Free throw shooting powers red-hot Tribe (01/30/04)

FORT RECOVERY — It was never a game which seemed out of hand. But a glance at the scoreboard midway through the fourth quarter showed the Fort Recovery girls basketball team leading by 20.

The Tribe was clearly in control.

The New Bremen Cardinals scored the final nine points of the game — including a 3-pointer as time expired — to make the final score seem much closer than it was as the Indians took a 60-50 win.

It was the third win in a row for Fort Recovery, and it’s eighth in the last nine games.

Joscie Kaup led the Indians as they pulled away for the big victory despite shooting 29 percent from the field. She paced a stellar effort as they made up for it at the foul line as she finished with 22 points.

Kaup scored more than half of those points from the free throw line, hitting 13 of her 14 attempts. She scored 22 points or more in each of the last four games and has averaged 24 points during that stretch.

Jenn Stahl added a 6-for-6 effort, and Holly Stein was 4-for-4 from the line as the Tribe finished 29-of-35 for 83 percent. Fort Recovery made 24 of its first 26 foul shots, including 12-of-13 in the first half.

“We didn’t shoot particularly well (from the field),” said Indians’ coach Jeff Roessner. “I thought their defense was very good. We came in knowing they would play a very scrappy zone.

“It was a good shooting nine from the free throw line.”

Both teams found their way into the bonus early in the second half, but only the Tribe took advantage. New Bremen missed nine of its first 14 foul shots in the second half as the Indians opened up a 58-37 lead with 3:30 to play.

“We went through a stretch where every time they went to the foul line they hit two, and every time we went to the line we went 1-of-2,” said New Bremen coach John Storrer. “Mathematically that’s just not going to do it.”

The victory for Fort Recovery gave it the edge in the race for third place in the Midwest Athletic Conference. Both the Indians and the Cardinals own 4-2 records in the conferece, but New Bremen still must play Division IV No. 10 Minster.

The final three conference games for the Tribe come against Versailles, Coldwater and Parkway. Those three teams are a combined 8-29 overall and 1-15 in the MAC.

The Indians will visit Parkway Thursday at 6 p.m.

Fort Recovery (10-6) never trailed against New Bremen (6-9), leading 16-14 at the end of one quarter. The lead was still two points a 20-18 with 4:45 to play in the second when the Tribe caught fire.

The Indians got five points from Kaup, four from Krystal Rammel and two each by Holly Stein and Megan Wenning as they closed the first half on a 13-3 run. They did much of the damange thanks to some outstanding offensive rebounding before the break.

Overall, they outrebounded New Bremen 33-29, with four players grabbing five boards or more.

Stahl paced the effort with seven rebounds, Tiff Gaerke had six and Kaup and Rammel each added five.

“Offensive rebounds are the biggest plays in basketball,” said Roessner. “You get the ball back where you want to run the offense without having to play any defense.”

Rammel parlayed her five rebounds into an outstanding shooting night, hitting 5-of-6 from the field and joining Kaup in double figures with 10 points. Stein scored all of her nine points in the first half, and Stahl finished with eight points.

Vicki Roessner had five assits, and Stein added three.

Sarah Schmiesing was the lone player in double figures for New Bremen as she scored 11 points. Jenny Homan had seven points, and Casey Hamilton and Kelly Steineman added six points apiece.

Kacei Schmiesing and Steineman each had five rebounds.

Junior varsity

Fort Recovery won a low-scoring junior varsity contest over New Bremen Thursday 30-17.

The Indians took advantage of 31 turnovers and some abysmal shooting by New Bremen in the second half.

The Tribe finished just 27 percent from the field, hitting 33 percent in the second half. But the Cardinals struggled even more, hitting 23 percent for the game and 2-of-11 (18 percent) after halftime.

Thanks to the turnover differential, the Indians shot 33 more times than New Bremen and outscored the visitors in ever quarter.

Sam Staugler paced Fort Recovery with 10 points. Julie Link and Kelly Link each added six points.

Kelly Link had three assists, and Sara Fortkamp added three assists and seven steals.

Kelsie Will grabbed a game-high eight rebounds to go along with four steals. Jennalee Post notched seven boards, five of which came on the offensive end.

Kristen Luedeke had five points and four rebounds for New Bremen, and Breana Bergman also had five points.[[In-content Ad]]