Schwieterman FT lifts Fort

FORT RECOVERY — Through 36 minutes of play, Olivia Schwieterman hadn’t scored a point.
Six other players, three from each team, were in double figures. But with zeros showing on the clock at the end of overtime, she stood at the free-throw line with the game in her hands.
After a long wait and several deep breaths, Schwieterman finally launched her shot. She watched it bounced on the rim several times — “It felt like 10 or 20”, she said — and then jumped and threw both arms in the air as the ball fell through the net to give her Fort Recovery Indians a 67-66 victory over the Jefferson Wildcats.
“Oh my gosh, I am coming off a high right now,” said Schwieterman, who was mobbed by her teammates after hitting the game-winner. “I’m so ecstatic I can’t even think straight.
“It took a little bit, and it bounced around, and I was like, ‘Just please go in,’ and it did. And I just jumped, and ran over and hugged my teammates. It was the best feeling.”
Schwieterman’s storybook ending was a most unlikely scenario, given that previously undefeated Jefferson (7-1) held the ball for the final minute and then called timeout with 13.7 seconds to play.
On the ensuing play the Wildcats put the ball in the hands of star point guard Kristin Klausing. She dribbled most of the clock away before finding Emily Fought on a cut to the basket on the left baseline.
Fought caught the pass cleanly, but missed the potential winning lay-up and the rebound came down to Fort Recovery’s Kelly Nietfeld.
“We had the opportunities. I mean, if we make the bunny there at the end, we win,” said Jefferson coach David Hoffman. “We missed too many bunnies. We need to focus on that. … You hate to see it get down to that point, but if we make the lay-up it’s academic.
“We just didn’t make it. We had the back-door cut on it.
“It was there. You’ve just got to finish.”After the rebound Nietfeld passed ahead to Schwieterman, who was trying to push the ball up the floor when she was fouled as the final tenths of a second ticket off the clock.
Schwieterman, who had missed her only field-goal try of the game, went to the foul line, but had to wait. Hoffman called a time out in part to ice her, but mostly to plead with the officials to put time back on the clock.
His request was denied, leaving Schwieterman alone at the line. She said she tried to follow coach Doug Bihn’s advice as she waited to take the shot.
“My hat’s off to her,” said Bihn. “During the timeout (Hoffman) called we told Olivia, ‘Just go shoot like you do every day in practice.’ And she did. It wasn’t clean, but it went in, and that’s what counts.”
Fort Recovery (6-1) trailed by four after a back-and-forth first half, and fell behind further early in the third quarter. But the Indians came fighting back and Kendra Brunswick, who had missed her first seven 3-point attempts, hit a pair of long-distance shots in the final minute of the period to push the Tribe to a 44-37 lead.
Jefferson would not go away, reclaiming the lead with 3:20 to play and pushing to a 60-57 advantage when Kennedy Boggs (17 points) split a pair of free throws with 29 seconds to play. But Olivia Thien buried her third 3-pointer with 17 seconds left to tie the game, and neither team was able to get a shot of the rest of the way.
The Indians led twice in overtime, only to have Bridget Culp (15 points, six rebounds) pull Jefferson even on an assist from Morgan Fischbach with just over a minute to play. Fort Recovery called timeout, but gave the ball back to the Wildcats on a five-second violation.
Klausing (18 points, six assists) controlled the ball for the next 46 seconds before Hoffman called timeout to set up the final sequence.
“Jefferson was undefeated for a reason,” said Bihn. “The Klausing kid is as good as they come. She’s as good as advertised. …
“It was a tournament atmosphere. We got them on our schedule because of that. We want to play these kind of teams to get ready for the tournament.
“(This win) is a big confidence boost. It’s a big shot in the arm for these kids. They’re starting to believe …”
Holly Brunswick opened the game on fire, grabbing five rebounds and scoring 10 of Fort Recovery’s 12 first-quarter points. She finished with a game-high 16 to go along with nine rebounds.
“She rebounded like crazy in that first quarter,” said Bihn, whose team held a 41-19 advantage on the glass. “She was getting stuff that wasn’t even close to her. She was just going up and getting it. She played great.”
Thien added 15 points and 12 rebounds, and Kendra Brunswick totaled 14 points, five boards and three assists.
Junior varsity
Fort Recovery grabbed the lead early and outscored the Wildcats by 12 at the foul line in a 56-46 victory.
Kelsey Fiely racked up 20 points, five rebounds and four assists for the Indians (7-0), who shot 53 percent from the field. Chelsea Pottkotter added 16 points, and Melissa Lochtefeld grabbed eight rebounds.
Rileigh Stockwell paced Jefferson with 12 points and eight rebounds. Elizabeth Schosker added 10 points.[[In-content Ad]]