By Cort Reynolds

DELPHOS – A rough second quarter cost the Bluffton High School girls basketball team in a 44-28 loss at Delphos Jefferson in the Pirate Northwest Conference opener Thursday, December 12.

Bluffton was outscored 27-15 over the middle quarters and fell to 3-3 and 0-1 in the NWC after the defeat.

The Pirates and Wildcats were tied 6-6 after the opening quarter. But Delphos Jeff broke the game open with a 13-4 second stanza to build a 19-10 lead at halftime.

DJ won the third period 14-11 to build a 33-21 margin heading to the final quarter. The Wildcats staved off any thoughts of a Pirate rally with an 11-7 fourth period to win by 16.

Delphos Jeff improved to 3-3 overall and 1-1 in NWC action with the decisive win.

Senior post Ayla Grandey scored a game-high 13 points for Bluffton. She canned five field goals and netted three of four foul shots.

Pirate junior Blair Utendorf and Macy Schaadt each tallied six points.

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Kyah Kimmet led DJ with 12 points. Claire Stokes tallied eight markers. Claire Brinkman netted seven points, and Aubrey Bayman scored six. Brylee Geary added five markers.

The Pirates sank just eight two-point goals and one triple. They connected on nine of their 13 tries from the charity stripe (69 percent).

DJ canned 14 two-pointers, also canned one trey and converted 13 of 22 free throws (59 percent).

The Pirates host MAC foe New Bremen (2-3) Saturday, Dec. 14 at approximately 12:30 p.m. 

Bluffton entertains non-league rival Van Buren (2-4) in a varsity-only matchup Tuesday, Dec. 17 at 6 p.m. VB lost 53-22 to Arlington Thursday night.

1 2 3 4 F

Blf 6 4 11 7 28

DJ 6 13 14 11 44