Fort girls hammer Wapakoneta (01/23/06)

FORT RECOVERY — These Redskins never had a chance.

St. Henry’s version of the Redskins gave the Indians fits Thursday night, fading away only in the final minute. Wapakoneta’s Redskins had no such luck.

Fort Recovery scored the first seven points of the game and led by double digits for the final 14 minutes in a 57-31 blowout of Wapakoneta Saturday afternoon.

The Redskins (4-9) got their first points on a free throw by leading scorer Lindsey Kentner 1:34 into the opening quarter. But that would be her only point of the first half, and Fort Recovery followed with a 9-0 run.

After Brittany Duff hit a 3-pointer, her team’s only field goal of the first period, the Indians scored three more points for a 19-4 lead after the opening eight minutes.

“We had a great start offensively,” said Fort Recovery coach Jeff Roessner, whose team improved to 11-2.

“I think it kind of shell-shocked them a little bit ... I was really pleased with the way we came out offensively and defensively to start the game.”

Wapakoneta briefly got back within striking distance — 29-20 — after scoring the first five points of the second half. But Fort Recovery refocused after a timeout and outscored the visitors 28-11 the rest of the way.

The Indians’ four experienced juniors put on a dominant performance.

After struggling to score in the previous two games, Holly Stein found her touch again, going 6-of-11 from the field and 3-of-3 from the line for a game-high 16 points. She also had a game-high with four assists, and shared the top rebound total with 10.

Tiff Gaerke also had 10 rebounds for her fifth straight double-digit effort on the glass. She added 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting to post her third consecutive double-double. Sara Fortkamp added 12 points on 6-of-8 from the field, and Vicki Roessner had eight points, five rebounds and three assists.

“Fort Recovery is a real good team,” said Wapakoneta coach Brad Rex. “We knew we had to take our A game. We came out and didn’t play with the kind of emotion and heart we needed to.”

While Kentner led her team with seven rebounds, she struggled offensively. She finished with just five points — her previous low this season was 11 — and made just 1-of-9 from the field.

“The job that Vicki did on (Kentner) was tremendous, and the rest of the kids did a really nice job of helping when she came across those flare screens,” said Roessner. “You could tell it was frustrating her ... We just did a tremendous job defensively on her.”

Devon Golden had 14 points, but no other Redskin scored more than six.

Wapakoneta shot just 24 percent from the field compared to 49 percent for the Indians.

Rex said he feels his young team has shown improvement most of the season — five of its losses have come by five points or fewer, including three in overtime — just not against Fort Recovery.

“We’ve lost eight games in a row,” he said. “This game was a little bit out of hand — I didn’t feel we ever had a chance in it.”

Fort Recovery has spent this season knocking off some of the teams which have caused them fits in the past, including the Redskins. Wapakoneta is one of three teams — along with Minster and Marion Local — which had defeated the Indians in each of the last two seasons.

Roessner’s girls have already exorcised two of those demons — they defeated Minster (5-9) by 18 points earlier this month — but the toughest of the three comes Thursday when they host Marion Local (9-3). The Flyers are one of four teams, along with Fort Recovery, which are tied atop the Midwest Athletic Conference with one loss each.

“Marion’s another team that we haven’t beaten — we play them tough, but we don’t beat them,” said Roessner. “This year’s team is pretty determined in that area, and they’ve matched those challenges (so far).”

Junior varsity

Fort Recovery trailed by 10 at halftime, but turned in an inspired second half to rally for a 33-30 victory over the Redskins.

Kelsey Wuebker was gangbusters in the final three minutes, first coming up with a steal and lay-up to pull the Tribe within one with 2:42 to play. She assisted on a hoop by Jill Pottkotter which gave the Indians the lead, then forced a jump ball and had a steal leading to a pair of Pottkotter free throws.

After Wapakoneta tied the game, Wuebker hit one foul shot with 23 seconds left, then made two more with 17.7 on the clock. The Redskins missed a couple of 3-pointers in the closing seconds as they shot just 1-of-17 (6 percent) after the intermission.

Pottkotter and Anne Koesters shared the scoring lead with 12 points apiece for the Indians, who opened on an 8-0 run before stumbling for the remainder of the first half. Pottkotter had seven rebounds, and Koesters added five.

Wuebker finished with seven points, five rebounds, five steals and four assists.

Jenna Stevely scored eight points to lead Wapakoneta.[[In-content Ad]]