First Posted: 1/27/2015
LIMA – Two girls basketball programs with long traditions of excellence met Tuesday night. One is on the up-swing while the other is in a down turn.
The result was a Bath 53-18 win over Delphos St. John’s in a game that was never in doubt after the Wildkittens dashed out to an 11-0 lead.
Bath (14-1) would grab a 16-5 lead after one period of play and extend that lead to 26-7 at the half as the Blue Jays struggled to find any semblance of an offensive attack.
“They were more athletic, more skilled, more physical, and more disciplined plus they are well coached.” Delphos (6-10) coach Dan Grothouse said. “We competed but the better team beat us tonight.”
The second half was mostly both teams waiting for the final horn but Bath, ranked No. 9 in Division II this week in The Associated Press media poll, was able to play its entire bench with nine players breaking into the scoring column.
The Wildkittens were also able to play their entire array of defenses as they switched from man-to-man to both 1-3-1 and 2-3 zones.
Bath completely dominated the statistics as it out-rebounded Delphos 22-10 and forced 11 turnovers while only committing six. The Wildkittens shot 51 percent for the game on 21-of-41 that included 8-of-13 from 3-point land. Delphos struggled to a 25 percent shooting night as they were only able to connect on 7-of-28 from the field.
“BZ (Delphos coach Grothouse) is a heck of a coach and they are going through a tough time but they played hard and competed,” Bath coach Greg Mauk said. “We scored some baskets and were able to play different defenses.”
Sydney Fischbach was the leading scorer for the Blue Jays with six points.
Bath got 11 points from Madison Dackin while junior Haylee Brenek chipped in with 10 points off the bench.
“Balance is a key for us but defense has been the key all year.” Mauk said. “We were able to work on defensive fundamentals and tried to run our offensive sets.”
