Otsego’s Jocelyn Cornell (right) tries to get by Bryan’s Marah Smith during Thursday’s Division II sectional girls basketball semifinal at Bryan High School. (Jonathan LeBlanc/Bryan Times)
By Jonathan LeBlanc
Bryan Times
BRYAN — Bryan’s girls basketball team wanted to begin its pursuit for a second-straight trip to Dayton with an emphatic start to the postseason.
The state-ranked Golden Bears got what they wanted on Thursday night.
Top-seeded Bryan’s defensive pressure and offensive prowess was too much for No. 15 Otsego as a scorching hot start paved the way for dominant 67-19 Division II sectional semifinal victory in the Miller City District at Bryan High School.
Bryan shot 47.6% (10 of 21) in the first quarter — jumpstarted by two Ella Rau 3-pointers and one via Marah Smith in the first 1:20 — while the Knights committed 13 turnovers, leading to a 24-0 Golden Bears edge through the first eight minutes.
“That was No. 1 on our scouting report. We needed a fast start,” said Bryan coach Todd Grosjean, whose team improved to 22-1 and was ranked seventh in Division II in the final AP poll released Tuesday. “Obviously, they’re (Otsego) young. They’ve had some injuries, they have some new faces in the lineup. We wanted to get out to comfortable lead and not get anybody hurt, which was our main focus tonight as well.
“But I thought our kids did a great job. We shot the ball well early… Lot of hustle plays by kids, making extra passes.”
That strong start carried into the second quarter, as Bryan’s defense continued to snuff out Otsego, which didn’t score its first points of the game until a Ryleigh O’Brien runner with 1:22 left in the frame.
O”Brien then hit two free throws between an Ava Zimmerman 3 and a Kailee Thiel putback as Bryan took a 43-4 lead and went into cruise control in the second half, outscoring the Knights 24-15 including a 54-8 lead entering the fourth.
Thiel scored eight of her game-high 13 points in the second quarter and added five rebounds, four on the offensive glass, and three steals.
Rau, who dropped eight of her 11 points in the first frame, had four steals and three boards, while Ella Voigt had nine points in the first half. Voigt also snagged eight rebounds (four offensive) and swiped four steals.
Anna Gray chipped in nine points, six boards (five offensive) and two steals, and Smith finished with five points and three steals.
“It was good to see Ella Rau knock some shots down, because we need her moving forward,” Grosjean said. “… I thought Ella Voigt and Anna Gray were all over the offensive boards as was Kailee Thiel.”
Josey Arnold contributed six points and eight boards (seven offensive) to pace Bryan’s bench, which saw five different players score.
Taylor Dominique had five points in the fourth quarter, while Avery Brown and Kelsie Thiel joined Zimmerman in draining a 3-pointer. Amiyah Langham, Piper Hanna, Arella Alyanakian and Alea Shilling all saw the floor Thursday night as well.
All but Brown, a senior, return next season.
“It was neat to see some of our younger kids make some shots too,” Grosjean said. “A lot of those kids are going to be thrown in the fire next year, so if they can get in an environment like this and get some of the jitters out, hopefully it’ll pay off down the road.”
The Golden Bears went 37% (27 of 73) from the floor, including 34.6 percent (9 of 26) from 3-point range after a 4 of 8 start in the first quarter. Bryan also committed just four turnovers to Otsego’s 30 (20 in first half) and had a 43-23 rebounding edge.
Otsego, which ended the season 3-20, shot just 8 of 24 overall on the night. Jocelyn Cornell paced the Knights with two 3s in the fourth quarter. O’Brien added three boards and Savannah Villarreal had four rebounds.
“These girls, they battled every single game,” Otsego coach Andrew Willford said. “My reflection on the season is just how we’ve had a lot of injuries, a lot of stuff like that, and they just played through it all. They just played through it all, and it’s a credit to the girls every single step of the way.
“Next year, we got to get better at a lot of things right now with rebounding, really just handling pressure, handling the ball. Just a lot of work in the summer time that the girls are going to have to get after.”
Bryan next hosts No. 12 Elida (7-16) in a sectional final 7 p.m. Saturday. In the lone regular-season matchup between the two, the Golden Bears won 62-44 on the road on Jan. 27.
