By Cort Reynolds
FINDLAY - Liberty-Benton outscored the visiting Bluffton girls basketball team by 25 points in the second half to pull away and post a lopsided 59-25 non-league victory Tuesday night.

The Lady Pirates trailed 21-12 at halftime, but L-B went on a tear after intermission where they outscored Bluffton 38-13.

Eagle 5-11 freshman Lauren Gerken poured in a game-high 29 points to pace the victors. She scored 12 points in the fourth period, and netted all nine of L-B's markers in the first stanza.

The Pirate girls trailed 9-4 after the opening quarter and stayed in striking distance at intermission after a 12-8 second period deficit.

But L-B put the game out of reach by winning the third quarter 17-5, then continued the onslaught with a 21-8 fourth period.

Bluffton's record dropped to 5-4 overall with the defeat that snapped their three-game win streak. The Lady Eagles improved to 6-1 with the decisive victory. 

Riley Busch led Bluffton with seven points, while Kylie Stackhouse added six markers. Kylie Monday tallied five points and Riley Eachus added four.

Eagle senior Lauren Smith tallied nine points for L-B as no Eagle other than Gerken hit for double figures.

The Pirate girls connected on just nine field goals, hitting seven two-pointers and a pair of trifectas. Bluffton converted  five of 11 free throw attempts (45 percent). 

L-B sank 20 field goals, canning 13 two-pointers and seven bombs from three-point land. The Eagle girls converted 12 of 22 foul shots (55 percent).

The 25 points was a season-low single-game output for Bluffton.

L-B 59 (6-1)
Aschmeier 0, Ward 2 0-3 6, Recker 0 4-6 4, Irwin 1 0-0 3, Deeter 2 0-0 6, Gerken 11 6-10 29, Smith 3 2-3 9, May 1 0-0 2.
Totals: 13-7/12-22/59. 3-pointers: Deeter 2, Ward 2, Irwin 1, Gerken 1, Smith 1. 

Bluffton 25 (5-4)
Bischoff 0, Garmatter 0 1-3 1, Busch 3 1-3 7, Eachus 2 0-0 4, Stackhouse 2 1-2 6, Bricker 0, Scoles 1 0-0 2, Monday 1 2-3 5. 
Totals: 7-2/5-11/25. 3-pointers: Stackhouse 1, Monday 1.     
 
    1    2    3    4    F
L-B    9    12    17    21    59                            
Blf    4    8    5    8    25                     

The Pirates (1-3 road) are slated to visit WBL foe Kenton (2-4) Monday, December 28 in a non-league game to close the 2020 portion of their schedule.

Bluffton (1-1 NWC) had its postponed Dec. 17 league game at Crestview (5-1, 1-1 NWC) re-scheduled for Tuesday, January 5.

Paulding (3-0) and Delphos Jefferson (2-0) are the early NWC leaders, followed by Spencerville (2-1).