First Posted: 3/5/2015
ELIDA — A basketball team cannot score unless it has the ball.
That was the philosophy Lima Central Catholic used when it faced No. 3 Liberty-Benton in a Division III girls district semifinal Thursday at the Elida Fieldhouse.
LCC’s game plan nearly worked to perfection.
With 1:10 left to play in the game, LCC was down 27-24.
However, L-B made just enough plays down the stretch to pull out a 33-30 win over the Thunderbirds.
With the victory, L-B (23-0) will take on Ottawa-Glandorf (22-2) in a district final on Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Elida Fieldhouse.
O-G defeated Coldwater (14-10) in Thursday’s first district semifinal, 52-33, to advance to Saturday’s championship game.
LCC (16-8) spent a good portion of its game holding the ball out front in an attempt to pull Liberty-Benton out of its 2-3 zone.
But L-B wouldn’t budge.
In the fourth quarter, L-B was just 1-of-3 shooting from the field, while LCC was 3-of-6. For the majority of the fourth quarter, neither team attempted a field goal. It wasn’t until 1:10 left in the game when LCC finally scored a field goal.
“We had a couple teams this year that did the same thing against us,” L-B coach Nate Irwin said. “You know, LCC’s probably an underdog going into the game. Last year, they did try to play with us, and we got a pretty big lead and just extended it. So give (LCC) coach (Katie) Krieg and her team credit. They had a good game plan; they were very disciplined and they stuck to that game plan.
“But, once we got to that five-point lead in the fourth quarter, we felt a little more comfortable that we were able to let them do that, and let them waste four or five minutes of the fourth quarter. We felt like when they had to attack and start scoring, we were able to defend them fairly well.”
It was primarily a two-person show on Thursday, as Madison Stolly led LCC with 16 points, on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor. For L-B, it was Wright State-bound Katie Simon who led the way with a game-high 19 points.
The T-Birds set the tone right from the start.
In the first quarter, LCC limited L-B to 3-of-7 shooting. Stolly scored all six of her team’s first-quarter points, as the Eagles claimed a 7-6 lead at the first stop.
At the halftime break, L-B led 16-13.
“That’s all we could have asked for,” Krieg said. “That was our whole plan – to cut down the number of possessions. We came out here last year and tried to run with them and they ended up beating us by 38 points. So, we knew we had to cut down the number of possessions, because they have terrific players.”
For the game, LCC shot 44 percent from the field. L-B connected on 42 percent of its field goal attempts.
The taller L-B squad won the battle on the boards, 17-12.
Added Irwin, “The bottom line is that we won the game and we survived and advanced. And we’re happy to have another chance to play on Saturday.”
Ottawa-Glandorf 52, Coldwater 33
After a sluggish first quarter at the offensive end, O-G finally got it going and eventually pulled away from Coldwater for the convincing win.
O-G struggled from the field in the first quarter, making just 3-of-14 of its shots, as Coldwater claimed a 10-8 lead at the first stop.
However, the Titans, behind the hot shooting of Elissa Ellerbrock (23 points) pulled out to a 27-16 lead by the break, and then never looked back.
Ellerbrock also had game-highs of 10 rebounds and four steals. Her sister, Dani Ellerbrock, scored 12 points and dished out three assists.
“I think we came in with a lot of jitters and we got really nervous in the beginning,” Elissa Ellerbrock said. “But, towards the end we really came out and we established our tempo.”
Erica Sudhoff led Coldwater with 12 points.
For the game, O-G shot 39 percent from the floor, while Coldwater countered with 31-percent shooting.
O-G won the boards, 33-27.
The Titans were impressive from the free throw line, making 15-of-19 (79 percent) on the night.
The Titans were aggressive at the defensive end as they helped force 25 Coldwater turnovers. As a team, O-G made a total of 12 steals.
“Obviously, what we tried to do was to set the tempo with our defense,” O-G coach Troy Yant said. “We missed a lot of shots early. It makes it hard when you’re playing that hard on defense. We knew this was going to be a game where would have to grind it out.”
