By RICK SPRUNGER
Turnovers. A lot of them.
That was the story of Bluffton’s 44-29 loss to Woodlan Tuesday night in the opening round of the Allen County Athletic Conference girls’ basketball tournament.
“We were not aggressive,” said Bluffton coach Eric Mounsey, shaking his head. “We seemed timid. We seemed not ready to attack. Their length bothered us, but we just didn’t seem ready to go.”
The Tigers (8-8) turned the ball over on each of their first 11 possessions and didn’t take a shot at the basket of any kind until the 7:22 mark of the second quarter.
By the time they got one to stick at the 4:30 mark of the period, they were already in a 14-0 hole.
“We really got after it,” said Woodlan coach Gary Cobb after seeing his team win for the 15th time in 18 games.
“We’ve told our girls that if they’re good at defense, rebounding, and free-throw shooting, they’ll win a lot of games. “We didn’t play very well offensively tonight,” continued Cobb, “but when you play good defense, it doesn’t matter.”
He was right about his team’s offensive struggles.
Woodlan didn’t dominate Bluffton so much as it nickle-and-dimed it to death.
Even with the Tigers being shut out in the first quarter, they were still in it, trailing just 6-0.
That was because the Warriors hit just two of nine field goal attempts themselves in the first period.
But with Bluffton points few and far between, each Woodlan basket, each free throw, produced a cumulative effect.
Haley Gibson opened the third quarter with a three-pointer for Bluffton to slice a 26-9 halftime deficit to 26-12.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, they would never get any closer than that all night.
“We wanted to keep Gibson off the three-point line,” said Cobb of his team’s 2-3 zone. “Plus, we’re a veteran team. We communicated well inside and kept the ball away from (Maryn Schreiber).”
“This is the eighth straight game we’ve seen a 2-3 zone,” commented Mounsey. I thought we would play better and do better than we did. But Woodlan fought very hard. They were the more aggressive team; they were the more physical team. We need to be more confident in our own individual abilities.”
Gibson led the Tigers in scoring with 10 points, while Lily King added nine off the bench on a trio of three-pointers.
Bluffton actually outshot Woodlan from the field, connecting on 11 of 26 field goals for a .423 shooting percentage to the Warriors’ .371 on 13-for-35 firing.
The Tigers also outrebounded their guests 24-17.
Woodlan’s top scorers were Taylor Kneubuhler with 20 points and Avah Smith with 18, who accounted for all but the six team points.
But 28 turnovers for the game compared to Woodlan’s 12 spelled their demise.
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WOODLAN 44, BLUFFTON 29
at Bluffton High School
WOODLAN (15-3): Gabi Klopfenstein 0-1 0-2 0, Briana Roney 1-4 0-0 3, Avah Smith 6-13 6-7 18, Addie Goheen 0-2 0-0 0, Taylor Kneubuhler 5-10 7-10 20, Brooke Kneubuhler 0-1 1-2 1, Kaitlyn Crosby 1-3 0-0 2, Zoe Eager 0-1 0-0 0, Kate Spangler 0-0 0-0 0, Reagan Widenhoefer 0-0 0-0 0. TOTAL: 13-35 14-19 44.
BLUFFTON (8-8): Isabella Stout 1-2 2-2 4, Marly Drayer 0-1 0-0 0, Maryn Schreiber 3-4 0-1 6, Haley Gibson 4-12 1-2 10, Tressa Renner 0-1 0-0 0, Konley Ault 0-1 0-0 0, Lily King 3-5 0-0 9. TOTAL: 11-26 3-5 29.
Woodlan 6 20 12 6 — 44
Bluffton 0 9 10 10 — 29
Three-point shooting: Woodlan 4-15 (Klopfenstein 0-1, Roney 1-4, T. Kneubuhler 3-7, Crosby 0-2, Eager 0-1), Bluffton 4-10 (Drayer 0-1, Gibson 1-3, Ault 0-1, King 3-5). Rebounds: Woodlan 17, Bluffton 24 (Schreiber 6). Turnovers: Woodlan 12, Bluffton 28. Personal fouls: Woodlan 9, Bluffton 13. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: None.
