Ottawa-Glandorf is the fifteenth team to play in four consecutive girls state basketball tournaments since the tournament began in 1976.
Those 15 schools include eight private schools and seven public schools.
This year’s tournament has two teams who have appeared four times. Division IV semifinalist Waterford, a state champion in 2016 and state runner-up last season, also has been there four consecutive years.
Ten of the previous 14 teams have won at least one state championship during their four-year runs.
The longest streak belongs to Hathaway Brown, which went to seven consecutive state tournaments from 2007-2013 and won five championships. Cincinnati Mt. Notre Dame was in six consecutive tournaments from 2004-2009 and won five championships.
The other teams who have competed in four consecutive girls state tournaments are: Delphos St. John’s, Kettering Alter, Kettering Fairmont, Mansfield St. Peter’s, West Holmes, Old Washington Buckeye Trail, Pickerington, South Euclid Regina, Toledo Notre Dame, Danville and Zanesville Rosecrans.
Senior guards Kadie Hempfling and Carri Johnson have played in O-G’s previous three trips to the state tournament. Guard Erin Kaufman has started the last two and Ashley Schroeder started last season. Paige Sutter and Brianna Schimmoeller played in last year’s semifinal game against Alter.
So, how does a team get to four straight state tournaments and will that experience be a factor in the Titans’ Division III semifinal match-up against Columbus Africentric at 8 p.m. Thursday?
Kaufman said, “Playing there the past three years, that has given us a lot of experience. We’re not first-timers going in anymore. So I think we have a little better knowledge of what to do and how to handle situations and we’ll really use that to our benefit.
“We built our schedule up during the season to play better teams so that would help us in the tournament. Since we’ve gone the past three years I think the pressure really was on us to make it back to state. It was a nice feeling to get back,” she said.
Hempfling said, “Having the experience like most of us on this team have, I think we’ll be more relaxed this year and live in the moment more.”
Ottawa-Glandorf coach Troy Yant says the foundation for the four-year run was built before it began.
“I’ll go back to the girls my first two years who didn’t go to state,” he said, referring to O-G teams that went 16-9 in 2012-2013 and 22-3 in 2013-2014 and were district runners-up.
“I thought we worked really, really hard and those girls really worked. They put in the hard work and dedication. They kind of paved the way. Now, it’s just, ‘Let’s do what we did last year, let’s see if we can do it better and make another run.
“Having the confidence to do it, having the experience to do it has been huge. A lot of that goes to the ground work that was laid down by the girls who didn’t go to state,” he said.
.neFileBlock {
margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
padding-bottom: 5px;
padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
font-size: 85%;
}
