July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Knox-out punch (02/27/06)
FRHS girls basketball
Knox-out punch (02/27/06)
By By RAY COONEY-
NEW BREMEN, Ohio — The Rangers can keep their MAC crown — and take it home with them. Fort Recovery is going places.
The New Knoxville Rangers nearly ran the table this year, and won the Midwest Athletic Conference title in the process. But the tournament run for the sixth-ranked team in the state lasted all of one game, as the only team to blemish their regular season repeated the feat Saturday night.
Backed by hard-nosed defense and some dead-eye shooting from Abby Niekamp and Ciera Rammel, the Fort Recovery Indians earned a 46-38 victory over New Knoxville in the first of two girls basketball sectional championship games at the New Bremen sectional Saturday.
“It feels awesome,” said Rammel, the team’s lone senior who sparked the squad by scoring its first five points.
“Coach (Jeff Roessner) told us whatever it takes, don’t have any regrets and just go play,” added Niekamp after she scored a game-high 13 points. “And that’s what we tried to do.
“Coach wanted us to get his first sectional championship here, and we told him we would do it for him.”
Fort Recovery’s first sectional title since 2002 moves it on to the Coldwater district, where it will take on New Bremen in semifinal action Thursday at 6:15 p.m. New Bremen (7-15), which the Indians beat 62-49 Feb. 9, earned its district berth with a 66-37 beating of Lima Perry at Lima Bath Saturday.
In the other championship game at New Bremen Saturday, Marion Local (16-5) scored a 43-34 victory over Minster. It will play Upper Scioto Valley in the second district semifinal game at Coldwater Thursday.
While New Knoxville (19-2) focused on Indian scoring leaders Holly Stein and Tiff Gaerke — they combine for 24 points per game — Rammel (3.6 points per game) and Niekamp (5.7 ppg) gave Fort Recovery just the added scoring punch it has been looking for.
Rammel hit the opening two buckets and finished 3-for-3. Two of her hoops were 3-pointers, and the third came with her foot on the line for eight points.
Niekamp was forced to change jerseys after bleeding on her No. 10, but she was just as comfortable wearing No. 42. She opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer, ended the third with triple and started the fourth with another.
Her pair of second-half long balls keyed a 15-3 Indian run which gave them the lead for good. She was also perfect on the night, finishing 4-for-4 from the field and 2-of-2 at the line.
The Ranger succesfully limited Stein for the first three quarters, but she produced a record-breaking shot in the fourth. She had just two points when she picked up her fourth foul with 4:42 to play, but she returned a minute-and-a-half later and immediately buried a 3-pointer.
Her triple, which came off an offensive rebound by Sara Fortkamp, broke the single-season school record set in 2004 by Joscie Kaup. It was her 44th of the year — she has more than 100 for her career — and she hit a pair of free throws down the stretch to finish with seven points and five rebounds.
Vicki Roessner and Fortkamp each added six points and three assists.
“We were pretty confident that they were going to try to take Holly out of the game ... And we also told them that somebody from the bench was going to have to score for us,” said FRHS coach Jeff Roessner, whose team shot 7-of-14 from 3-point range. “Now, Ciera Rammel doesn’t look to be an offensive threat typically. But that’s the beauty of being a senior when you might be playing your last game. She was more determined. She took some big shots and made them.
“And when we took her out and put Abby in her spot then Abby came in and made some big shots. You’ve got to be tickled to death for those two kids.”
Fort Recovery, which won the regular-season meeting between the two teams 47-36, entered the game believing it could stop the Ranger offense again. That proved true, especially in the second half.
New Knoxville scored the first four points after the intermission with Gina Bambauer’s driving hoop giving them a 22-19 lead. But that marked the lone field goal for the Rangers over the first 14 minutes of the second half, as they would not make another until they started flinging up 3-pointers in a desperate comeback attempt in the final two minutes.
The Indians responded to Bambauer’s hoop with their run to take the lead, and pushed ahead by as many as 11 points.
“Neither team let it be a fast-paced game,” said Roessner. “I think Knoxville is more patient than we are, and I was really, really pleased when they ran their flex, how well we defended it. Because they didn’t get any easy looks. They got no easy looks in the second half — none.
“We can be a very good defensive team. If you let us be physical then we can really be a good defensive team. This is the way tournament games are played.”
New Knoxville shot 3-of-14 (21 percent) in the second half, and made only nine field goals in the entire game. Nicole finished with 12 points, and Kara Katterheinrich added 11.
Ranger coach Tim Hegemier said the game was more physical than his team likes to play. But Fort Recovery was called for eight fouls in the first half before his team picked up its second. New Knoxville also shot 16 more free throws over the first 30 minutes before fouling late to try to get back in the game.
“They’ve got stronger girls out there,” said Hegemier. “They did the same thing to us this game as they did the last. They pushed us right out of our offense. We have to learn to be stronger and go strong with the ball.
“I thought they could have called a couple more fouls. ... It was very aggressive out there. But you’ve got to play it the way the refs call it. If they’re not calling them then you’ve got to be tough.”
Clearly frustrated, Hegemier spoke about the difficulty of the New Bremen tournament, which includes half of the 10 MAC schools. The conference accounted for Division IV state titles in 2002 (Delphos St. John’s), 2003 (Marion Local) and 2004 (Minster) before Berlin Hiland took the crown last season.
“It’s tough that you’ve got to play in the sectional where your first game is against the only team that beat you,” Hegemier said. “... You go south, you don’t have to put up with this crap ... That’s why these teams in this sectional are so tough, because you have to play good basketball to get out of here. And if you don’t, you’re going to go home.”[[In-content Ad]]
The New Knoxville Rangers nearly ran the table this year, and won the Midwest Athletic Conference title in the process. But the tournament run for the sixth-ranked team in the state lasted all of one game, as the only team to blemish their regular season repeated the feat Saturday night.
Backed by hard-nosed defense and some dead-eye shooting from Abby Niekamp and Ciera Rammel, the Fort Recovery Indians earned a 46-38 victory over New Knoxville in the first of two girls basketball sectional championship games at the New Bremen sectional Saturday.
“It feels awesome,” said Rammel, the team’s lone senior who sparked the squad by scoring its first five points.
“Coach (Jeff Roessner) told us whatever it takes, don’t have any regrets and just go play,” added Niekamp after she scored a game-high 13 points. “And that’s what we tried to do.
“Coach wanted us to get his first sectional championship here, and we told him we would do it for him.”
Fort Recovery’s first sectional title since 2002 moves it on to the Coldwater district, where it will take on New Bremen in semifinal action Thursday at 6:15 p.m. New Bremen (7-15), which the Indians beat 62-49 Feb. 9, earned its district berth with a 66-37 beating of Lima Perry at Lima Bath Saturday.
In the other championship game at New Bremen Saturday, Marion Local (16-5) scored a 43-34 victory over Minster. It will play Upper Scioto Valley in the second district semifinal game at Coldwater Thursday.
While New Knoxville (19-2) focused on Indian scoring leaders Holly Stein and Tiff Gaerke — they combine for 24 points per game — Rammel (3.6 points per game) and Niekamp (5.7 ppg) gave Fort Recovery just the added scoring punch it has been looking for.
Rammel hit the opening two buckets and finished 3-for-3. Two of her hoops were 3-pointers, and the third came with her foot on the line for eight points.
Niekamp was forced to change jerseys after bleeding on her No. 10, but she was just as comfortable wearing No. 42. She opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer, ended the third with triple and started the fourth with another.
Her pair of second-half long balls keyed a 15-3 Indian run which gave them the lead for good. She was also perfect on the night, finishing 4-for-4 from the field and 2-of-2 at the line.
The Ranger succesfully limited Stein for the first three quarters, but she produced a record-breaking shot in the fourth. She had just two points when she picked up her fourth foul with 4:42 to play, but she returned a minute-and-a-half later and immediately buried a 3-pointer.
Her triple, which came off an offensive rebound by Sara Fortkamp, broke the single-season school record set in 2004 by Joscie Kaup. It was her 44th of the year — she has more than 100 for her career — and she hit a pair of free throws down the stretch to finish with seven points and five rebounds.
Vicki Roessner and Fortkamp each added six points and three assists.
“We were pretty confident that they were going to try to take Holly out of the game ... And we also told them that somebody from the bench was going to have to score for us,” said FRHS coach Jeff Roessner, whose team shot 7-of-14 from 3-point range. “Now, Ciera Rammel doesn’t look to be an offensive threat typically. But that’s the beauty of being a senior when you might be playing your last game. She was more determined. She took some big shots and made them.
“And when we took her out and put Abby in her spot then Abby came in and made some big shots. You’ve got to be tickled to death for those two kids.”
Fort Recovery, which won the regular-season meeting between the two teams 47-36, entered the game believing it could stop the Ranger offense again. That proved true, especially in the second half.
New Knoxville scored the first four points after the intermission with Gina Bambauer’s driving hoop giving them a 22-19 lead. But that marked the lone field goal for the Rangers over the first 14 minutes of the second half, as they would not make another until they started flinging up 3-pointers in a desperate comeback attempt in the final two minutes.
The Indians responded to Bambauer’s hoop with their run to take the lead, and pushed ahead by as many as 11 points.
“Neither team let it be a fast-paced game,” said Roessner. “I think Knoxville is more patient than we are, and I was really, really pleased when they ran their flex, how well we defended it. Because they didn’t get any easy looks. They got no easy looks in the second half — none.
“We can be a very good defensive team. If you let us be physical then we can really be a good defensive team. This is the way tournament games are played.”
New Knoxville shot 3-of-14 (21 percent) in the second half, and made only nine field goals in the entire game. Nicole finished with 12 points, and Kara Katterheinrich added 11.
Ranger coach Tim Hegemier said the game was more physical than his team likes to play. But Fort Recovery was called for eight fouls in the first half before his team picked up its second. New Knoxville also shot 16 more free throws over the first 30 minutes before fouling late to try to get back in the game.
“They’ve got stronger girls out there,” said Hegemier. “They did the same thing to us this game as they did the last. They pushed us right out of our offense. We have to learn to be stronger and go strong with the ball.
“I thought they could have called a couple more fouls. ... It was very aggressive out there. But you’ve got to play it the way the refs call it. If they’re not calling them then you’ve got to be tough.”
Clearly frustrated, Hegemier spoke about the difficulty of the New Bremen tournament, which includes half of the 10 MAC schools. The conference accounted for Division IV state titles in 2002 (Delphos St. John’s), 2003 (Marion Local) and 2004 (Minster) before Berlin Hiland took the crown last season.
“It’s tough that you’ve got to play in the sectional where your first game is against the only team that beat you,” Hegemier said. “... You go south, you don’t have to put up with this crap ... That’s why these teams in this sectional are so tough, because you have to play good basketball to get out of here. And if you don’t, you’re going to go home.”[[In-content Ad]]
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