Liberty-Benton cruises past Lake for district title

L-BENTON 53LAKE 28KANSAS – Liberty-Benton continued its march through the OHSAA girls tournament on Saturday, and the Eagles relied on two reliable weapons – defense and deadly 3-point shooting – to keep that journey going.In a Division V district final at Lakota High School, L-B limited Lake to three points in the first quarter, seven the entire first half and grounded the Flyers 53-28. The victory earned L-B its first district championship since the 2018-19 season and sends them to the Elyria Catholic Coliseum on Tuesday to face Canton South in a 6 p.m. regional semifinal.Liberty-Benton bombed in 10 3-pointers against Lake. Megan Gerken connected on five of those 3s and led the Eagles with 22 points. Corra Dehart had 17 points, including nine in the first quarter when L-B jumped ahead 15-3. The Eagles led 30-7 at the half.L-B allowed an average of 43.4 points a game during a 12-10 regular season. In three tournament games, though, the Eagles held every opponent to 30 points or less.Brooke Wiley had a team-leading 11 points for Lake, which ended its season at 9-16.LAKE (9-16)Tobias 2-0—5, Garcia 3-1—7, Moreno 0-1-1, Wiley 4-3—11, Little 1-2—4. TOALS: 10-40 7-11—28.L-BENTON (15-10)Ferris 2-0—6, Knepper 1-1—4, Gerken 8-1—22, McDaniel 2-0—4, Dehart 7-1—17. TOTALS: 20-48 3-7—53.Lake 3 4 8 13—28L-Benton 15 15 15 8—533-POINT GOALS: Lake 1-10 (Tobias); Liberty-Benton 10-21 (Gerken 5, Ferris 2, Knepper, Dehart 2).REBOUNDS: Lake 22; Liberty-Benton 28 (Ferris 7).TURNOVERS: Lake 18; Liberty-Benton 13. OTTOVILLE 73P-GILBOA 32ELIDA – Ottoville poured in 33 points in the first quarter and sailed to a 73-32 win over Pandora-Gilboa on Saturday in a Division VII girls district final at the Elida Fieldhouse.Erica Thorbahn scored nine points and Brooklyn Koester and Carly Thorbahn had seven each in Ottoville's explosive first quarter. Koester finished with 14 points, Erica Thorbahn had 13, Kendall Schnipke 10 and Carly Thorbahn nine for the Big Green (23-2) who will face Hilltop (20-3) Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the Division VII regional opener, also at the Elida Fieldhouse. Kalida (17-6) and Tiffin Calvert (22-4) will clash in Tuesday's second game.Savannah Knueven had 10 points for Pandora-Gilboa. The Rockets, making their first district tournament appearance since 2014, ended their season at 14-11.P-GILBOA (14-11)Rutschilling 1-2—4, Huffman 2-3—7, Knueven 3-3-10, Wise 2-1-6, Draper 1-2-5. TOTALS: 9-11—32.OTTOVILLE (23-2)K. Turnwald 3-1—7, Koester 6-0—14, E. Thorbahn 4-4—13, Langhals 2-0—5, C. Thorbahn 4-0—9, Miller 2-11—5, Schnipke 4-2—10, P. Turnwald 3-0—6, Wertenberger 2-0—4. TOTALS: 30-8—73.P-Gilboa 7 5 12 8—32Ottoville 33 20 12 8—733-POINT GOALS: Pandora-Gilboa 3 (Knueven, Wise, Draper); Ottoville 5 (Koester 2, E. Thorbahn, Langhals, C. Thorbahn). KALIDA 58MCCOMB 40OTTAWA – Kalida raced to a 24-3 first-quarter lead and never looked back in posting a 58-40 win over McComb in a Division VII district final at Ottawa-Glandorf High School.Addilyn Huber scored 16 points, Meredith Bockrath had 12 and Avrie Unverferth added 10 as Kalida improved to 17-6 and earned a spot opposite Tiffin Calvert (22-4) in Tuesday's regional semifinal at Elida. Ottoville (23-2) and Hilltop (20-3) will meet in Tuesday's opener.Hannah Sherrick scored 14 points and Kelsey Jenkins had 10 as McComb wrapped up a 19-6 season.MCCOMB (19-6)Rider 0-1—1, Jenkins 3-2—10, Like 2-1—5, R. Scheff 1-0—2, Hassan 0-1-1, Lause 1-2—4, Beckman 1-1—3, Sherrick 5-4—14. TOTALS: 13-31 12-20-40.KALIDA (17-6)M. Unverferth 1-3—5, Huber 6-3—16, Siebeneck 1-0—2, Nartker 0-2-2, Kuhlman 2-1—5, A. Unverferth 2-5—10, Miller 2-2—6, Bockrath 4-4—12. TOTALS: 18-38 20-32—58.McComb 3 11 8 18—40Kalida 24 8 14 12—583-POINT GOALS: McComb 2-11 (Jenkins 2); Kalida 2-11 (Huber, A. Unverferth).REBOUNDS: McComb 19 (Rider 6, Sherrick 5); Kalida 20 (M. Unverferth 4, Huber 4).TURNOVERS: McComb 20; Kalida 13. O-GLANDORF 45PAULDING 32DEFIANCE – Ottawa-Glandorf kept its unbeaten streak rolling and clinched a district championship in the process in beating Paulding 45-32 on Saturday in a Division V district final at Defiance.O-G advances to the Division V regional at Ridgedale High School where the 22-0 Titans will take on Johnstown Wednesday at 6 p.m. COL. GROVE 55CRESTVIEW 43VAN WERT – The rematch was a lot like the original when Columbus Grove and Convoy Crestview squared off in Van Wert in Saturday's Division VI district final.In a regular season matchup between the two Northwest Conference schools, Grove came out of top 51-45. The result was the same, and the final score almost identical, when the Bulldogs clinched the district title with a 55-43 win.Grove improved to 23-2 and advances to the Division VI regional at Bluffton University, where the Bulldogs will face Margareta in Thursday's second game. Carey and Patrick Henry will square off in the 6 p.m. regional opener. P. HENRY 58OTTAWA HILLS 48NAPOLEON – Carys Crossland scored 25 points, Kasey Nelson had 13 and Patrick Henry dominated the first and third quarters in taking a 58-48 win over Ottawa Hills in a Division VI district championship game at Napoleon.Patrick Henry led 18-7 after the first quarter, and padded its lead to 51-28 with a 22-9 edge in the third quarter.Unbeaten since a 61-51 loss to unbeaten Ottawa-Glandorf in mid December, Patrick Henry will take a 24-1 record into Thursday's Division VI regional tournament at Bluffton University. The Patriots will face Carey (18-6) in Thursday's 6 p.m. contest.