FINDLAY — In a time on the calendar when upsets come around often, it wasn’t the biggest but it was the first.
Leipsic (14-9), a No. 8 seed, never was behind in its 43-39 win over No. 5 seed Kalida (16-6) on Tuesday night in the opening game in the Division IV girls basketball sectional at Findlay High School.
The Wildcats had won 60-47 in a regular-season game on Feb. 6. But this was different from the start when Leipsic jumped out to an 8-0 lead to start the game, Kalida struggled to make shots and the Vikings went up 19-6 at halftime.
Kalida battled back to tie the game at 33-33 late in the fourth quarter but never could take the lead.
Kierra Meyer scored 16 points to lead Leipsic. Heather Lammers scored 12 points and Haley Heitmeyer had 10 points.
Kalida’s Allison Recker scored 18 points and had 16 rebounds.
“We wanted to start fast,” Leipsic coach Gary Kreinbrink said. “We knew what we wanted to do offensively. We needed to get the ball moving side to side, which we did. That at least got us some touches inside and we were able to get some baskets.”
Kalida made only 3 of 24 field goal attempts in the first half. Leipsic wasn’t much better, at 6 of 24. But Kalida’s offensive struggles were also costly at the defensive end because it couldn’t get into its press after made baskets.
And turnovers were one of the things that hurt Leipsic the first time the two teams played.
“We turned the ball over too many times the first game against the press and gave them too many uncontested lay-ups,” Kreinbrink said. “For the most part we did a pretty good job of getting the ball down the floor tonight and that was important for us.”
Leipsic had a 36-27 rebounding edge and Kalida coach Adam Huber pointed to that as an important factor in the game. The Vikings made a rebounding statement early when they scored three of their first four baskets on offensive rebounds.
“We said we had to limit them to one shot and we didn’t do that,” Huber said. “They came out and punched us in the mouth early and we played a little timid for whatever reason and it just kind of snowballed.
“Our defense for the most part wasn’t a problem. We only gave up 19 points in the first half. We just couldn’t throw the ball in the basket,” he said.
Kalida also had to deal with foul trouble. Leading scorer Kylie Osterhage was limited to six points when she picked up three quick fouls and got her fourth foul with 3:24 left in the third quarter.
Leipsic led 31-21 with seven minutes left in the game but Kalida outscored the Vikings 12-2 over the next 4 ½ minutes to tie the game. Recker got 12 of her 18 points in the final eight minutes to lead the comeback.
Kalida tied the game at 33-33 on two free throws by Katelyn Siebeneck with 2:44 to play. But Meyer answered with a free throw on the next Leipsic possession then rebounded a missed Kalida shot, went to the other end of the court and got a hoop and free throw to put Leipsic up 37-33.
Kalida got to within one point twice after that, but Leipsic responded both times.
“We told them at halftime there was no 13-point shot or 13-point steal,” Huber said. “We knew we could make a run. We just had to get one stop and one basket at a time. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough.”
Leipsic will face fourth-seeded Wayne Trace at 6:15 p.m. Saturday also at Findlay High School.
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