BRYAN SENIOR … Reese Grothaus drills a three-pointer from the corner in the first quarter at Paulding High School. (PHOTO COURTESY OF GOLDEN BEAR PHOTOGRAPHY)
By: Nate Calvin
PAULDING – Bryan was clutch at the foul line in the fourth quarter going 12/16 to offset not hitting a field goal (0/2) in the quarter to secure a 47-39 win over Lima Bath in the Division II district championship game at Paulding High School.
It’s their first district title since 1984 and the Golden Bears 23 wins is the most in a season in school history.
The Wildkittens opened the game in a 2-3 zone and Reese Grothaus buried a triple from the left corner for a 3-0 lead.
Ella Voight and Blayze Langenderfer added field goals and Kailee Thiel was 3/4 at the charity stripe as Bryan led 10-8 after one quarter.
Bath would take their first lead of the night in the early moments of the second with Anne Oliver hitting two free throws and Claire Foust scoring on an offensive rebound for a 12-10 Wildkitten lead.
The lead was short lived as Grothaus canned two more treys and Thiel scored inside during an 8-0 Golden Bear run to go ahead 18-12.
Bath answered with five straight points as a Foust putback followed a three-pointer from Oliver cut the Bryan lead to 18-17.
The Golden Bears engineered a 10-4 run to end the half at that point as Langenderfer would score five points during that stretch to give Bryan a 28-21 halftime lead.
Ella Rau’s three ball extended the Bryan lead to double digits at 31-21 to begin the second half before a baseline score by Thiel ended the 7-2 Bryan spurt for a 35-23 advantage.
It was Bath’s turn for a scoring run as they scored the last six points of the third and the first four of the fourth for a 10-0 run to draw within two points at 35-33.
A Thiel free throw stopped the Bath momentum at the 6:06 mark as Bryan would go to work at the foul line to put the game away.
Holding a 38-33 lead with 3:58 left in the game, Langenderfer would go 5/6 at the line and Grothaus was 4/4 to close out the win and district title for the Golden Bears.
“Every year we’ve tried to take a step forward and a couple times we’ve come up short, but just really proud of these kids”, commented head coach Todd Grosjean after the game.
Bryan put two in double figures with Langenderfer tallying 14 points and Grothaus added 13 markers.
Foust netted a game-high 17 to lead Bath (20-5) and Oliver chipped in with 13.
It will be a quick turn around for Bryan (23-2) as they will face Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary (20-4) on Tuesday at 6pm in the regional semifinals at Mansfield Senior High School.
BATH (39) – F. Clark 0; R. Clark 3; Foust 17; A. Oliver 13; E. Oliver 6; Totals: 13-2-7 – 39
BRYAN (47) – Thiel 8; Voight 6; Grothaus 13; Rau 6; Smith 0; Langenderfer 14; Totals: 7-6-15 – 47
GAME STATISTICS – BATH: FG – 15/35 (42%); FT – 7/10 (70%); Rebounds – 23; Turnovers – 15; BRYAN: FG – 13/35 (37%); FT – 15/20 (75%); Rebounds – 20; Turnovers – 9
BATH 8 13 8 10 – 39
BRYAN 10 18 7 12 – 47
Nate can be reached at sports@thevillagereporter.com