Fifth eludes FRHS

COLDWATER, Ohio — For the second year in a row the Indians fell into an early hole. This time, they weren’t able to fight all the way back.
A run of four straight sectional titles came to an end Saturday as Fort Recovery fell 47-40 to the Minster Wildcats in the second of two Division IV championship games hosted by Coldwater.
“We hung around, hung around, hung around,” said FRHS coach Doug Bihn. “We have all season. The kids don’t give up. They always play hard. We’ve got a bunch of good kids. We just couldn’t get over the hump.”
Fort Recovery (14-9) went without a point for the first six minutes, falling behind 10-0. It trailed the Wildcats 8-0 in the sectional title game last season before dominating the second half for a 15-point win.
The Indians fought back again, pulling to within 23-20 when Tori Lennartz hit a pull-up jumper from the left wing three minutes into the second half. But Minster responded with an 8-0 run to extend its advantage to double figures, and stayed ahead by at least six points the rest of the way.
“We flirted with it,” said Minster coach Nann Stechschulte of giving up the lead. “We lost some momentum.
“Fort Recovery, they play very aggressive and they can make you play ugly. And they succeeded in that. It wasn’t pretty, but I’ll take the win.”
Marion Local (17-7) rallied from a nine-point deficit to upset top-seeded New Knoxville (19-4) in the other title game, 45-40.
The Wildcats (16-7) got the Tribe in foul trouble in the second half and took advantage down the stretch. They were in the bonus at the 2:51 mark of the third quarter and scored 16 of their final 22 points from the line after going 0-for-5 in the first 20 minutes.
Kayla Richard hit all of her four free-throw attempts, and Logan Arnold was 5-of-7. Bridget Geiger, who paced Minster with 15 points, buried two with 2:18 left after a Lennartz 3-pointer had pulled the Indians to within six.
“You look at the stats and we shot the ball better than they did from the field. We shot better at the line,” said Bihn. “Unfortunately we only got to the line 11 times and they got there 24. The difference in the game is free throws and turnovers.”
Fort Recovery made 10 of its 11 tries from the foul line. Both teams struggled with turnovers as the Indians committed 22 and Minster finished with 18.
“I told them before the game, ‘We’re not going to play a perfect game,’” said Stechschulte, noting that she felt her team has a “deer in the headlights look” during Tuesday’s overtime win over New Bremen. “I said, ‘We’re going to turn the ball over. We’re going to miss shots. It’s not going to be a perfect game. Just keep playing hard.’ And I think that’s what they did.”
Geiger, who also scored 15 points in Minster’s 43-40 regular-season win over the Indians, added a game-high seven rebounds. She also had two blocks.
Arnold finished with 12 points and five rebounds, and Claire Fischer scored 10 points.
The Wildcats advance to the district tournament Thursday at St. Mary’s, where they will take Ada.
Despite shooting 42 percent compared to 38 percent for the Minster, the Indians never seemed to get into an offensive flow.
“A lot of that is Minster,” said Bihn, crediting the Wildcats for their effort on defense. “They’re up in the lanes. They’re aggressive. They’re physical. … It was a physical ball game. All year long we’ve struggled with that.”
Lennartz finished with a game-high 18 points, with 13 of those coming in the fourth quarter. Kara Jutte had nine points, and Chelsea Pottkotter matched Geiger with seven rebounds.
Senior Kelsey Fiely missed most of the second quarter because of foul trouble and then suffered an injury to the right side of her abdomen while diving for a loose ball with 2:23 left in the third quarter. She tried to return in the fourth quarter, but was limited to just 16 minutes in the game.[[In-content Ad]]