Eagles run past Cavaliers

ELIDA - Liberty-Benton turned up the pressure on Coldwater and bumped the Cavaliers off the tournament trail with a 48-10 victory in the girls Division III district semifinals Thursday night at the Elida Fieldhouse.

The Eagles, ranked second in the state, used a trapping full-court press that stymied Coldwater's offense all night.

Liberty-Benton set the tone by forcing turnovers on Coldwater's first four possessions of the game, and jumping out to a 6-0 lead.

Lauren Gilliland broke the ice for the Cavs with a free throw. Annelise Harlamert added a bucket halfway through the first quarter to pull Coldwater to within 9-3.

The rest of the quarter belonged to Liberty-Benton's 6-3 junior Caitlin Elseser, who contributed 12 points to a 14-0 Eagle run to close out the first quarter.

Coldwater finished the first eight minutes with nine turnovers and a 23-3 deficit.

"We handled the press at times, but when you break it, you still have to execute at the offensive end. That was our main problem," Coldwater coach Keenan Leichty said. "I think it was more us than them, but they're a very good team. The play well, they rotate well, and it's hard to simulate that press in practice because we're such a young team."

The Cavaliers seemed to calm down in the second quarter, limiting the Eagles to just eight points. However, Coldwater managed just two free throws in the quarter, finishing the first half 1-of-15 from the floor.

"I thought once the game got going, we got some of the jitters out of the way, and we handled things a lot better," Leichty said. "But then we had trouble shooting. We couldn't throw it in the ocean. It didn't matter if it was outside, inside, obviously you can't have those nights against a team like that."

The Eagles scored the first seven points of the second half before Kate Leichty puts the Cavs on the board with a pair of free throws.

Elseser then scored on back-to-back possessions, and with 4:50 left in the game, put the Eagles up 42-7, setting off the postseason, 35-point running clock rule.

The rest of the game seemed to breeze by with the two teams combining for a total of nine points over the final 12-plus minutes.

Coldwater finishes its season at 12-12, and with just one senior on the team, Leichty feels his squad came a long way during the season.

"The effort was there. But then we've been gritty all year," he said. "Our defense has been really, really good. Playing hard has never been our shortcoming. Being able to put the ball in the hole consistently is what we need to work on in the offseason.

"We've got everybody back but Alli (May) and we're going to miss her a heckuva lot," Leichty continued. "But it's nice to see our young girls get this experience."

With 24 points, Elseser accounted for half of Liberty-Benton's 48 points. The Eagles, now 23-1, advance to the district finals Saturday to take on Ottawa-Glandorf.

The Titans, 22-1, advanced with 43-39 victory over Spencerville in the other semifinal game at the Elida Fieldhouse Thursday night.