By Cort Reynolds
BLUFFTON - Visiting league leader Columbus Grove smothered Bluffton in a 42-26 Northwest Conference girls basketball slowdown showdown Thursday night.

Bluffton trailed 10-4 after one period, and Grove extended the lead to 23-12 at halftime of the low-scoring contest. CG inched ahead 32-17 after three quarters, and went on to win by 16.

Lady Pirate senior post Libby Schaadt scored 14 points to lead 
Bluffton. Kayla White added seven markers and drained the lone Pirate triple.  

Junior guard Angel Schneider led CG with 14 points, while sophomore guard Savanah Ridenour netted a dozen. 

The loss dropped the Bluffton record to 12-5 overall and 4-3 in the NWC, and ended their shot at a share of the league title. Grove improved to 15-3 and stayed unbeaten and first in the NWC at 6-0 with the win.

The Bluffton girls canned 11 baskets, including 10 two-pointers and one shot from three-point range. The Pirate girls converted three of seven from the charity stripe (43 percent).

The Bulldog girls sank 14 field goals, 12 of which were from inside the arc. CG canned two triples and converted 12 of 17 from the foul line (71 percent). 

Bluffton committed 10 turnovers while Grove was guilty of just four errors. 

The 26 points Bluffton scored was a season-low output.

Col. Grove 42 (15-3, 6-0 NWC))
Schneider 6 1-3 14, Witteborg 2 0-0 4, Schafer 0 2-2 2, Downing 1 3-4 5, King 1 0-0 3, Gladwell 0 2-2 2, Ridenour 4 4-6 12.
Totals: 14/12-17/42. 3-pointers: Schneider 1, King 1.

Bluffton 26 (12-5, 4-3 NWC)
Bischoff 0, B. Garmatter 0, L. Garmatter 1 0-0 2, White 3 0-0 7, Stackhouse 1 1-2 3, Monday 0, Schaadt 6 2-5 14.  
Totals: 11/3-7/26. 3-pointer: White 1.
 
    1    2    3    4    F
CG    10    13    9    10    42
Bluf    4    8    5    9    26    

Bluffton visits BVC leader Liberty-Benton (12-2) in a challenging non-league contest Tuesday, February 4.