Do they believe?

FORT RECOVERY - Doug Bihn stood at the front of the bus Saturday looking at his team. He saw a bunch of sad faces.

There wasn't much of a celebration after winning the sectional title. Faces were streaked with tears; cheeks red from crying.

"We came home from the game Saturday night and it felt like we lost," said Bihn prior to practice Monday. "The kids were crying in the locker room afterwards. There wasn't a word said on the whole bus ride home. It felt like a loss."

The Fort Recovery High School girls basketball team had, in fact, won, earning its second consecutive sectional championship. But in the process of its 49-34 victory over Lima Central Catholic, the team lost senior captain Nicole Pottkotter to a season-ending injury.

That injury, a likely torn ACL in Pottkotter's left knee, at the end of the third quarter sucked the life out of what would normally be a thrilling accomplishment.

"It did seem like we lost," said junior Holly Brunswick, who scored 12 points in the victory over LCC. "We won, but it wasn't the same as last year. We were all happy about winning, but all we could think about was Nicole.

"We're all such good friends with her. That's why it was so hard for us Saturday."

While senior Chelsea Leuthold leads the Indians (15-5) in scoring, Pottkotter carried the load everywhere else. She had nine rebounds and four assists in the opening three quarters Saturday, and is the team leader this season in rebounds (6.3 per game), steals (52), assists (48) and blocks (14).

So while the Tribe must work on taking care of the ball - it had 33 turnovers in Saturday's win - perhaps the biggest concern for Bihn heading into Thursday's Division III district semifinal game against Archbold at Napoleon is getting his team to believe it can win without Pottkotter.

"She's so huge," said Brunswick. "She's such a big part of the team. She contributes so much.

"It's going to be really hard. Each of us has to take another step up. ... We all have to step up our game now.

"We talked to her in the locker room (today) and told her we were going to dedicate this week to her."

With Pottkotter out, Leuthold is the remaining team leader with 4.8 rebounds per game - she grabbed 13 in the sectional title game - and steals (40). Junior Nicole Dilworth has 40 assists on the year.

Bihn said he's not sure who will fill Pottkotter's place in the starting lineup, especially with senior Emily May's status in question. May suffered a sprained ankle in the first quarter against LCC, and although she returned to the court for the Tribe in the fourth she spent Monday's practice watching from the sidelines with Pottkotter.

"Nicole did all the dirty work for us," said Bihn. "She was a great rebounder. She just had a calming effect on this team. She's a leader. ... We're losing a lot in Nicole.

"We've got to get some other kids to step up. We're not going to replace her. There's not one person who's going to be able to take that spot. It's going to have to be several to get the job done.

"It's going to have to be a step up by everybody on the team."

Thursday's game between Fort Recovery and Archbold (20-2) - it follows the first district semifinal between No. 9 Tinora (20-2) and Coldwater (13-7) - is a rematch of sorts.

The schools also met in the district semifinal round of the state volleyball tournament. The Indians became just the second team all year to take a game from the undefeated Blue Streaks before dropping the match in four.

Pottkotter, Leuthold, May, Brunswick, Alyssa Brackman and Olivia Thien were all on that team of spikers, and hope to get a measure of revenge Thursday.

"We can beat them," said Leuthold. "We kind of want to get them back."

Archbold's basketball roster has seven players from the volleyball team, which went on to win the district title before falling to eventual state champion Huron in the regional championship match. The leader among them is 6-foot-1-inch center Hailey Galvan, who leads a balanced scoring attack at just over 10 points per game.

The rest of the team's top six players average between seven and nine points per game.

Blue Streak coach Brian Ziegler, whose team was 18-5 a year ago before dropping out of the tournament against Wayne Trace, said he hopes his team's tournament experience will give it an edge. In addition to their volleyball success, many of the Archbold basketball players were also on last season's regional finalist softball team.

"As we get into district I think some of that success just builds," Ziegler said, whose team beat Patrick Henry 48-45 to advance to the district tournament. "They've been in big games before, no matter what sports it's been. I think the big game experience is going to be a plus for us."

Aside from the injuries the biggest on-court concern for the Indians is turnovers.

Fort Recovery's game plan is to force the issue, playing pressure defense in an effort to force turnovers and create fast break opportunities. But Saturday Lima Central Catholic turned the tables on them, forcing 20 second-half turnovers as it cut a 19-point deficit to seven in the fourth quarter.

"We haven't seen that pressure all year," said Leuthold. "They were really fast."

Bihn said Archbold will present similar quickness, while bringing more size than LCC. That size, led by Galvan, will challenge Fort Recovery on the glass.

The Tribe was dominant in the sectional championship game, with five players grabbing at least five rebounds as it owned a 53-16 advantage on the boards.

"We can't turn the ball over, and we have to rebound," said Bihn. "Those are the two things we have to do. ... If we do those two things we'll have a chance."

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