Great first carries Fort

ADA, Ohio — A great start can be just as effective as a finish.
In its previous two tournament games, the Indians had jitters early before pulling away from Tinora and Evergreen in the final eight minutes. In the regional semifinal Tuesday, they took control from the opening tip.
Fort Recovery’s ferocious defensive pressure wreaked havoc on the Division III No. 2 Lake Flyers, creating 11 first-quarter turnovers and a 19-4 lead. The hot start helped the Indians overcome some struggles in the second and fourth quarters as they advanced to the regional championship game with a 45-36 victory.
“The kids played great,” said FRHS coach Doug Bihn of the start. “We applied pressure and we double-teamed. (Kaysie) Brittenham, every time we had a chance to double her we wanted to get up in her face. We did a nice job. They coughed it up quite a few times early …”
The victory, which improved the Indians to 22-2, sends them to the regional championship game for the first time since 2001. They will play for a trip to the state finals at Lexington Saturday at 1:30 p.m. against the winner of tonight’s semifinal game between Seneca East and No. 6 Africentric Early College.
“It’s all of our teamwork, our team effort. I think we deserve to be there,” said senior Kendra Brunswick. “We’ve worked hard all season. Our goal is to get to state.”
The 22 wins are the third-most in Fort Recovery history, trailing only the 1990 and ’91 state championship teams that went 27-0 and 25-2 respectively.“It’s a great accomplishment,” said Bihn, whose sister Lynn Hughes played for the back-to-back state champions and coached the 2001 regional final squad. “We’re not done yet hopefully. These kids have been talking about this all season long. Since last summer … our goal was to get to The Schott.”
Fort Recovery’s fierce defense set the tone as it forced six turnovers in the opening 3:17 of the game. Those takeaways helped them grab a 10-0 lead and forced Flyers’ coach Denny Meyer to take a pair of quick time outs.
Kaysie Brittenham got Lake (22-2) on the board at the 4:26 mark of the quarter — on the team’s first field-goal attempt — and scored again on the next possession. But Fort Recovery kept swarming and added a 9-0 run for the 15-point lead.
The Tribe had seven different players score in the first period compared to only Brittenham for the Flyers.
“We knew they would pressure us like crazy, which they did,” said Meyer, whose team finished with 27 turnovers. “It was the most physical pressure that we’ve seen. We knew that they would get up in us tight like that. We knew they would be physical. But it was a little bit tougher than what we thought.”
Fort Recovery scored 14 of its 19 first-quarter points, and 31 for the game, off of turnovers. It never let the lead slip to fewer than five points in the final three quarters, despite going more than six minutes without scoring in the second quarter and struggling from the free-throw line in the fourth.
After twisting her ankle and missing most of the first half, Holly Brunswick returned in the second to lead the Tribe. She hit back-to-back 3-pointers off assists from Kendra Brunswick and Olivia Schwieterman, and scored 10 consecutive FRHS points in the third quarter to push the lead to 40-26.
“When I got on the floor I was a little hesitant yet,” said Holly Brunswick, “but I knew I had to try and play like I normally do.”
The senior, who had 19 and 17 points in the two district wins, shot 6-of-8 from the field for a team-high 14 points while the remainder of the squad hit for just 28 percent from the field.
“She played a great game,” said Bihn. “She’s been a great player for us all season long.
“She tweaked it early. We didn’t know if she was going to be able to play or not, but when she got it stretched out and taped up she was ready to go. She had a nice second half for us.”
Kendra Brunswick added nine points, including a record-breaking 3-pointer. She snapped the Fort Recovery single-season mark of 44 set by Holly Stein in 2006.
“It’s a great feeling,” said Kendra Brunswick. “I really wanted to get it. It feels good to get it in this game and get the win.”
Nicole Dilworth added seven points and a team-high six rebounds, and Schwieterman dished out five assists.
Brittenham hit all of her three 3-point attempts and finished with game highs of 15 points and seven rebounds for Lake. Hannah Cox followed with nine points for the Flyers, who shot nearly 50 percent from the field but had 24 fewer field-goal attempts than the Tribe.[[In-content Ad]]