Hoffman wins 400th as Jefferson advances

VAN WERT — The Spencerville and Delphos Jefferson girls basketball teams each began their respective tournament season with victories on Tuesday in the Division IV sectional semifinals at Van Wert.

The Wildcats not only gained a spot in the sectional finals with a 52-38 victory over Lincolnview, but the win gave Delphos Jefferson coach Dave Hoffman his 400th career victory. Spencerville edged by Parkway 61-55 in the nightcap.

Hoffman captured win No. 400 in his 30th year of coaching in leading the Wildcats past the Lancers.

“I’m happy with the experience and leadership I’ve gotten throughout the year (from the players),” Hoffman said. “It’s especially nice to get it (400 wins) with (seniors Kennedy) Boggs and (Courtney) Lewis.”

Jefferson will move on to play Crestview in the finals at 6:15 p.m. Saturday at Van Wert while Spencerville takes on top-seeded Delphos St. John’s in game two Saturday.

Jefferson got off to a slow start taking a 12-8 lead with a Megan Gilden putback late in the first quarter. Northwest Conference Player of the Year Boggs started to heat up in the second quarter, scoring 12-of-26 points for Jefferson in the first half.

In the third quarter both teams committed turnovers until the 5:05 mark when Gilden hit the first bucket of the half. The Lancers cut the deficit to one, 32-33 surprising the NWC champs at the start of the fourth quarter with a three-pointer from Julia Thatcher.

Jefferson then ripped off a 9-0 run on the strength of their experienced senior leadership from Lewis and Boggs. Jefferson executed patiently to find a wide open Elizabeth Schosker basket down low for a 48-38 lead with less than two minutes in the game.

“We didn’t take care of the ball very well but I am pleased with us attacking the basket, which helped us win the game,” Hoffman said. “We are really looking foward to playing Crestview, they don’t make a lot of mistakes and they don’t beat themselves so we have to be ready to come out and play.”

Boggs led all scorers with 20 points. Lewis added 12 points for the Jefferson offense. Thatcher had a team-high 15 points. Katie Dye finished with eight points.

“I was really pleased with our effort and I think this was the hardest we played all year,” Lincolnview coach Dan Williamson said. “Our defense is what kept us in the game. We have alot of young experienced players returning, and we will be looking foward to next season.”

Lincolnview finished its season6-14 while Jefferson improved to 14-6.

Spencerville 61, Parkway 55

Despite some turnovers from the Spencerville’s offense in the first half, the Bearcats took a 29-25 lead. Spencerville had 13 giveaways compared to just four for the Panthers. The Bearcats shot more 2-pointers in the first half than two-point field goals, hitting 6-of-12 from beyond the arc.

Parkway had troubles shooting in the first half making just 6-of-21 from the field.

“Turnovers have been our story all season and we were just lucky enough to make the shots in the first half,” Spencerville coach Katie Krieg said.

The Bearcats came out strong in the third quarter with 3-point action from Courtney Miller. Spencerville took a 40-27 lead halfway through the third but the Panthers slipped back into the game with a triple from Megan Fisher and two buckets from Becca Harshman.

The Panthers took their first lead with an offensive putback from Cami Hellwarth. Spencerville then took control with two buckets from Jennifer Post and Miller to give their team a 56-53 lead. Free throws down the stretch made the difference for Spencerville, making 10-of-13 free throws in the fourth.

“Our focus was just to buckle down and play hard defense and then run our offense from there and we did a really good job of that,” Krieg said. “Jennifer (Post) had a really nice rebounding game for us, and we expect her to step it up on the boards like that every game.”

Miller had a team-high 21 points for the Bearcats offense. Emilee Meyer had 10 points. Post finished with seven points and 15 rebounds. Harshman led all scorers with 24 points for Parkway. Fisher ended with 14 points.

“I told the girls that they have to play four good quarters of basketball and we played two and a half,” Parkway coach Jeff Kallas said. “Spencerville also shot the ball well and that didn’t help our enthusiasm when they kept draining three-pointers in the first half.”

Parkway ended its season 7-14 while Spencerville improves to 9-12 overall.