give them all the credit in the world. Number 35 for them (Hempfling) is as good a player as we’ve seen. She’s going to Bowling Green. She does such a good job of making others around her better. And they shot the ball so well.
“When we went through our lull, that’s when they were at their best,” Ackley said. “I would say, of the 32 minutes, I thought we played right with them about 20. There was about a quarter-and-a-half where we did not have an answer for what they were doing. They made us pay when we made mistakes.
“Shay McDonald played a great game,” Ackley said. “We’ll learn a lot from this game. Games like this will help us prepare for hopefully a tournament run. We’ll learn a lot watching the tape and moving forward.”
Miami Trace is at Circleville Wednesday, at Eastern Brown Thursday and at Chillicothe Saturday.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
MT 12 4 14 6 — 36
OG 10 18 15 8 — 51
MIAMI TRACE — Olivia Wolffe 1-1-3; Cassidy Lovett 1-0-2; Shay McDonald 3 (2)-4-16; Tori Evans 0-0-0; Olivia Fliehman 0-0-0; Victoria Fliehman 2 (1)-0-7; Tanner Bryant 0 (2)-2-8; Morgan Miller 0-0-0. TOTALS — 7 (5)-7-36. Free throw shooting: 7 of 11 for 64 percent. Three-point field goals: McDonald, 2; Bryant, 2; V. Fliehman. Combined field goal shooting: 12 of 44 for 27 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 5 of 15 for 33 percent. Rebounds: 21 (6 offensive). Turnovers: 13. Assists: 10. Steals: 5. Personal fouls: 9.
OTTAWA-GLANDORF — Ashley Schroeder 2-4-8; Kelsey Erford 0-0-0; Carrie Johnson 2-0-4; Paige Sutter 2-3-7; Erin Kaufman 2-0-4; McKenzie Meyer 0-0-0; Bri Schimmoeller 1 (3)-0-11; Kasey Ellerbrock 0 (1)-0-3; Kadie Hempfling 5 (1)-1-14. TOTALS — 14 (5)-8-51. Free throw shooting: 8 of 10 for 80 percent. Three-point field goals: Schimmoeller, 3; Ellerbrock, Hempfling. Combined field goal shooting: 19 of 38 for 50 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 5 of 6 for 83 percent. Turnovers: 16. Offensive rebounds: 3.
Ottawa-Glandorf edges MT in j-v game
In the junior-varsity game Saturday, Ottawa-Glandorf slipped past Miami Trace, 37-35.
Miami Trace (9-5 overall, 5-2 in the Frontier Athletic Conference) was led by Aubrey Schwartz with 14 points. Schwartz was 7 of 10 from the free throw line and hit her team’s only three-point field goal. Schwartz also led her team with eight rebounds.
Gracee Stewart scored nine, Magarah Bloom had six points, Reagan Barton scored four and Aubrey McCoy had two points.
Miami Trace was 18 of 23 from the foul line for 78 percent.
Mylee Utrup led the Titans with 23 points.
O-G was 10 of 23 from the free throw line for 43 percent and had one three-point field goal.
