O’ville three-peats as Tip-Off champion

DAVE MOSIER/independent sports

The Ottoville Big Green had all they could handle from the Crestview Lady Knights, but managed to eke out a 34-30 victory for a three-peat as champions of the McDonald’s Tip-Off Tournament.

The Big Green were led by Abby Siefker’s 11 points, while Tonya Kaufman added 9 points for Ottoville. Top scorer for the Lady Knights was Emily Bauer, also with 11 points, while Lindsey Motycka had 9 points for Crestview.

The fourth quarter was the key for the Big Green, who trailed for three quarters, but rallied at the end for the victory. Ottoville was down 9-5 at the end of the first quarter, but outscored the Knights 8-5 to get within a point, 14-13, at the half. Crestview held on fiercely to its one-point lead heading into the final stanza, erasing a three-point Ottoville advantage with baskets at the end of the quarter that made it 22-21 at the end of quarter.

The Knights started off the fourth quarter with a trey by Mackenzie and a four-point lead, 25-21, but Crestview turnovers allowed the Big Green back into the game and they went on a 13-5 run to win the game.

Ottoville is now 2-0 on the year, while the Knights are even at 1-1 for the season.

In the consolation game, the young Van Wert Lady Cougars generated some much-needed offense to down the Wayne Trace Lady Raiders 56-48.

After being held to 6 points against Ottoville, the Lady Cougars’ Erin Morrow, a sophomore, exploded for 14 points, including two treys and a 4-for-5 performance at the free-throw line, against Wayne Trace, while junior Hannah Hulbert added 11 for Van Wert. Krystal Wannemacher led the Raiders with 11 points, with Lauren Speice adding 10 points for Wayne Trace.

The Raider made a game of it, though, and actually had a lead in two of the first three quarters. Wayne Trace had a 1-point advantage, 16-15, at the end of the first quarter, but a 9-7 run by the Cougars in the second quarter put them up by a point, 24-23, at the half. The Raiders turned the tables on Van Wert, though, outscoring the Cougars 17-11 to take a five-point lead, 40-35, heading into the final period of play.

But Van Wert again rallied, outscoring the Raiders 21-8 when it counted to garner the victory.

The Cougars had five three-pointers in the game – two by Morrow, and one each by Hulbert, Emilie Moonshower and Jenna Weigle.

Van Wert didn’t shoot well from the free-throw line, though, making just 13 of 24 attempts (54.2 percent) for the game. The Raiders were 11 of 16 (68.8 percent) from the charity stripe. Wayne Trace was also better from the field, hitting 18 of 39 (46.2 percent) compared to the Cougars’ 19 of 64 (29.7 percent).

With the victory, Van Wert evens its record to 1-1, while the Raiders start the season 0-2.