First Posted: 3/20/2015
COLUMBUS — Versailles is tall, athletic and has played a championship-caliber schedule.
That makes the Tigers a very good matchup for Ottawa-Glandorf.
Ottawa-Glandorf (26-2) will meet Versailles (25-4) for the Division III girls basketball state championship at 2 p.m. today at Ohio State’s Value City Arena.
This marks O-G’s first trip to the girls basketball state tournament.
Versailles lost in the state title game last year to Africentric, 49-37. It’s the seventh trip to state for the Tigers. Versailles won the state title in 2008.
The Tigers lost two games in the Midwest Athletic Conference this year, to New Knoxville and to Marion Local. Versailles also lost to Tipp City Tippecanoe and Fort Loramie in overtime.
Versailles handed Bath its only regular-season loss, 50-48, in overtime.
In Thursday’s state semifinals, Versailles ran over previously unbeaten Doylestown Chippewa, 54-43.
“Effort, heart, desire, strength of schedule all goes into it,” Versailles coach Jacki Stonebraker said after the state semifinal win.
The first thing you notice about Versailles is its height. But the team is also extremely athletic, moves well and defends well in the halfcourt man-to-man.
The Tigers roll out 6-foot-2 senior Christa Puthoff (12.7 ppg), who is headed to play basketball at Findlay. Then, there’s 6-1 senior Lauren Bruns (11. 7 ppg), who will play volleyball at the University of Dayton.
“I’m thankful we’re in the MAC and playing teams like Marion Local and Minster,” Bruns said. “They made us physically and mentally stronger.”
Taylor Winner (5.9 ppg), a 5-10 senior, is headed to the University of Northwestern Ohio for volleyball.
In the state semifinals, Puthoff had eight points, 10 rebounds and three blocks. Bruns had 12 points and six rebounds. Taylor Winner had 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Danielle Winner is a 6-1 freshman who contributes off the bench.
“We saw them play and they are a very good team,” O-G coach Troy Yant said. “They are going to create some matchup problems.”
Rounding out the Versailles starting lineup are 5-4 senior Shelby Hyre (2.6 ppg) and 5-4 freshman point guard Kami McEldowney (6.5). The slick freshman McEldowney led the team with 13 points and three assists in the state semifinals.
“She (McEldowney) doesn’t even know what she’s doing in terms of the impact she’s having,” Stonebraker said about her freshman.
Ottawa-Glandorf doesn’t have the Tigers’ height, but few teams in the state can match the Titans on athletic ability.
Five O-G players in the rotation played on the soccer team that reached the state championship game.
The leader is 5-9 senior guard Elissa Ellerbrock (12.3 ppg), who will play at Gannon (Erie, Pa.). She tossed in 11 points with nine rebounds and two assists in the 55-27 destruction of Protorville Fairland in the state semifinals.
Her sister, 5-6 junior guard Dani Ellerbrock (5.6 ppg), flies from end to end and was a key reason Fairland’s top scorer Caitlin Stone was held to just three points on 1 of 10 shooting in the semifinals.
The other player who watched Stone was 5-9 Danielle Schroeder (7.3 ppg), who contributes at both ends of the floor. She had seven points and three rebounds in the semifinals.
The Titans’ inside players are 5-9 Kylie White (7.2 ppg) and 5-9 Erin Basinger (7.4 ppg). In the semifinals, White had eight points and four rebounds. Basinger had 10 points and two rebounds. Anna Bellman averages 4.5 points.
The Titans have leaned heavily on their man-to-man press and sticky man in the halfcourt.
“We want to attack them before they attack us,” Yant said.
