Fear the Indians (01/13/06)

Fort Recovery didn’t feel like the New Knoxville Rangers were as scared as they should have been.

Sure, they were undefeated, the only team in the Midwest Athletic Conference which could make that claim. Sure, they were ranked eighth in the state in the first Division IV Associated Press poll of the season released this week.

But the Indians came into the game 8-1, and were 15th in that same AP voting.

Well, in the first few minutes the Rangers were worried. By halftime they were frightened. And when Holly Stein continuously stomped a warpath to the hoop in the second half they got downright terrified.

Stein scored 22 of her team’s 28 second-half points, finishing with 25 in all, to lead Fort Recovery to a 47-36 victory over the visiting Rangers.

When asked how it felt to hand New Knoxville its first defeat and get the Indians back in the MAC title chase, Stein was left shaking her head several times, then, “Awesome, very awesome,” she said. “All I can say is ‘Berlin Hiland, watch out.’”

Fort Recovery will play Division IV No. 2 Berlin Hiland (7-1), the defending state champions, in the prime time game of the Classic in the Country Saturday.

The MAC crown is now up for grabs with Coldwater, Marion Local Versailles, New Knoxville and Fort Recovery all with one league loss. The Tribe’s only defeat this year came against Coldwater (9-2), which is ranked 10th in Division III.

The Indians shot just 9-for-29 (31 percent) in the first half, but needed just one simple play to turn their offense around in the second.

Running out of their Princeton offense, which they refer to as “chin”, the Tribe:

— got the ball to Vicki Roessner on the right wing.

— had Ciera Rammel set a screen near the free-throw line.

— ran Holly Stein around the screen from the weak side and cut hard to the basket, receiving a pass from Roessner along the way.

Stein ran that same pattern to the basket so many times she may well have worn a groove in the hardwood at the Fort Site Fieldhouse. Almost every time Fort Recovery ran the play she either hit an easy lay-up or got fouled. Once she did both, converting a three-point play.

Her 22 second-half points were four more than the entire New Knoxville squad.

“I told my girls to switch on that, drop down,” said Ranger coach Tim Hegemier of the damanging play. “That’s something we’ve got to work on. This is a good building block for us ... We’re going to learn from this.”

Stein finished 9-of-15 from the field (60 percent) as she scored 10 points more than her season average. She also grabbed six rebounds, and had two assists.

“Holly knows how to score,” said FRHS coach Jeff Roessner, noting that his team started working on what became the key play three weeks ago specifically for use against New Knoxville. “We felt going into this game that our guards had an advantage against their guards. With few exceptions we got really good money out of Holly on the long block. She was just too strong for them to handle down there.”

Fort Recovery had a chance to take control early, but missed a multitude of point-blank shots and the game was tied at six after the opening period. The Tribe had a 19-18 lead at the half and never trailed again as Stein opened the second-half with an individual 8-0 run.

The improved offense for the Indians after the break coupled with defensive pressure which never gave the Rangers a breather. After giving up some easy hoops the Indians pulled out of their full-court pressure, and New Knoxville couldn’t find a flow.

“Our defensive intensity hurt them,” said Stein. “If you look at how they scored, they scored on lay-ups. They didn’t score off their offense in the half-court ... we took our press off ... and they couldn’t run anything.”

Six-foot post player Nicole Wright shot just 5-of-13 from the field in getting her team-high 13 points for the Rangers. No one else scored in double figures.

Hegemier, whose team shot just 38 percent for the game and had 19 turnovers, agreed with Stein’s assessment.

“You’ve got to give Fort Recovery credit,” he said. “They came out to play. They got right in our face and we had a hard time handling it.

“We didn’t run our offense well at all. And a lot of that has to do with how Jeff coached his girls. They put the pressure on us and forced us out of our offense, and we’ve got to be able to handle that. If we can’t run our offense it’s going to be a long night.”

Wright and fellow six-footer Alycia Niemeyer led New Knoxville to its 10-0 record by dominating the post this season. But they couldn’t keep up with the Indian’s Tiff Gaerke on the glass.

Gaerke grabbed 16 boards, out-rebounding the Ranger twin towers by four — Wright had eight, and Niemeyer four. She also scored eight points and had a couple of blocks.

“I just can’t say enough about what Tiff Gaerke did tonight on the boards,” Roessner said. “I know one time when she jumped for that ball I was just amazed at how high she got and how determined she was to make those plays.”

Vicki Roessner matched Gaerke with eight points and dished out five assists.

Niemeyer followed Wright with eight points for the Rangers.

Junior varsity

Anne Koesters and Jill Pott-kotter owned the post as they led the Indians to a 44-34 victory over New Knoxville.

Koesters and Pottkotter combined to shoot 15-of-20 (75 percent) from the field as they scored all but nine of Fort Recovery’s points. Koesters finished with 20 points, six rebounds and three blocks, and Pottkotter totaled 15 points and five rebounds.

The Indians and Rangers were tied after three periods, but Fort Recovery won the fourth quarter by an 18-8 margin.

Angie Wenning added three assists for the Indians, who are now 9-1.

Jessica Katterheinrich scored eight points to lead New Knoxville. Morgan Reineke had seven points, and Bethany Howe scored six.[[In-content Ad]]