The Van Wert County Courthouse

Thursday, Mar. 28, 2024

Big start, finish leads Bath by Van Wert

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

An early 12-point hole and almost flawless free throw shooting in the fourth quarter by Bath were too much for Van Wert to overcome in a 61-42 loss in the regular season finale on Thursday night.

Bath jumped out to a 14-2 lead just past the halfway point of the first quarter and the Lady Cougars also had to deal with foul trouble in the quarter, as starters Jamison Clouse and Caylee Phillips were forced to sit with two each.

Van Wert’s Sofi Houg finds herself guard by Bath’s Madelyn Renner on Thursday night. Bob Barnes/Van Wert independent

“We dug ourselves into a hole from the get-go and from there it felt like we were always 10 points behind,” Van Wert head coach Hannah Phlipot said. “We’d put a little run on and they’d get it back to 10. We’d put another run on and it’d go back to 10.”

“Bath got out to a fast start and their press rattled us and it just felt like we were never able to overcome that first deficit,” Phlipot added.

Trailing 14-2, the Lady Cougars got back-to-back baskets from Sofi Houg to make it 14-6 at the end of the quarter, then the freshmen drilled a triple and a bucket by Clouse made it 16-11 early in the second period. After a pair of free throws by Bath’s Chandler Clark and a basket by Ruby Bolen made it 20-11, Van Wert again trimmed it to five, only to see the visitors score the final five points of the half, including a buzzer-beating trey by Madelyn Renner that made it 25-15.

Bath (18-2, 8-1 WBL) extended the lead to 28-15 with an early third quarter three pointer by Clark, but halfway through the period Allison Schaufelberger scored seven points by hitting a foul shot and three baskets, including one to end the quarter. In the fourth quarter, the Lady Cougars trailed 41-30 before Jaylyn Rickard hit three consecutive triples to pull Van Wert within five, 46-41.

“Schauf had a great game offensively,” Phlipot said. “We started to force it down low to her and she did a great job of converting and fighting through some things, and then Jay hit three threes in the fourth quarter to bring us alive.”

However, Bath hit 11 consecutive free throws in the quarter and went on to finish 20-23 from the foul line in the final period and 26-29 for the game.

“We had to get the ball out of their hands and hope we could do something with it offensively and they were almost perfect from the line, so they sealed the game from there.”

Bolen led all scorers with 20 points, while Clark had 13 and Renner 12. Houg led Van Wert with 12 points and Rickard finished with nine.

The game was the final one at home for four Van Wert seniors – Clouse, Phillips, Jerica Hueber and Brianna DeAmicis.

“It’s an interesting and fun group and I started coaching basketball at Van Wert when they were freshmen, so it’s been fun to watch them grow both as basketball players and as people,” Phlipot said. “Each one of them does something different for our team and I’m extremely proud of all four of them.”

Van Wert’s junior varsity team posted a 44-34 win to finish the season 18-4.

Van Wert (6-16, 4-4 WBL) will face Shawnee in the Division II sectional semifinals at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday at Spencerville.

Scoring summary

VWHS 6 9 15 12 – 42
Bath 14 11 14 22 – 61

Van Wert: Carlee Young 1-0-2; Kyra Welch 1-1-4; Carly Smith 1-0-2; Jamison Clouse 3-0-6; Jaylyn Rickard 3-0-9; Sofi Houg 5-1-12; Alli Schaufelberger 3-1-7

Bath: Ja’Dasia Hardison 1-5-8; Esther Bolon 2-2-8; Chandler Clark 1-10-13; Ruby Bolon 6-7-20; Madelyn Renner 4-2-12

POSTED: 02/14/20 at 4:52 am. FILED UNDER: Sports