DELPHOS – Led by a trio of seniors, Devyn Carder, Macy Wallace and Sarah Miller, Delphos Jefferson has recorded an 12-6 overall record and a 4-1 mark in the Northwest Conference that puts them in the thick for a conference crown.
But if they are going to grab the league title the Wildcats will have to beat the other top three teams in the NWC to achieve that goal. Beginning Thursday, Jefferson battles Columbus Grove (8-8, 4-1), followed by Spencerville (9-7, 4-1) on Feb. 8 and Bluffton (12-5, 4-2) Feb. 15. Sandwiched in there is a non league contest against Ft. Jennings on Feb. 12.
“I am pleased with where we are at as far as the schedule goes,” Jefferson head coach Dave Hoffman. “I am disappointed in a couple of games that we let get away from us. A big Northwest Conference game at Paulding…but we are still in pretty good shape coming into the last three weeks.”
Jefferson’s journey of this year success has its roots beginning last year. Despite not having a winning record (11-12), something that has eluded Jefferson the last four years, the team posted a 6-2 mark in the NWC finishing third.
Hoffman said the trio of seniors that lead this team have provided leadership and guidance and they are bolstered by the play of junior Alli McClurg and sophomore Addy Stewart. Also contributing have been freshmen Delany Deuel and Kaylee Buzard.
“Experience wise we have a good base,” Hoffman said. “As far as depth we would like to have more experience but you can’t have everything.”
Depth has been an issue for the past several years. Hoffman pointed out that last year the squad had only two seniors and the year before that there were only a couple of seniors on the team.
“Last year part of it had to do with our numbers,” Hoffman said. “We had 13 players total so our depth was not real great but I was pleased with our 11-12 record. We played well at times last year but we didn’t have enough to finish games . We would get tired or we would start strong and finish slow or if we paced ourselves we got down too far to dig ourselves out.”
Coming into the year, Hoffman said the team expected to be competitive
Aided by additional numbersWith higher numbers out this year, it gave the Wildcats a bench and with their experience, Jefferson began to record wins. The Wildcats won their first eight out of 10 games.
But in their last eight games, Jefferson has gone 4-4. In that time, Delphos lost a heartbreaking loss to Paulding for its lone NWC defeat and a beat down by Ottoville Saturday.
“We’ve played well at times and not so well at times,” Hoffman said. “Our big problem this year has been turnovers. We need to cut down our turnovers. Whenever we have been able to hold those down we have been competitive. Our shooting has been pretty good overall but we just commit too many turnovers and some times they are unforced turnovers.”
Take the game against perennial powerhouse Ottoville. In that game the Wildcats committed 29 turnovers. Granted the Big Green does this to a lot of team but it showed that Jefferson has room to improve as they enter the homestretch of the regular season.
Another issue is height. Even though solid shooting, along with tenacious defense, the Wildcats have been able to overcome this problem but some teams like Paulding were able to expose this deficiency. The Panthers scored 34 of their 53 points.
“We are a solid team but at times have been a little inconsistent as far as that goes,” Hoffman said.
With the big game against Columbus Grove looming Hoffman said the Wildcats are gong to have to bring their best. The Bulldogs, who were hurt at the beginning of the year with the loss of NWC player of the year Paige Bellman, are still a major threat.
“They are still very good,” Hoffman said. “They shoot the ball from the outside and they have a very good team.”
With this stretch of games at the end of the season, Hoffman said he hopes it gets his team ready for the postseason. Hoffman added that many of the schools they face in the regular season they might see in the tournament.
“It is not bad thing I guess,” Hoffman said. “Hopefully you are playing your best basketball at the end of the season. The tournament draw coming up Sunday and everyone we play at the end of the season you might have to turnaround and play again. Me, I like to play someone different.”
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