Brinkman's big shot helps O-G gain revenge, reach state

ELIDA-- Put some respect on her name. Carlie Brinkman -- not Charlie as listed in the program and postgame stats -- made just one shot Saturday, but it might have been the biggest one of the game. Ottawa-Glandorf led most of the first half before Margaretta tied it with 2:32 to go until the break. That's when Brinkman drilled a 3-pointer to retake the lead for the Titans. No. 3 O-G pushed the lead to five points at halftime and limited the No. 5 Polar Bears to five points in the second half in a dominating 45-26 Division III regional final win at Elida Fieldhouse. "I knew they tied it and as a team, we had to step up," Brinkman said. "I was open so I just took it. It gave us some momentum." The Titans improved to 25-2 and will face No. 7 Portsmouth (22-5) at 8 p.m. Thursday in a state semifinal at University of Dayton Arena. "I told the girls to take pride in what we do and we play defense," O-G coach Troy Yant said. "If we play defense that way, the offense will take care of itself." It is the first appearance at state for the Titans since 2021. Like it did that year, Ottawa-Glandorf defeated a team en route to the state tournament that had eliminated the Titans the year before. That time it was Columbus Africentric. "It feels amazing," Titans' senior Katie Kaufman said. "We've worked so hard all four years of my high school (career). I feel like my sophomore and junior year we just missed opportunities. We were so close. We should have been there. "Our coaches reinforced to us this year we were not going to miss our opportunities. We took full advantage of what we were given today." Yant didn't beat around the bush about reminding his team of what happened last year when these two teams met for the regional title. Margaretta came away with the win that time. "We've had 36-30 on our bulletin board the whole season," Yant said. "They wanted to get that monkey off their back. I think I mentioned last week that I felt like we were a good enough team to play at state last year. Not getting there was disappointing." After Lilly Edwards split two free throws for the Polar Bears (25-3), buckets by Katie Kaufman and Karsyn Erford on a rebound gave Ottawa-Glandorf a 26-21 lead at the break. "(Raegan Heck) hit those two 3s," said Yant of Margaretta getting back in the game. "I think she only had seven on the year according to their stats, but she did the same thing to us last year. We adjusted the scouting report. "The momentum could have went their way at that point. Carlie stepped up and hit a 3 and we were right back where we needed to be and I think the momentum was back to us." The Titans were tough defensively in the first half, but took it to a whole new level in the second half. First, Kaufman scored twice before Erford nailed a jumper to make it 32-21. Margaretta picked up its lone basket of the third quarter when Ellyse Schaefer scored, but Erford split two free throws and Kaufman scored for a 35-23 lead after three quarters. "They were revengeful," Margaretta coach Ray Neill said. "They just got after us. We weren't able to get anything going (or) get any consistency. Kudos to them." The Titans put away the win with another superb quarter of defense. O-G again allowed just one field goal in the quarter - a triple by Heck - to open the scoring. But, the Titans kept Margaretta off the board the final 6:42 of the game. Ottawa-Glandorf ran away with the win by scoring the final 10 points of the game. "I thought we gave some things we didn't want to give in the first half," Yant said. "We challenged them at halftime to just come out and play great defense. (Allowing five points) is pretty good considering that's the No. 5 team in the state. That's a great defensive effort." Buckets by Erford and Myka Aldrich jumpstarted the run. The Titans got to the line often late, making 12-of-20 free throws in the game to secure the win. Ottawa-Glandorf allowed just 18 points Thursday in the regional semifinal win over Liberty Center. That's just 44 points over the last eight quarters of basketball. "I thought for the most part I thought the girls locked in," Yant said. "They did what we expected them to do. We had some breakdowns, but that's high school girls." The teams played even the first bit of the game. Kaufman made two free throws to give O-G a 12-8 lead after one quarter. The Titans pushed the lead to six a couple times including after Alivia Grothause's driving lay-up. Schaefer knocked in a pair of triples to bring the Polar Bears within 18-16. Dani Grunden tied it at 18 with her bucket. "Our coaches told us a lot of people were underestimating our defense in articles they were writing," Kaufman said. "I think we took that to heart because we're very proud of our defense. We're a very defensive team." Heck paced the Polar Bears with 11 points while Schaefer added 10 points. Margaretta made just 9-of-35 shots for the night. "They obviously wanted to take Lilly away from us -- our floor general," Neill said. "They did a great job of that. We struggled getting in any kind of rhythm offensively all night." Kaufman led Ottawa-Glandorf with 16 points, Erford scored 13 point, and Kaitlyn Kimmet snatched nine rebounds. "The challenge especially to Katie and Myka was do everything we can to carry this team and get them back to state," Yant said. Ottawa-Glandorf 12-14-9-10 - 45Margaretta 8-13-2-3 - 26 Ottawa-Glandorf (25-2): 16-37 FG, 12-20 FT, 1-8 3pt (Brinkman), 33 rebounds (Kimmet 9), 9 turnovers. Scoring: Karsyn Erford 5 3-4 13, Carlie Brinkman 1 3-6 6, Katie Kaufman 5 6-8 16, Myka Aldrich 2 0-0 5, Kaitlyn Kimmet 1 0-2 2, Alivia Grothause 2 0-0 4. Margaretta (25-3): 9-35 FG, 3-5 FT, 5-14 3pt (Heck 3, Schaefer 2), 20 rebounds (Heck 5), 13 turnovers. Scoring: Lilly Edwards 0 1-2 1, Julia Berg 0 0-0 0, Cassidy Lane 0 0-0 0, Ellyse Schaefer 3 2-2 10, Raegan Heck 4 0-1 11, Dani Grunden 2 0-0 4.