Cougars nearly upset state-ranked Bath

DAVE MOSIER/independent sports

After losing by 16 points to Crestview, the Van Wert Lady Cougars were spoiling for a fight when state-ranked Lima Bath came into town on Thursday.

After trailing by seven heading into the fourth quarter, the Cougars put together a furious fourth-quarter rally that fell short of an upset by only a basket, with Bath happy to escape the Cougar’s Den with a 43-41 Western Buckeye League victory.

The Lady Wildcats did a good job of containing Van Wert’s top scorer, Erin Morrow, holding the 5-9 junior forward to just 4 points in the game. Alexis Dowdy made up the difference, though, scoring 17 points to lead the Cougars offensively. Bri Smith led Bath (14-1) with 11 points.

The Wildkittens led 13-10 after the first quarter and were up by seven, 28-21, at the half. The Bath lead was remained at seven at the three-quarter point, 40-33, but Van Wert outscored the Wildkittens 8-3 in the final quarter to almost steal the win.

The Cougars were sharper than Bath from both the field and the free-throw line, but just didn’t get as many looks, largely because of the Wildkittens advantage in turnovers and rebounds.

Van Wert was 15 of 34 from field goal range (44.1 percent), while hitting 9 of 13 free throws (69.2 percent). The Wildkittens made 16 of 47 field goal attempts (34 percent) and were 6 of 13 at the line (46.2 percent).

Bath also had five three-pointers, to just two for the Cougars.

With the loss, Van Wert is 13-4 on the season, and 4-2 in the WBL. The Wildkittens are undefeated in league play at 5-0.

Bath also won the junior varsity game, 58-21, over the Cougar JVs.