Ottoville girls top Lady Lancers 48-30

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

PAULDING — Jordan Decker scored 20 points but Lincolnview was held to 22 percent shooting and fell to No. 2 seed Ottoville 48-30 in the Division IV sectional finals at Paulding on Saturday.

The loss ended Lincolnview’s season at 5-19, while Ottoville improved to 14-8 and advanced to the Division IV district semifinals and will play No. 3 seed Crestview at 6:15 p.m. Thursday at Defiance High School.

“Ottoville was definitely a very good team but I believe we did everything defensively we possibly could to win the game,” Lincolnview head coach Kyle Williams said. “What it ultimately came down to was us not being able to make open or timely shots.”

The Lady Lancers jumped out to an early 8-2 lead, with six of those points coming from Decker but Ottoville answered with 15 unanswered points, including three triples by Alexa Honingford and led 15-8 at the end of the period. Honingford went on to score a team high 13 points.

Ottoville’s Tori Thomas hit a quick bucket to open the second quarter, then Decker answered with back-to-back baskets to pull Lincolnview to within five, 17-12.

“I know they were able to make a 15-0 run which really put us down but we were not able to make shots that were capable of making,” Williams said. “Whenever a team shoots 20 percent from the field you’re not going to win any games.”

From there, the Big Green went on a 6-0 run to pull ahead 23-12 at halftime, then a third quarter shot by Kylee Hoersten and a foul shot by Thomas put Ottoville ahead 26-12.

Decker scored all eight of Lincolnview’s third quarter points, but the Lady Lancers trailed 33-20 entering the fourth quarter.

Lincolnview finished 11-51 from the floor and 8-11 from the foul line. In addition to Decker’s 20 points, Kendall Bolenbacher added eight and pulled down seven rebounds. Ottoville was 15-45 shooting and 13-17 from the free throw line. Kylee Hoersten had nine points and Nicole Knippen added eight, while Thomas had nine rebounds. Ottoville held a commanding 37-25 edge on the boards.

“Even though we did not shoot the ball well I told my girls that we competed at a very high-level and that’s what it takes to compete against teams like Ottoville,” Williams said. “We executed a game plan to a ‘T’ and I was super excited about that but shooting the ball consistently has kind of been our downfall all year. We have put ourselves in great positions to win a lot of games but it comes down to putting the ball in the hole.”

Williams noted the season was a learning curve for himself and the team, but he added he’s excited about what could be in store.

This last half of the season I think the girls really bought into some of the things I was talking about in some of the things that we want to do,” the coach stated. “The strides we made these last four games were definitely palpable and I’m very confident if my girls put the work in this offseason then the sky is the limit for them. I’m excited for what is to come for Lady Lancer basketball.”

Scoring summary

Ottoville HS 15 8 10 15 – 48
Lincolnview 8 4 8 10 – 30

Ottoville: Jocelyn Giese 2-3-7; Tori Thomas 2-2-7; Alexa Honingford 3-4-13; Elise Kramer 1-0-2; Nicole Knippen 3-2-8; Faith Gamble 0-2-2; Kylee Hoersten 4-0-9

Lincolnview: Mackayla Jackman 1-0-2; Kendall Bollenbacher 3-2-8; Jordan Decker 8-4-20