Flyers eliminate Fort Recovery (03/01/04)

NEW BREMEN, Ohio — The Fort Recovery girls basketball team has lost just twice in 2004.

Each of those losses came against the No. 8 Marion Local Flyers, who happen to be the defending state champions. And now, the Indians’ season is over.

Fort Recovery’s second loss this calendar year came Saturday as it fell to the Flyers 56-50 in the second of two sectional championship games at New Bremen.

The Indians (15-7) were up 41-37 heading into the fourth quarter, but Marion Local (16-5) opened the final period with a 6-0 run. Jenna Barhorst, Bridget Schmackers and Kelli Stucke each scored in the first 1:30 to give the Flyers a two-point lead, and Fort Recovery never pulled ahead again.

“I thought that was crucial,” said Marion Local coach Treva Fortkamp of the opening minutes of the final period. “I said, ‘We have eight minutes left and we’re not out of this game.’

“Kids stepped up. They stepped up under the pressure and that’s what matters.”

Sixth-ranked Minster won the other title contest, defeating New Knoxville 48-37. Both winners advance to the Coldwater District.

Minster (19-2) will open district play Thursday in semifinal action against New Bremen (10-11). Marion Local will play in the second contest versus Waynesfield-Goshen (6-14).

After the Flyers pulled ahead of Fort Recovery with 6:36 to play, the teams traded buckets over the next two minutes. Marion Local bumped the lead to 53-49 before both teams cooled drastically.

The Tribe went without a point for more than three minutes, and the Flyers weren’t much better. They got just one free throw apiece from Maria Moeller and Erin Brand to push the advantage to six points.

Joscie Kaup brought the Tribe back to life, scoring a rare four-point play with 1:28 left in the contest. She took a pass from Vicki Roessner, drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the key and nailed a free throw as she was fouled by Sarah Moeller on the shot.

But, Kaup was called for a couple of quick fouls and went out of the game for good with 35 seconds left and her team trailing 58-55. The Indians couldn’t get another field goal to fall, scoring only on a Krystal Rammel free throw as Marion Local took the win.

“They had a stretch in there where they scored on every possession and we didn’t,” said Fort Recovery coach Jeff Roessner, whose team lost 50-45 in the regular-season meeting with Marion. “We got one shot, and if it missed they got they rebound. And when they missed, they got another one and another one, and usually we fouled them on the second one.

“I guess what disappointed me was I really felt we lost our aggressiveness and our intensity on the glass.”

Fort Recovery out-rebounded the Flyers by eight in the first half, but the tide turned late. The rebounding numbers were dead even at the conclusion — 35 apiece — with Marion Local taking advantage of its second chances in the final period.

The Flyers overcame a 28-point effort by Kaup thanks in part to outstanding play off the bench.

Brand came off the bench for a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Schmackers scored all of her six points in the fourth quarter.

She saw major minutes after senior Rachel Thobe left with an ankle injury late in the third quarter.

“(Our kids) did a phenomenal job coming off the bench,” said Fortkamp. “Bridget and Erin, they just did a phenomenal job.”

The first half was one of big swings, with Fort Recovery lead 12-7 early before Marion Local went on a run to pull ahead 13-12 at the end of the first quarter. The Tribe then found itself down 20-17 with 1:42 to play in the first half, but scored nine points before the intermission to take command.

The Indians led by as many as seven points — 33-26 — in the third quarter before the Flyers took control early in the fourth and never let go of the lead.

Second in the scoring column for Marion Local was Barhorst with 15 points as she teamed with Brand to dominate the second half. Brand scored 14 of her points after the break, and Barhorst had 13 in the final two quarters.

The pair of post players led Marion Local to a 56 percent to 32 percent shooting advantage in the second half. The Flyers shot 43 percent for the game compared to just 31 percent for Fort Recovery.

Brand also had two assists and four of her team’s 12 blocks.

Maria Moeller, the 2003 Division IV state tournament MVP, finished with 14 points, five assists, four rebounds and four blocks.

“For the most part I felt they probably executed better offensively than we did,” said Roessner. “I thought we forced some things in there that normally we wouldn’t.”

Kaup shot just 7-of-22 (32 percent) in leading the Indians in scoring. She added six rebounds and two assists.

The senior also broke the Fort Recovery record for 3-pointers in a single season in the defeat. She broke her tie with Gale Post (1991-92), draining her 40th triple of the season from the left wing on an assist from Roessner with 2:45 to play in the first quarter.

She finished the game 4-of-8 from long distance, setting the new Indian record at 43 3-pointers in one year.

Stein, who matched Jenn Stahl for second on the team with 10 points, will be chasing the record for the next three seasons. The freshman hit two 3-pointers against Marion Local, ending her first year in third place on the single-season list with 37.

Stein also had a team-high eight rebounds. Roessner, who played increased minutes because of Ciera Rammel’s foul trouble, finished with a career-high 10 assists.

Despite the disappointing loss, Jeff Roessner looked proudly at the way his team handled the season.

After winning just two of their first seven games, the Indians closed the regular season by winning 12 out of 13. They won eight consecutive games between the two losses to the Flyers.

“If you look at the way we started the season at 2-5 and then for us to go 13-2 the rest of the way (was great),” Roessner said. “Unfortunately those losses were both to Marion and you’ve got to give them some credit. If I would’ve guessed that we could’ve had this big run like we’ve had it probably wouldn’t have been practical.

“These girls have continued to get better, and they believed. I think we had some key people — Joscie in particular — that really felt like they wanted to keep winning. They did a phenomenal job.”[[In-content Ad]]