Bath smothers O-G for WBL title

OTTAWA – Bath came into Ottawa-Glandorf territory Thursday night in the hopes of winning its second Western Buckeye League championship in a row.

The Wildkittens did just that, shooting exceptionally well, winning their 18th WBL girls basketball championship in school history.

The Wildcats won the WBL title outright with a 64-28 win over O-G, improving to 9-0 in the league and 18-2 overall.

The Titans fell to 3-6 in the conference and 7-13 on the season.

Bath has been know to have an excellence of girls basketball
tradition over the year. And of late, the Wildkittens have either won or shared the WBL title in four of the last five seasons with head coach Greg Mauk.

"That is our goal every year, to have a chance to compete at the title and the girls came out tonight competing with that edge," Mauk said.

Emily Ruhe had a team-high 19 points and eight rebounds to help lead her team.

"Tradition definitely means a lot to us, we take pride in playing good each year and having girls come up and know the program,’’ Ruhe said.

Senior, Jess Johns finished with 15 points, following in the footsteps of other athletes contributing to the Wildcats success over the years.

"We really try to follow the tradition and follow the older players that have played at Bath," Johns said. "We just try to fulfill the success the other athletes have done."

The Wildcats took a quick 13-5 lead after a three-pointer from Johns. Bath extended their lead taking a 19-8 margin after the first eight minutes of action.

Jenna Hollar dished out four quick assists in the second quarter to Ruhe for a Bath 32-10 lead. A Hollar triple at the buzzer gave Bath a commanding 38-13 lead at the break.

The Wildcats shot an impressive 5-of-7 from long range in the first half.

The third quarter was all the Division II No. 6 state-ranked
team, as it shot 5-of-6 from the field. The Wildcats ended the game shooting exceptionally well hitting 16-of-31 shots from the field and 8-of-13 from long range.

Bath heads into tournament action against the winner of
Wapakoneta/ Elida game. There’s the usual high hopes for postseason play.

"I feel like we are playing a lot better now and have been improving as the season has gone on, "said Mauk. "There just seems like a little bit of chemistry in this group that I feel pretty good about."

As for Johns and Ruhe, both have high expectations.

"We always set our goals higher so we have something motivated to strive for," Johns said.

The Titans will head into sectionals against Bluffton.