No. 2 Flyers trounce Fort Recovery (01/21/05)

MARIA STEIN, Ohio — The Marion Local Flyers have eliminated Fort Recovery from tournament action in girls basketball in each of the last two seasons. And the Tribe took a 22-point loss the No. 2 team in Division IV Thursday night.

But coach Jeff Roessner wouldn’t shy away from a third straight sectional meeting between the two teams.

“You’ve just got to give them a lot of credit. They played well. ...,” said Roessner of the Indians’ 56-34 loss to the Flyers, while also hinting that he thinks his team could win in a rematch.

“Early in the year we had some games where I didn’t like it when they were over. This isn’t that kind of game. This is the kind where you’ve just got to make some shots. That’s what it came down to.

“We got beat by a better team — they’ve got great players — but this is not the kind of game that when it’s over from a coaching standpoint (you’re disappointed).”

Marion Local (13-0, 5-0 Midwest Athletic Conference), which trailed only undefeated Berlin Hiland in this week’s AP poll, defeated Fort Recovery 56-50 in last year’s sectional final. It accounted for the the Indians’ only two losses after Jan. 1 last season.

It also eliminated the Tribe a year earlier en route to a state title, and has won five in a row in the MAC rivalry overall.

Fort Recovery (9-5, 3-2 MAC), which was playing without senior forward Krystal Rammel for the second straight game because of an illness, simply could not get the ball to go in the basket.

It scored just three points in the first quarter and had only 11 by halftime as it shot 25 percent in the first half. The numbers didn’t get a whole lot better after the break as the Indians finished the game at 30 percent from the field.

“Part of that was that they shot some lay-ups and we didn’t,” said Roessner. “But, the truth is, if we make our open shots, if we make the shots that we should make, just those, those four or five in that game, throughout that game, it’s a whole different basketball game ...”

With the Tribe not making shots, the Flyers’ Maria Moeller was hitting plenty of her own while also creating easy opportunities for her teammates. She shot 9-of-16 (56 percent) from the field as she scored a game-high 21 points.

She also dished out seven assists, sparking Marion Local during a stretch in the third quarter in which it put the game out of reach.

The Flyers were up 29-18, but Fort Recovery was still hanging around when Kelli Stucke hit a pair of free throws with five minute to go in the third. She scored again, and Moeller assisted twice to Jenna Barhorst and scored once on her own for a 10-0 run spanning 4:36.

Sara Fortkamp, who led the Indians with 10 points, finally scored with 35 seconds to go in the quarter, but the Indians never got closer than 15 points again.

“I wanted to push it up in the beginning of the game, but Fort Recovery did a very nice job of defending what we wanted to do,” said Marion Local coach Treva Fortkamp. “Getting a good rebound and getting an outlet was our goal and we never got in that flow in the first half. We talked about that in the second half — to get to our game instead of playing their game.”

Stucke fed off of that strategy, scoring 11 of her 14 points after the break. Barhorst scored 16 points — eight in each half — and finished with a game high of nine rebounds.

Fort Recovery missed its chance to be in the game early on, going just 3-of-8 from the foul line in the first half. Two of those misses came on the front end of one-and-one tries.

The Indians went just 6-of-15 (40 percent) from the line for the game, compared to 12-of-16 (75 percent) for the Flyers.

“Free throws are important, absolutely,” said Fortkamp. “There were a lot of fouls called both ways, and it was important that we made ours and they missed theirs. When that happens, we need to capitalize on it.”

Vicki Roessner finished as the No. 2 scorer for Fort Recovery with seven points. Megan Wenning and Tiff Gaerke each added six.

Wenning and Holly Stein, who struggled to an 0-of-10 mark shooting with eight misses from 3-point range, shared a team-high of four rebounds. Stein added three assists.

Junior varsity

Jill Pottkotter ran wild for the Fort Recovery junior varsity team, dominating the game for a double-double as the Indians topped Marion Local 50-24.

Pottkotter was in double-digits by halftime and finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds. She shot 8-of-12 (67 percent) from the field, and also added two blocks and two steals.

With her leading the way, the Indians powered to a 26-12 lead at the half. They held Marion Local to single digits in each quarter of the 26-point triumph.

Sam Staugler followed Pottkotter with eight points, Brittany Brackman added seven, and Val Fortkamp scored six. Abby Niekamp posted team highs of nine steals and five assists to go along with six rebounds. Lauren Wenning dished out four assists.

Kristin Bergman had eight points, eight rebounds, two blocks and a steals to lead the Flyers. Lynn Hartke added six rebounds and four steals.[[In-content Ad]]