St. Marys-Bath to meet for district title

By NATHAN W. MOTTER
• nmotter@limanews.com •
419-993-2085

FINDLAY - The streak continues for the St. Marys girls basketball team, but it wasn't easy.

The Roughriders (21-1) extended their winning streak to 21 games Thursday, after beating Ottawa-Glandorf 60-57 here in Division II girls basketball district semifinals at Liberty-Benton High School in Findlay.

Bath rolled to a 50-26 victory over Wauseon in the second district semifinal of the night.

Bath (19-3) will meet St. Marys (21-1) in the district title game at 7:30 p.m. at Liberty-Benton.

St. Marys standout sophomore Haley Fannon led all scorers with 20 points, and Roughriders head coach Bruce Brown said he was more than pleased with Fannon's play.

"Haley's done that all year," Brown said. "For a sophomore, she has been an unbelievable surprise. She was a JV player last year. She worked real hard in the offseason and put a lot of time into her game. It paid off for her."

The Roughriders trailed most of the game, but behind Fannon's eight-point fourth quarter performance and the team's ability to avoid turning the ball over, St. Marys was well on its way to victory.

Brown said he was impressed by O-G.

"That O-G team is an unbelievably athletic team," Brown said. "They played extremely well tonight. They executed extremely well and they came out ready. I am very excited about the fact we were able to step up and find a way to win against a team that talented. Our girls just hung in there and kept battling and found a way to win."

Liz Krugh had 15 points for St. Marys, though Brown said the senior had been suffering from the flu most of the week.

"Liz Krugh has been sick all week, and just really didn't have a lot of energy, but she wasn't coming out," Brown said. "She, along with the rest of the team have so much heart. I think our girls have an unbelievable amount of heart. They will themselves to win."

Ottawa-Glandorf was led by Tiff Ruhe, who scored 14 points, while Jackie Inkrott had 12 and Stacey Verhoff dumped in 10. Verhoff had a game-high six rebounds.

"I am proud of my kids," Titans coach Lori Smith said. "There were little instances where we let off their shooters and they made us pay. Give St. Marys credit. It's hard to stop a team like that with so many weapons. They can go inside and shoot outside. We will be back, though."

The Wildkittens made four 3-point field goals in the first quarter, while being limited to just a two-point field goal and a free throw in the second quarter.

Even though Bath struggled offensively, Wauseon was worse.

The Indians were unable to get the ball in the bucket in the first two periods. The Indians shot 0 for 21 from the field in the first half, and scored just two points from the free throw line.

Bath led 13-1 at the end of the first quarter and 26-2 at the half.

"They had some shooting woes to start the game," Bath coach Greg Mauk said. "They had some shots that are normally good looks for them, but I was very pleased with our defense. We really got out and contested everything. They're a team that likes to penetrate and go to the basket, and we were able to close that off pretty well."

The second half began differently for the Wauseon, as Amber Uphaus broke the shooting drought for the Indians, hitting a 3-pointer with 6:44 left in the third stanza.

Bath's shooting woes also improved, as the Wildkittens shot 6 of 13 from the field, including two 3-pointers. Bath had seven 3-pointers for the game.

The Wildkittens' Leslie Arnold led all scorers with 12 points, including three shots made from beyond the arc. Mary Simindinger had 11 points, while Markysha Martin contributed to the winning cause with eight points.