Fort earns rematch with 'Cats (02/16/05)

NEW BREMEN, Ohio — When tournament time comes, all that matters is that there is one more game on the schedule. And for the Tribe there is.

The Fort Recovery girls basketball team struggled mightily at the start of each half, failing to score for the first four minutes of the first and the first six of the second. But it still got the job done in relatively comfortable fashion Tuesday as it topped the New Knoxville Rangers 45-31 in first-round action at the New Bremen sectional.

“After halftime I really felt like (our lead) would take some of the pressure off of our kids,” said Fort Recovery coach Jeff Roessner, whose team was up 27-12 at the half despite the slow start. “That second half might have been the ugliest half of basketball we’ve played this year. ...

“I was disappointed in how we handled that pressure.

“But, that being said, when it gets to tournament time, whether it’s ugly (or not) you still get to play one more time. The goal was to move on, and that’s the good thing.”

The victory may give the Indians (16-5) a bit of deja vu as they look ahead toward playing for the sectional championship Saturday at 6:15 p.m. Last season they lost the title game to Marion Local, which was the defending state champion and ranked eighth in the state. This year they get Minster (16-4), which won the state championship last year and enters the game ranked ninth in Division IV.

Fort Recovery lost 53-36 to Minster during the regular season, but has won 12 of its last 13 games with the only loss in that stretch coming to undefeated No. 2 Marion Local.

“We’ve got to win one game to win the sectional right now,” said Roessner. “That’s what we have to look at.”

Spencerville defeated St. Henry 65-57 in the other first-round game at New Bremen. It will take on No. 4 Marion Local (20-0) Saturday following the game between Fort Recovery and Minster.

After the Indians opened 0-of-3 from the field with four turnovers in their first seven possessions against New Knoxville (12-9), Roessner took a time-out and his team responded. It scored on each of the next five possessions, getting four points from Vicki Roessner, three from Krystal Rammel and two from Tiff Gaerke for a 9-3 lead. It was up by six after a quarter, and scored the final eight points of the first half — six on back-to-back 3-pointers by Roessner and Holly Stein — for the 15-point halftime lead.

“We changed up our press there for a little bit,” said Roessner. “We used our purple and our white press and alternated it and it caused some chaos on their part and we were able to capitalize. I think for the most part after that in the first half I was satisfied with how we played.”

But then the Tribe went cold again, going without a hoop for the first 6:23 of the second half. The Rangers pulled to within eight points with a 7-0 run, but could get no closer.

Fort Recovery, which shot just 1-of-6 in the quarter as it constantly turned the ball over, scored the final four points of the period and the first five of the fourth to put the game away.

It won despite 27 turnovers and the scoring droughts to open each half.

Roessner (5-of-7 shooting) and Stein shared the team high of 12 points. Rammel added six points, and Gaerke had five.

Stein had team highs of nine rebounds and four assists, and Gaerke was right behind her with eight boards and three assists. Ciera Rammel, Krystal Rammel and Sara Fortkamp each grabbed four caroms.

“We really only had one chance,” said New Knoxville coach Dwain Meckstroth. “We had it down to eight and the ball twice (in the third quarter) and had two turnovers.

“I give them a lot of credit. They really fought back and didn’t bow down at all in the second half.

“(But), give Fort Recovery credit. They didn’t succumb to us. They fought us off in the end. That’s the sign of a good team.”

The Rangers were paced by sophomore Nicole Wright, who had 10 points and grabbed half of her team’s rebounds (13). Kara Katterheinrich and Haley Kruse added six points apiece.[[In-content Ad]]