Celina trips Indians

FORT RECOVERY — The Indians started the evening by honoring their seniors prior to their final game at Fort Site Fieldhouse. But it was Celina that seemed right at home behind the 3-point line.
The visiting Bulldogs enjoyed a 3-point bonanza Tuesday, shooting shoot 67 percent from behind the arc as they handed the Fort Recovery High School girls basketball team a 54-43 defeat.
Junior Kylee Bader led Celina to the victory, hitting five of its eight long distance shots.
“They shoot 50 and we shoot 37. That’s pretty much the story line of the game,” said FRHS coach Doug Bihn. “We’re 2-of-17 from the three, 12 percent. They shot 67 percent from the three. That’s not going to win you many ball games.”
The Indians (14-5), who dropped out of the top 10 in the Division IV Associated Press poll for the first time this week, fell behind by 10 in the first half and struggled to close the gap.
Each time they began to make a run, Celina was able to shut it down.
Fort Recovery closed its early deficit to 19-14 in the second quarter, but Bader and Hillary Heiby hit back-to-back 3-pointers to extend the Bulldogs’ advantage back to double digits. The Indians pulled back to within nine, and Heiby hit another triple late in the half.
And when the Indians sliced their deficit to 35-28 midway through the third quarter, Celina responded with a quick 8-0 run that included a pair of Bader 3-pointers.
“They’re a good team,” said Bihn, whose nieces Danielle Bihn, Beth Homan and Emily Bihn all saw major minutes for the Bulldogs. “We made some small runs in the second half, but we could never put anything big together because every time we made a small run they’d answer us.”
Perhaps the biggest of those answers came at the end of the third quarter, after the Tribe had put together a 6-0 run to pull to within single digits again. Celina ran an out-of-bounds play from the baseline and got Bader wide open for her fifth 3-pointer just before the buzzer.
FRHS didn’t pull to within single digits again until the final minute.
“That was definitely a set play for (Bader),” said CHS coach Brian Stetler, whose team improved to 15-4. “Their girl overran the play and she stepped up and made it. That was a big shot right there for us. It was nice to cut the momentum down a little bit.”
Bader finished 5-of-7 from beyond the arc on the way to her game-high total. She also had three rebounds and an assist.
Heiby added 10 points, including her two triples, and Homan finished with 10 points and five rebounds.
Homan had the first four points of a 13-2 Bulldog run that put the visitors in control in the opening quarter.
“Its always good to get off to a start like that,” said Stetler. “It was good to see our girls come out and attack early.
“We hit some outside shots. … There was a period of time there were we made some skip passes, found the open person and we hit (the shots).”
The Indians hit for 52 percent from inside the arc and matched Celina in every other statistical category. But their 2-of-15 effort from long distance was a killer.
Kelly Nietfeld, one of four FRHS seniors playing in the final home game of her career, led the Tribe with 17 points. She also grabbed five rebounds.
Chelsea Pottkotter added 11 points.
The Indians will try to get back on track when they visit St. John’s Thursday before playing St. Henry in the sectional tournament Tuesday at Coldwater.
“Our defensive pressure has got to get cranked back up,” said Bihn. “There’s (mistakes) I’d maybe expect in game one or two, but not 19 games in. Everything we predicate our defensive philosophy on, we’re breaking down … To me that’s the frustrating part.”

Junior varsity
Fort Recovery stifled the Bulldogs’ offense on the way to a 39-17 victory.
The Indians held Celina to just 15 percent shooting for the game, including 7 percent (1-of-14) in the first half. They had a 22-6 lead at the intermission.
Jackie Fullenkamp and Sierra Pugh each finished with eight points for FRHS (10-7). Tori Lennartz had seven points and five rebounds.
Kourtney Fark totaled eight points to lead the Bulldogs. Leah Bihn followed with seven.[[In-content Ad]]