Ottoville girls down Knights to advance

Van Wert independent sports

LIMA – The first time Crestview and Ottoville’s girls played this season, the Lady Green eked out a four-point victory. This time, it wasn’t even close, as Ottoville ran away from the Knights for a 54-23 win in Division IV district final game played Saturday at Lima Senior High School.

The Lady Green led by 16 points, 21-5, after a quarter of play and was up 34-7 at the half. Crestview played closer in the second half, but at no time did the Lady Knights have a valid chance of climbing out of the hole they dug in the first two quarters.

With the win, No. 1-ranked Ottoville is now a perfect 25-0 and will advance to regional play, while the young Lady Knights team (just one senior) ends its season at a very respectable 22-3 and sectional and Northwest Conference championships.

Abby Siefker and Rachel Turnwald led Ottoville with 15 points apiece, while Terra Crowle was the Knights’ top scorer with eight points.

Offensively, the Lady Green was hot, hitting 19 of 35 field goal attempts (54.3 percent), while Ottoville’s clinging defense held the Knights to just 8 of 30 from field goal range (26.7 percent). Crestview had a better percentage than the Lady Green at the free throw line, making 4 of 5 (80 percent), but Ottoville had more tries (19) and canned 11 of those (57.9 percent).

The Lady Green forced Crestview into 23 turnovers, while losing the ball 15 times themselves. Both teams had 18 rebounds in the game.