11-25-02: Bulldogs impressive in first win

11-25-02: Bulldogs impressive in first win

Celina takes consolation victory in blowout

By LYLE KITTLE
Standard Correspondent

    Celina put together an impressive performance to capture the consolation game of the 17th OVISCO Basketball Classic on Saturday at the Fieldhouse, beating Lima Senior 75-40.
    Columbus Mifflin had its second dominating outing of the tourney, outpointing Toledo Whitmer, 80-36, after demolishing Lima Senior the previous night.
    Tournament Most Valuable Player Bridjett Brown scored 19 to lead the Punchers over the Panthers. Brown was joined on the all-tourney team by teammate Alicia Avery, Mifflin's 6-5 center, Whitmer's Sara Shepherd, Lima Senior's Carin Horne, and Celina's Betsy Hellwarth and Kelli Williams.
    Lima Senior never led and the score was tied only at 2-2 in the opening minute of the ballgame. Hellwarth and Williams, who were a combined 15-for-19 from the field in the game and finished with 21 and 20 points respectively, established themselves early, scoring eight of the Bulldogs' first 10 points. Jenny Niekamp put back an offensive rebound for the other score and Kara Osterfeld got the Bulldogs' final points of the quarter with a three-pointer for part of her 12 points on the night.
    Hellwarth and Williams did the job again in the second quarter, scoring 13 of Celina's 17 points as the Bulldogs took a halftime lead of 30-20.
    It was the third quarter when the Bulldogs put it away. Celina clicked on both ends of the court, hitting 11-of-14 from the floor, four-of-four from the free throw line, and pulling down nine rebounds. Defensively, the Bulldogs held the Spartans to three baskets on 14 attempts and forced five turnovers, while outscoring the opposition, 26-6.
    "At halftime, I talked about a couple of things," Celina coach Jack Clouse said. "In the first quarter, we were leading 13-6 and we didn't take care of things. It became a close game (13-10) and I saw the same thing happen in the second quarter (28-14 lead cut to 30-20). I told them we were ahead, let's put the game away. Let's play hard, the next group will come in and play hard, and sometimes, that works."
    The bulk of the offense came from Hellwarth, Williams and Osterfeld, who combined for 24 of the points. The trio connected on 10 shots in 11 attempts from the floor, hit all four free throws and gathered in six of the boards.
    Williams started the period with a three-point play, driving through the middle for a score and drawing a foul on the Spartans' Jennifer Turman. Williams quickly came back with another bucket and Hellwarth scored to push Celina's lead to 37-20.
    Williams scored again and Lima Senior got two scores to pull within 15, at 39-45. Hellwath added two more scores and Eboney Lindsey scored for Sen-ior to make it 43-26.
    The rest of the quarter belonged to the Bulldogs. Hellwarth hit two foul tosses and Osterfeld tallied three points when she drew a foul after scoring off a steal. Jaclyn Schwieterman scored and Osterfeld added a hoop from outside. Hellwarth finished off Celina's scoring in the quarter with two baskets as the Bulldogs stretched their lead to 56-26.
    The Bulldogs' reserves came on in the fourth quarter and played well enough to outscore the Spartans, 19-14, with Schwie-terman, Andrea Bryan, Allison Hoyng, and Laura Link scoring four points each in the final period.
    Celina got 26 points off the bench and Clouse attributes a lot of that to experience.
    "I told the girls that I can't remember the last time we came out on the floor with eight letter-winners," the Bulldogs' veteran mentor said. "Our ninth player was a starter on the reserves last year, so we had some people with playing time. Hopefully, that (bench production) isn't anything unique and we can continue to get that."
    One of the keys for the Bulldogs was the defensive job turned in on the Spartans' Bowling Green-bound Carin Horne. While Horne scored 18 points in the game, 12 of those came in the fourth period against Celina's reserves. Horne managed just six points in the first three quarters while trying to penetrate against the defensive efforts of Williams, Jenna Schleucher and Claire Smalley.
    "She can do it all," Clouse said of Horne. "I've always thought she was more painful to the other team when you let her drive. We decided to give her the outside shot and stop the drive, and I thought that worked well."

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