Last time the Olentangy Orange and Olentangy Liberty girls basketball teams met, Jan. 15 in Powell, Caitlin Splain sank a state-record 14 threes to lead the Patriots to a 69-43 win.
Tuesday’s rematch ended in a similar fashion — a 20-plus point win by the Patriots — but they took a different route to get there. Instead of one player shooting lights out from beyond the arc, Liberty dominated in the paint, and used a handful of players to do it, on the way to a 56-34 OCC-Central Division win over the host Pioneers.
Taylor Redman shouldered the load early, scoring six straight points thanks to three hoops down low. Two of the three were set up by her own steals as Liberty jumped out to a 16-10 lead by the end of the first quarter.
Orange battled back, cutting it to a single point on a Mairin O’Brien three and two free throws from Kayla Delmore midway through the second, but Liberty never relinquished the lead.
The Patriots led by just the slim one-point margin at halftime — 28-27 after Delmore hit a three just before the break — but started to pull away in the second half.
Gigi Bower and Splain both hit threes early in the third and, after Emma Delmore split a pair from the charity stripe, Sara Mitchell connected from long range to make it a 40-28 game with 1:38 left in the third.
From there, Liberty went back to working the ball down low. Claire Mrukowski and Addison Marston both scored multiple hoops in the post as the Patriots padded their lead and rolled to the win.
Redman led Liberty with 13 points, all in the first half, while Mrukowski finished with 11.
Kayla Delmore paced the Pioneers with 10 points while Emma Delmore added eight and O’Brien and Jordan Sullivan chipped in five apiece.
Olentangy Berlin 58, Thomas Worthington 48
The Bears used a 13-3 first quarter to set the tone on the way to an OCC-Cardinal Division win over the host Cardinals Tuesday night in Worthington.
Berlin outscored Thomas in the second and third, too, taking a convincing 40-28 lead into the fourth quarter — a quarter the Cards won 24-18 to smooth out the scoring summary.
The Bears’ Courtney Suchan led all scorers with 16 points in the win. Maddie Goodman, who hit a team-best three triples, finished right behind her with 14. Abbie Bell also finished in double figures, closing with 11 points.
Reid Dunbar led Thomas with 12 points in the setback.
Canal Winchester 42, Big Walnut 40
The Golden Eagles won each of the first two quarters to claim a 22-16 halftime lead, but the visiting Indians won the third 15-9 to even things up and used an 11-9 fourth to escape with an OCC-Capital Division win Tuesday night in Sunbury.
Abby Brown had three triples and 13 points lo lead Big Walnut while Kierstyn Liming finished with 12, including four in the fourth, for Canal.
FROM MONDAY
Katie Neuhart nearly outscored Elgin all by herself, pouring in a game-best 22 points to lead Delaware Christian to a 35-22 non-league win over Elgin Monday night.
Neuhart also had 16 rebounds and two steals in the win.
Elizabeth Ringleyhad a nice night as well, finishing with 11 points and a pair of assists.
BOYS BASKETBALL
Canal Winchester used a balanced attack to slip past visiting Big Walnut as four players finished in double figures on the way to a 56-55 OCC-Capital Division win Tuesday night.
Cortez Freeman led the charge with 13 points while Kevian Poindexter and Anthony Milner finished with 12 apiece and Stephan Byrd had 11.
Jagger Barnett poured in a game-high 18 points while Caleb Conard added 12 for the Golden Eagles.
Worthington Christian 58, Buckeye Valley 40
The host Warriors used an 18-10 second quarter to build a cushion and 22-13 third to add to it on the way to an MSL-Ohio win over the visiting Barons Tuesday night.
Dylan Thompson hit four threes en route to a 17-point night, but it wasn’t nearly enough to offset the 18 from Worthington Christian’s DJ Moore, 17 from Tyler Kindburg and 10 from Kobe Buford.
Troy Scowden backed Thompson with nine points while Owen Osborne had seven in the setback.
