First Posted: 3/21/2015
COLUMBUS — Ottawa-Glandorf had three chances in the final 13 seconds.
And two of those were returned with a swat by Versailles’ Taylor Winner.
The Tigers used their size and athletic ability to block 10 O-G shots.
That helped Versailles post a 49-46 victory over Ottawa-Glandorf in the Division III girls basketball state championship game Saturday at Ohio State’s Value City Arena.
The Titans had one last chance to tie the game when Danielle Schroeder missed a 3-pointer from the right wing with less than a second left.
That clinched the second girls state basketball championship for Versailles (26-4). The Titans, who were making their first trip to the state tournament, finished the year 26-3.
Versailles returned this year after it lost in the state title game last year.
“It’s indescribable,” Versailles forward Lauren Bruns said.
Elissa Ellerbrock led the Titans with 12 points, while Schroeder scored nine points. Kylie White scored seven points. Erin Basinger had six rebounds with her three points. Freshman Kadie Hempfling had five points, three assists and six steals.
The game was back-and-forth the entire way, with both teams diving around the court and locking down on each other in the man-to-man defense.
“I’m very proud of our girls effort today,” O-G coach Troy Yant said. “I’m extremely proud and obviously a little disappointed, and I know they are. I thought they did a heck of a job.”
Versailles led 43-34 with 4:23 to go.
But the Titans’ man-to-man press forced several turnovers and O-G ran off a 7-0 run to get within 43-41 with 3:16 left.
Versailles still held a two-point lead 48-46 with 12.9 seconds left. The Tigers inbounded the ball, but it was stolen by Hempfling, who shoveled a pass ahead to Schroeder. Schroeder appeared in the clear for a layup, but out of nowhere Winner swooped in for the block from behind.
“I tried my best to catch her and for the block and I knew I couldn’t touch her,” Winner said.
The ball was knocked out of bounds and went back to O-G with 7.6 seconds left and still trailing 48-46.
This time Elissa Ellerbrock drove inside the huge Versailles defense and flipped up a 5-footer, but it was again blocked by Winner.
Versailles’ Bruns rebounded and was fouled by Ellerbrock, her fifth and final.
“She’s (Winner) probably the most head strong player, physically, mentally and emotionally, that I’ve coached,” Versailles coach Jacki Stonebraker said. “She takes our defense and makes it her own.”
Bruns hit the first free throw off the one-and-one with 4.4 seconds left to push the Tigers’ lead to 49-46. She missed the second foul shot, Hempfling rebounded and got the ball to Schroeder for the last-second attempt.
“We played as a team and we made big plays when big plays needed to be made,” Stonebraker said.
The 6-foot-1 Bruns, who is going to Dayton to play volleyball, finished with 16 points, eight rebounds and four blocks. She hit 6 of 7 from the field.
Bruns, Winner and Christa Puthoff all rejected driving efforts of the Titans.
“It was hard to get around their long arms, but I thought we needed to move the ball more. We rushed a lot of shots at the beginning,” O-G’s Elissa Ellerbrock said.
Added Yant, “We did attack them a few times, but the times we attacked and got good looks, they ended up in a block shot.”
Bruns also hit two free throws to make it 47-42, Versailles, with 1:56 to go. It looked like she took three foul shots instead of two, but the first one before the timeout was waved off because of a lane violation.
Freshman point guard Kami McEldowney had 12 points and three assists. Winner had 10 points, six rebounds and two big blocks.
Versailles’ Puthoff had five points, nine rebounds and four blocks.
In the end, Versailles had too much size and athleticism. The Tigers went 6-2, 6-1, 5-10, 6-1 across the front. The Titans’ tallest player in the rotation was 5-9.
“It’s kind of tough when you’re going against three girls over 6-foot,” Yant said. “They had nine blocks (10 officially). It’s a terminal end to a pretty-good possession.”
Versailles led 14-12 after the first quarter and 25-24 at the half.
Versailles won the boards, 30-20. O-G did forced 27 turnovers, but the Titans had 18 turnovers. O-G shot 41 percent from the field, while Versailles shot 55 percent.
“We turned an average team into a phenomenal team,” Bruns said. “We’re a just bunch of girls playing the game of basketball. We’re not studs. We’re not going to Division I playing basketball. We’re just out there having fun.”
