Grace Munger scores for Delta Thursday in a NWOAL matchup with Swanton. She led all scorers with 15 points as the Panthers pulled away from the Bulldogs, 40-27.
Max Householder | AIM Media Midwest
Swanton’s Emma Crow brings down a rebound during Thursday’s NWOAL tilt at Delta.
Max Householder | AIM Media Midwest
Delta’s Khloe Weber lines up a 3-pointer. Weber finished with six points in the Panthers win over Swanton Thursday.
Max Householder | AIM Media Midwest
Delta led pretty much wire-to-wire en route to a 40-27 home victory over Swanton in a Northwest Ohio Athletic League girls basketball contest Thursday night.
“Defensively we got a little more aggressive towards the end,” said Delta coach Kelsey Gillen on the difference down the stretch. “(Grace) Munger was able to get a few steals for us, and we were able to get a few more baskets put in at the end to kind of seal that deal.
“They (Swanton) made me earn this game. Turnovers killed us. We just were sloppy offensively, thankfully our defense held us in the game.”
Both teams at times struggled taking care of the basketball, but for Swanton it was too much to overcome.
“We’re not gonna compete in our league turning the ball over 20 to 30 times,” said Bulldog mentor Eric Oakes. “Our girls did a nice job, it’s just the little turnovers.
“I like our defense. I thought the girls played hard the entire game. It’s just little things. Just bad, simple turnovers that just shouldn’t happen that are costing us games. I was happy today, I thought we competed most of the game.”
A 6-0 run by the Panthers in the final 1:30 of the third quarter helped create some breathing room heading into the fourth.
Munger swished a jumper, then she basically went coast-to-coast for a hoop after a Swanton turnover, and Kendall Sprow’s jumper put them up 28-19 with 28 seconds left in the third.
Munger was the game’s leading scorer, finishing with 15 points on the night.
“She’s a tremendous athlete,” said Gillen of the junior guard. “She’s got a nice shot. She wasn’t quite hitting the 3’s tonight, but she’s not afraid to drive in there and attempt to get that finish in there strong for us. She can anticipate and get that steal for us. She’s just a huge help to the team.”
The Bulldogs’ Sammi Nelson split a pair at the free throw line as the Panthers led by eight through three quarters.
Delta extended their lead at the line in the first minute of the fourth when Munger and Sprow each hit a pair. Peighton Manning, Swanton’s leading scorer on the night at nine points, hit her second 3-pointer of the game to get them within nine (32-23) with 7:03 left.
Munger hit a jumper at the 5:42 mark to again give the Panthers a double-digit advantage.
Swanton could get no closer than nine over the final five plus minutes. In fact, they could only muster two points total during that span, both coming at the line.
It was a defensive struggle, with both the Bulldogs and Panthers employing active zone defenses that gave each other fits.
“We were struggling with our man (defense),” noted Gillen. “We tried it for a little bit, but we were just trailing too much. Weren’t keeping up with them and so we had to go back to the straight zone. Both teams were not super hot offensively, and so it was a defensive battle tonight.”
The Panthers held a 7-3 lead after the opening quarter, with Munger scoring five of her 15 points in the frame.
Late in the first half, the Dogs pulled within two (17-14) on hoops from Megan Haselman and Alaina Pelland. The final points of the half were a pull-up jumper from Delta’s Khloe Weber with 1:03 to go.
Sprow added 11 points for the Panthers.
Swanton fell to 8-9 overall and 0-4 in the NWOAL after the loss.
Delta improved to 7-10 with a 2-3 mark in the league.
Oakes notches 100th career win
Swanton hosted Defiance on Tuesday, Jan. 24, where they held on for a 43-39 victory in non-league action. The win was number 100 for coach Oakes in his time leading the Swanton program.
Oakes deflected credit for reaching the milestone, sharing that his favorite part of it was being able to coach his daughter Grace.
“The nice thing was my daughter played for me for four years and was a lot of those wins,” Oakes said. “She didn’t know it, and I wasn’t gonna say anything, but she texted me right away. That was probably the best part of the day.
“All that goes to the girls, and the assistants, and the coaches that built the Swanton program before me and things like that,” he added of getting to 100 wins.
In the game, Olivia Gowing paced Swanton with nine points. Peighton Manning and Alaina Pelland added eight apiece.
Reach Max Householder at 419-335-2010.
