Lancer boys, Cougar girls lose

Van Wert independent sports

A fourth-quarter rally by the Lincolnview Lancer boys fell short as the Lancers fell to Ottoville 54-49 in a non-conference basketball game played Thursday at Ottoville, while the Van Wert Lady Cougars let the second quarter get away from them in a 38-26 loss to Bellmont High School in Decatur, Ind.

Ottoville led by a point, 11-10, at the end of a quarter and was up by nine points, 28-19, at the half after outscoring the Lancers 17-9 in the second stanza.

Both teams scored 11 points in the third quarter and, while Lincolnview came on strong in the final period, outscoring the Big Green 19-15, it wasn’t enough to overcome Ottoville’s early lead.

Sloan Whitaker led the Lancers with 26 points, while Kyle Williams added 10 points for Lincolnview and Jack Frank scored 9. Ottoville, which had nine players in the scoring column, was led by Pohlman’s 24 points.

The Big Green led in rebounding, 16-12, and had six fewer turnovers (10-16) than Lincolnview. The game was won at the free-throw line, though, as Ottoville got 13 more free throw attempts than the Lancers and converted on enough of them (14 of 20) to get the win. Lincolnview was 6 of 7 at the line (85.7 percent).

The Lancers were 7 of 13 from three-point range (53.8 percent) and made 18 of 44 field goal attempts overall (40.9 percent). The Big Green was 4 of 10 from beyond the arc (40 percent) and hit 18 of 40 overall from the field (45 percent)

The Van Wert girls just could get their offense going – something the team has had problems with most of the year – in their 38-26 loss to Decatur’s Bellmont High School team.

The Lady Cougars, which scored just 21 points in their last outing, could manage just 26 points this time. Alex Morrow was the only Van Wert player in double figures, with 10 points.

The Cougars started out even with Bellmont, with both teams tied 7-all at the end of the first quarter. However, the Indiana team went on a 12-2 tear in the second period to lead by 10, 19-9, at the half.

Van Wert came back to outscore Bellmont 11-9 in the third period to trail by eight, 28-20, heading into the final stanza, which went to the Lady Braves, 10-6.

Shooting overall wasn’t a strong suit for the Lady Cougars, which hit only 3 of 11 free throw shots (27 percent). Bellmont was 11 of 19 from the line (58 percent) and was 6 of 9 in the fourth quarter.

With the loss, Van Wert is now 1-7 on the year, as is the Cougar junior varsity team, which also lost to Bellmont, 46-27.