Fort Loramie lays seige (01/12/04)

FORT RECOVERY — The Redskins are every bit as good as their ranking this time around.

Last year Fort Loramie had one loss, was ranked in the top 20 in the state and was ranked third in the area by the Dayton Daily News. But, the Tribe went on the road to roll to a 13-point win.

This time around the Fort Recovery Indians just couldn’t keep up with DDN’s second-rated team in Division IV as they fell 52-35 Tuesday.

The Indians turned the ball over 33 times — they finished with 34 field-goal attempts — and looked a step slower than the Redskins most of the evening.

“I thought their pressure gave us more trouble than I expected it to,” said Fort Recovery coach Jeff Roessner, whose team slipped to 7-4. “I watched them play the other night and I knew they were a good pressure team, but I really felt like we would handle it a little bit better than we did early.

“We have to show way more composure than what we did tonight. We can’t believe that we can contend for a title in our conference if we can’t handle this kind of pressure. It’s not something that we won’t see again.”

Fort Loramie (11-1) put big-time pressure on the Indians all night long, forcing 10 turnovers in the first quarter and 19 in the first half. It was up 14-8 through eight minutes and 22-13 at halftime as it stifled the Indian offense.

The first Fort Recovery scoring drought came after a Vicki Roessner free throw cut the disadvantage to 16-11 with 5:40 to go in the second quarter. The Tribe didn’t score again until Tiff Gaerke hit a lay-up on an assist from Sara Fortkamp just before the halftime buzzer sounded.

It suffered through another 5:28 scoring drought in the third quarter to fall behind by as many as 20 points.

“I was happy with the girls’ half-court trap,” said Fort Loramie coach Carla Siegel. “We started off and got some turnovers off of it. Fort Recovery made some adjustments at halftime. We talked about the adjustments we had to make to keep it successful and I thought the girls did a good job with that.”

Added Roessner: “They did a great job on the defensive end, you’ve got to hand it to them. We looked like we were playing in a panicked state most of the night.

“We never ever found any kind of composure or found something we could do on a consistent basis. You’ve got to give them a lot of credit for what they did defensively.”

The Indians still got back in the game as Sara Fortkamp scored the final four points of the third quarter, and Vicki Roessner and Ciera Rammel combined for the first four of the fourth.

Holly Stein buried a 3-pointer midway through the final period to pull the Tribe within 10. She shot another triple on the next trip down the floor which could have cut the deficit to 41-34, but it was off the mark and Fort Recovery was unable to sustain the comeback.

It still trailed by 10 with three minutes to go, but Erin Schieltz turned in a 3-point play which all but ended the Indians’ hopes. Fort Loramie finished the game on a 9-2 run.

“Fort Recovery doesn’t give up,” said Siegel. “We had a 20-point lead there toward the end of the third quarter and they made a nice comeback. They just don’t give up. They work really hard.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game. Any time we can beat a MAC team we’re happy.”

The Redskins got big efforts from guards Courtney Reed and Mallory Albers, who finished with 14 and 13 points respectively. Reed finished 6-of-9 from the field, 2-of-2 from the line, and had team highs of seven rebounds and four assists.

Reserve forward Stephanie Drees gave Fort Loramie a weapon underneath as she made each of her first five field goal attempts. She didn’t miss until the 4:40 mark of the third quarter and finished with 11 points.

Leslie Hoelscher matched Reed with seven boards.

“Stephanie (Drees) had a great game off the bench,” said Siegel. “She’s struggled the last few games, but she was mentally ready for tonight and I thought she did a great job.

“Courtney (Reed) always plays a good game. (She’s a) wonderful player.”

Only Gaerke reached double figures for the Indians, finishing with 10 points to go along with a team-best seven rebounds. Stein added seven points, and Roessner and Fortkamp each had six.

Roessner finished with six rebounds, and Fortkamp had three assists.

“The big thing was that we still haven’t found offensively a weapon or a play or a system that we can use just to go score on,” said Roessner, whose team hosts another Redskin team — St. Henry — Thursday at 6 p.m. “We just could not handle the pressure they put on the ball for us tonight. I think that sums it up.”

Junior varsity

The Fort Recovery junior varsity team handed Fort Loramie just its second loss of the season, 45-41.

The Indians (9-2) built a 25-22 halftime lead, but Loramie (10-2) tied the contest heading into the fourth quarter. The Tribe was up by three in the final minute when Val Fortkamp came up with a steal and lay-up to seal the game.

Fortkamp finished with team highs of seven steals, six rebounds and five assists. She also scored eight points.

Jill Pottkotter and Sam Staugler scored in double figures for Fort Recovery with 12 and 11 points respectively. Pottkotter added four blocks and four rebounds.

Lauren Wenning scored eight points and had four rebounds, and Abby Niekamp added six points.

Tara Olberding was the lone Fort Loramie player in double figures as she scored 10 points. She also had four assists.

Hayley Barhorst added seven points and eight rebounds.[[In-content Ad]]