Fort cruises

FORT RECOVERY — Once the Indians got rolling, there was no stopping them.
Fort Recovery hit seven of its first nine 3-point attempts on the way to its third straight dominant victory, 74-29 over the St. Henry Redskins.
“The kids came out tonight and they were focused and confident and they shot the ball very well,” said FRHS coach Doug Bihn, whose team went 24-of-39 (62 percent) in the first three quarters. “We’ve got a lot of kids who can score.
“When we shoot the ball like we did, it’s hard to beat us.
“That’ll win a lot of ball games for you.”
Also, the brackets for the Division II sectional tournament at Van Wert were released Sunday. The Indians earned the No. 1 seed, and will play the winner of an opening-round game between Parkway (2-13) and Fairview in the first of two sectional championship games Saturday, Feb. 26, at 6:15 p.m.
The Tribe (15-2, 6-1 Midwest Athletic Conference) never trailed Monday, taking a 12-2 lead in the first three minutes and pushing to a 19-point advantage by the end of the first quarter. It opened the second period on a 17-0 run and cruised the rest of the way.
Olivia Thien started Fort Recovery’s 3-point barrage, hitting three in the opening quarter on the way to 11 points. Kendra Brunswick hit a pair in each half and finished with a game-high 16 points, and Holly Brunswick hit two triples as she scored 10 points.
In addition to its top three scorers, Kylie Kahlig (12 points) and Kelly Nietfeld (10) also reached double figures. Nietfeld also grabbed a game-high six rebounds.
“We know they’re both key ingredients to what we’re doing,” said Bihn of Kahlig and Nietfeld. “We’ve told the kids all year for us to take the next step to be a great team, we need some more kids stepping up. And we need Kylie and Kelly to have a great tournament run for us to go somewhere.”
Olivia Schwieterman dished out five assists.
St. Henry (6-11, 2-5 MAC) hit four of its six field-goal attempts in the first quarter, but also turned the ball over 11 times against the Indians’ pressure defense. It went scoreless for the first four minutes of the second quarter, and shot just 32 percent for the game.
Ashley Heitkamp led the Redskins with 11 points and five rebounds.
“We got beat by a team that’s obviously in a different league than we’re in,” said SHHS coach Jeff Roessner, who coached the Fort Recovery girls from 2003 through ’07. “This was one of those games where Xs and Os don’t change a thing. … This is a game where we got out-classed from start to finish.
“God bless Fort Recovery. I hope they go a long way and I wish them the best. But I’m glad we don’t have to play them again this year.”[[In-content Ad]]