{"id":160327,"date":"2022-11-18T23:44:51","date_gmt":"2022-11-19T04:44:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=160327"},"modified":"2022-11-18T23:44:52","modified_gmt":"2022-11-19T04:44:52","slug":"girls-hoops-van-wert-opens-with-a-w","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2022\/11\/18\/girls-hoops-van-wert-opens-with-a-w\/","title":{"rendered":"Girls hoops: Van Wert opens with a ‘W’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defense and free throws down the stretch carried Van Wert to a 51-44 season opening victory at home over Ottoville on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trailing 27-26 nearly halfway through the third quarter, Kyra Welch and Sofi Houg had back-to-back steals and layups that put Van Wert ahead 30-27. After a pair of free throws by Ottoville\u2019s Skylar Turnwald trimmed the lead to one, Maria Bagley converted a layup and foul shot, then Houg closed the third quarter scoring by pumping in a triple from the right wing with 15 seconds left, giving the hosts a 36-29 lead entering the final quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Van Wert’s Kyra Welch puts up a shot for two of her 15 points against Ottoville. Bob Barnes\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDefense has been our strength the last four years and we\u2019re going to try to continue to utilize that,\u201d Van Wert head coach Hannah Phlipot said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Welch offensive rebound and bucket was sandwiched by treys from Erica Thorbahn and Turnwald, which cut Van Wert\u2019s lead to 38-35 with 5:30 left in the game. However, Houg drained a pair of free throws and Erin Schaufelberger had a layup that put the Cougars ahead 42-35. Later in the quarter, Houg hit consecutive baskets to stretch the lead to nine, 46-37. Van Wert was able to ice the win by convert 4-of-5 foul shots in the final 63 seconds. As a team, the Cougars connected on 13-of-19 free throws in the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s repetition, it\u2019s time they\u2019ve put in outside of our 3-5 practice time, to do the little things,\u201d Phlipot said. \u201cThey stay late to shoot free throws, they come in early to shoot free throws for moments just like that, to close games and I thought they did a great job doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Houg finished with a game high 19 points and eight rebounds, while Welch tallied 15 points. Elise Kramer led Ottoville with 15 points and Thorbahn and Turnwald each had eight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe knew it was going to be a dogfight \u2013 it\u2019s the first game of the year for everybody, there\u2019s a lot of energy, there\u2019s a lot of emotions with it but we have a veteran five girls who are out there on the floor that are going to give it their all,\u201d Phlipot said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Van Wert opened the game with a quick 5-0 lead on a trey by Houg and a bucket by Schaufelberger, but Ottoville grabbed a 6-5 lead. Jordanne Blythe scored Van Wert\u2019s final four points of the quarter, enough to give the Cougars a 12-9 lead entering the second period. Baskets by Becca Turnwald and Paige Turnwald gave the Big Green a quick 13-12 lead early in the second, and a trey by Kramer put Ottoville ahead 16-14. Van Wert took a 22-20 lead on a Welch layup but Kramer drilled a late triple to put the visitors ahead 23-22 at halftime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ottoville (0-1) will host Lincolnview on Tuesday while the Cougars are off until a December 1 road game at Bath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going to get a few well deserved days off with parent-teacher conferences and Thanksgiving,\u201d Phlipot said. \u201cWe\u2019ll come in and out, we\u2019ll bring some alumni in to break up some of the monotony to go up and down against,\u201d Phlipot said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had four weeks now to play one game so what\u2019s 13 more days?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scoring summary<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert 12 10 14 15 \u2013 51
Ottoville 9 14 6 15 \u2013 44<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert: Sayler Wise 0-2-2; Debbie Jones 1-0-2; Jordanne Blythe 1-2-4; Kyra Welch 5-4-15; Sofi Houg 6-4-19; Maria Bagley 2-1-5; Erin Schaufelberger 2-0-4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ottoville: Jessica Burgei 1-0-2; Erica Thorbahn 2-2-8; Skylar Turnwald 2-3-8; Elise Kramer 5-2-15; Paige Turnwald 1-1-3; Becca Turnwald 2-1-5; Isabella Furley 0-3-3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JV: Van Wert 32-26<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor Defense and free throws down the stretch carried Van Wert to a 51-44 season opening victory at home over Ottoville on Friday. Trailing 27-26 nearly halfway through the third quarter, Kyra Welch and Sofi Houg had back-to-back steals and layups that put Van Wert ahead 30-27. After a pair of free throws […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-160327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-02 23:41:43","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160327"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":160337,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160327\/revisions\/160337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}