FR bashes Tigers (12/12/05)

FORT RECOVERY — The Indians had enough points to win the game with four minutes left. That is, four minutes left in the first quarter.

Coming off perhaps their biggest win since a run to the regional championship in 2001, Fort Recovery’s girls basketball team clobbered the Ansonia Tigers 78-12 Saturday.

The Indians (3-0) beat Fort Loramie, a team considered to be a state contender, by a 56-55 score Dec. 3. Their next game was scheduled for Thursday night at Versailles, but was canceled because of the snowstorm.

So, when Ansonia arrived at the Fort Side Fieldhouse Saturday, the Tribe was ready to get back into the action.

“We needed a game,” said Fort Recovery coach Jeff Roessner. “It was good to get back out on the court and get back running up and down the floor ... For the most part I thought we played about as good as we could play.”

It would be hard to argue otherwise.

Basketball is often a game of runs, but Saturday’s contest was essentially just one big run by the Indians.

They opened with a 13-0 run while Ansonia managed just 12 points in the entire game. The Tigers turned the ball over on each of their first six possessions before finally getting a hoop from Staci Schmidt with 3:54 to play in the opening quarter.

Fort Recovery responded with 10 more points in a row as it built a 25-4 lead after eight minutes.

But it got worse.

The most dominant stretch for the Indians started as they scored the final hoop of the first half to lead 42-9. They went on to score the first 29 points of the second half for a 31-0 run which spanned about 14 minutes.

Ansonia did not even attempt a field goal after the intermission until the 4:01 mark of the third period, and did not score until there were less than four minutes remaining in the fourth.

While the win was never in doubt, Roessner said he was most proud of his team’s willingness to share the wealth.

“You’ve really got to be pleased with what you saw out of the unselfishness of this bunch ...” said Roessner, who went extensively to his bench and had seven players score six or more points. “Sometimes in a game people worry too much about their personal goals and not enough about team goals. Personal goals don’t get us where we want to go, so for us to come out and be as gracious as we were with the ball passing to each other ... I was very proud of that effort.”

Holly Stein and Tiff Gaerke shared the team-high of 15 points. Sara Fortkamp and Abby Niekamp joined them in double figures with 13 and 10 points respectively. Ciera Rammel and Vicki Roessner each had eight, and Sam Staugler scored six.

As the score would indicate, the Indians dominated in every phase of the game as they:

— Forced 34 turnovers while only committing 14.

— Grabbed 47 rebounds to Ansonia’s 20. Gaerke had 12 boards, and Stein grabbed eight.

— Dished out 23 assists to Ansonia’s one. Roessner notched five assists, and Stein and Rammel each had four.

— Held the Tigers to just 14 percent (5-of-36) from the field.

Ansonia’s leading scorer, Molly Wentworth, managed just four points.

Junior varsity

Fort Recovery broke open the game in the second quarter and battered the Tigers the rest of the way for a 45-19 victory.

The Indians outscored Ansonia 13-3 in the second period for a 27-14 lead at the half. They played amazing defense in the second half, holding the Tigers to 0-of-20 from the field as the visitors managed just five second-half points from the free throw line.

Joanna Snyder, Jill Pottkotter and Anne Koesters all reached double figures with 13, 11 and 10 points respectively. Koesters and Kelsey Wuebker each grabbed nine rebounds, and Snyder added seven. Wuebker had three assists, Koesters notched three steals and Pottkotter had three blocks.

Courtney Swabb had six points for Ansonia, and Melissa Mestemaker scored four.[[In-content Ad]]