TONTOGANY — Otsego’s senior girls continue to put together a solid effort, this time a 58-38 non-league
win over Van Buren Saturday.
The seniors combined for 50 points and the Knights improved to 14-0 overall.
Despite some foul trouble senior Brynne Limes finished with 22 points. Fellow senior Hannah Smoyer added
a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Knights.
Otsego also played well on defense, was successful at the free-throw line, and had a good rebounding
effort.
“We had a lot of positives,” Otsego head coach Scott Bernthisel said. “Like I have said before, we have
really good kids. They get along together and they are coachable. We are a pretty good basketball team
when we do the little things.”
Otsego closed the first quarter on a 8-2 run to take a 14-10 lead after eight minutes.
The Knights held Van Buren to six points in the second quarter and it resulted in a 27-16 lead at
halftime.
With Limes scoring nine points and Smoyer adding six, the Knights out-scored Van Buren 19-11 in the third
quarter to extend their lead to 46-27.
The Knights closed out the game with a 12-11 effort in the fourth quarter for the 20-point victory.
“We just try to stay with the things that we do. We are trying to get more points in transition. It’s a
matter of looking up the floor and getting into our system,” Bernthisel said. “We were doing that a
little bit better in the second half instead of one pass and a shot. That’s good when we are hitting
early, but if we’re not we have to get a little more into the system.”
In addition to 21 field goals, Otsego shot well from the free-throw line going 12-of-15. Smoyer led the
way making 5-of-6 free throws.
For Van Buren, now 8-6 overall, Zoe Horne finished with 18 points, including four 3-pointers.
Otsego and Eastwood are tied for first place in the Northern Lakes League at 9-0 with five league games
remaining. The Knights and the Eagles will play each other on Jan. 23 at Otsego and Feb. 13 at Eastwood.
Otsego also has to play Woodmore, Elmwood and Fostoria in NBC play.
“We have been talking all year about one game at a time,” Bernthisel said. “I hope they are buying in,
because we haven’t really looked ahead.
“It’s going to be interesting,” he added. “There is no team in our league that’s easy, even Fostoria as
they have some athletes.”
Van Buren 10~6~11~11~38
Otsego 14~13~19~12~58
VAN BUREN
Tabler, 3-1—7; I. Pawlak, 1-0—2; Bishop, 1-0—2; Durliar, 2-0—4; Horne, 3-4-0—18; M, Pawlak, 0-0—0;
Recker, 1-0—2; Reineke, 1-1—3. TOTALS: 12-4-2—38.
OTSEGO
Limes, 8-1-3—22; Brinkman, 2-0—4; Moser. 1-2—4; Cepek, 1-0—2; Smoyer, 4-5—13; Roberts, 3-2—8; McCoy,
1-1-0—5; Greenhaen, 0-0—0; Varner, 0-0—0; Divis, 0-0—0; Berry, 0-0—0. TOTALS: 20-1-12—58.
