Lady Cougars down Defiance in WBL tilt

DAVE MOSIER/independent sports

The Van Wert Lady Cougars cut the tall trees of Defiance down the size on Thursday, downing the Lady Bulldogs 65-47 for their sixth Western Buckeye League win of the season.

With the win, Van Wert is now 17-4 on the year, while Defiance falls to 3-15.

Although outrebounded 38-24 by the Bulldogs, Van Wert forced Defiance into 25 turnovers and played an up-tempo game to take the Bulldogs out of their offensive rhythm.

The Cougars were playing without 5-10 junior Alexis Dowdy, one of their tallest players, while going up against two Defiance players who were over 6-feet tall.

Van Wert led almost from the start, taking a 15-11 advantage at the end of the first quarter and parlaying that into a 9-point lead, 36-27, at the half. The Cougars then outscored Defiance 29-20 in the final two quarters to win the game.

Van Wert was led offensively by Cheyenne Handy’s 16 points, while Erin Morrow added 14 points, Claire Butler scored 9 points and Alexa Dunlap had 8 points for the Cougars. Defiance’s Madie Naton led all scorers with 19 points, while Laura Schrag added 13 points for the Bulldogs.

Van Wert was 20 of 47 from field goal range (42.6 percent), while the Bulldogs made 19 of 57 field goal attempts (33.3 percent).

The Cougars were 18 of 24 from the free throw line (75 percent), while Defiance hit 4 of 5 at the line (80 percent).

Van Wert had 17 turnovers in the game.

The Cougar junior varsity team lost to Defiance, 45-39. Emma Kohn had 10 points for the Cougar JVs, while Ally Jackson scored 9 and Phoebe Eutsler added 8 points. Morgan Porter led the Bulldogs with 13 points, while Natalie Wichman added 10 points for the Defiance JV squad.