Smooth ride for Fort in opener (11/28/05)

FORT RECOVERY — Although their nickname might indicate otherwise, the visiting team wasn’t able to create much of a bump in the road for Fort Recovery Saturday night.

The St. Marys Memorial Roughriders led just once, by one point, midway through the second quarter. The Indian girls basketball team responded with a 15-2 run which spanned halftime, and won their season opener 56-44.

“Coming in here to play an experienced, athletic team is difficult,” said Memorial coach Tim Niekamp. “I thought Fort Recovery played really well at times. We didn’t.”

The Tribe held a slim lead for much of the first half until Emily Shellabarger turned in a 3-point play to give the Roughriders (1-1) a 20-19 lead at the 4:38 mark of the second quarter.

Falling behind for the first time in the game was all the spark Fort Recovery needed. Abby Niekamp scored the next seven Tribe points — a 3-pointer on an assist from Ciera Rammel, a put-back and a bucket on an assist from Holly Stein.

Whitney Johns scored with 1:20 to go in the half to break Niekamp’s stretch, but Stein drove to the hole for a 28-22 halftime lead.

Sara Fortkamp stretched the intermission advantage as she made a pair of hoops in the first minute of the second half, and Vicki Roessner added another for a 34-22 lead.

“For the first time out I thought our kids played pretty well,” said FRHS coach Jeff Roessner. “For the most part I thought the first half was very competitive. Then we got to the second half and we had a nice lead and we didn’t finish them off like we should have. We allowed them to get back in the game.”

But after Memorial pulled to within seven points, Stein and Fortkamp teamed up to put the game away.

Following a stretch of more than three scoreless minutes which allowed the Roughrider rally, Stein hit a couple of free throws at the 2:14 mark. Fortkamp scored the last of her 11 points with 1:42 to go, then Stein added another hoop at the 1:23 mark. Stein pushed the Fort Recovery advantage to 15 points on an assist from Fortkamp with 55 seconds remaining.

Stein scored eight of her game-high 15 points in the fourth quarter. Niekamp added 13 points, followed by Fortkamp’s 11 and nine more by Vicki Roessner.

Stein and Ciera Rammel each had four assists. Tiff Gaerke, who spent much of the game on the bench because of foul trouble, had seven rebounds.

“Abby (Niekamp), for playing her first varsity game, shot the ball very well,” said Roessner, talking about the many positives his team showed in its first outing. “I think the biggest thing I noticed about the game was we only played with 10 turnovers.”

Memorial was not so fortunate, often falling victim to the Indians’ pressure defense as it finished with 21 turnovers.

Kerri Imwalle paced the Roughriders with 10 points and 10 rebounds, but did almost all of that in the first half. After the break she had just two points and one rebound.

Lea Mackenbach had nine points, Stephanie Platt scored eight and Shellabarger had seven before leaving the game because of an injury in the third quarter. Point guard Toya Anderson had six rebounds and five assists.

“Twenty-one we had, ouch,” Niekamp said after learning of his team’s turnover total. “Fort Recovery does a good job. They’re athletic and they play the passing lanes very well. They pressure the ball. This is exactly the kind of game that we needed. We go into league play Thursday against Bath and we needed to see that kind of pressure tonight.”

Junior varsity

The Indians had just a two-point lead with seven minutes to play, but outscored Memorial 9-4 in the fourth quarter for a 33-26 victory.

Joanna Snyder paced Fort Recovery, scoring nine points. She also had team bests of six rebounds and three assists.

Jill Pottkotter scored nine points, and Anne Koesters followed with seven.

Vanessa McDermitt had 10 points to lead the Roughriders, with six of those coming from the free-throw line. Emily Steva added five points and five rebounds.[[In-content Ad]]