St. John's stifles Indians (02/03/06)

DELPHOS, Ohio — Getting into their offense proved a difficult task for the Indians Thursday. And when they managed to get the desired shots, they simply would not go in.

In what both coaches referred to as a “typical Midwest Athletic Conference basketball game”, the Delphos St. John’s Blue Jays never trailed after the first quarter as they handed the Fort Recovery girls their third league loss, 45-36.

“Neither team could really get a lot of offensive stuff going because the defense was so after you and in-your-face,” said St. John’s coach Dan Grothouse, whose team won despite a gritty 20-point effort from the Indians’ Holly Stein. “We were able early in the game to get a little bit of a lead and then thank goodness be able to hold on the rest of the time. ... our kids did a great job of handling their poise and composure down the stretch when they really came at us. And they hit enough free throws to keep the lead.”

The Indians (12-4, 3-3 MAC) struggled throughout the first three quarters, and could not convert each time momentum seemed ready to swing in their favor in the fourth.

They pulled to within 34-30 with five minutes to play, and caught a break when the Blue Jays’ Kim Miller missed the front end of a one-and-one try. But Fort Recovery turned the ball over as Brittany Pohlman came up with a steal and lay-up.

With Stein forced to the bench with 1:23 to play because she was bleeding, Sara Fortkamp made a great drive to the bucket for a hoop and had a chance at a 3-point play which would have cut the deficit to four again. But the free throw was no good, and Jeanne Bockey of St. John’s was fouled on the rebound. She hit both free throws to push the advantage back to seven.

Then, after Bockey threw the ball out of bounds for a turnover in the final minute, the Indians handed it right back with a turnover of their own and the Blue Jays made four free throws in the final 33 seconds to seal the game.

“There’s no question that all of those things had impacts,” said Fort Recovery coach Jeff Roessner. “And it showed poor decisions on our part. Most of those turnovers weren’t forced ...

“But you just can’t miss as many shots as we missed and expect to win. We took (10) more shots than they did, we out-rebounded them ... We just didn’t make enough plays. We had trouble scoring again. Hopefully that’s something we can get fixed before the tournament.”

With the exception of Stein, the Indians couldn’t buy a basket for the first three quarters.

Stein scored 12 of her team’s 14 first-half points. The rest of the team missed its first 17 field-goal attempts, many from close range which rattled in-and-out, before Abby Niekamp finally hit a 3-pointer with 2:50 remaining in the third quarter. The remainder of the squad finished 6-of-32 from the field (19 percent).

“Defensively we executed exactly what we wanted to do,” said Grothouse, whose team had the Indians frustrated on the offensive end. “We wanted to stay back and take away their cuts to the basket and their diagonal cuts to the blocks.”

Stein kept the Tribe in the game with her 20-point effort, which included three 3-pointers. She matched teammate Tiff Gaerke and Sarah Clark of St. John’s with nine rebounds.

“Holly Stein poured her heart and soul into this game,” said Roessner. “She played like an animal. She wanted to win so bad it was incredible. She’s a warrior, is what she is.”

Gaerke, who missed her first seven shots and ended a streak of five straight double-doubles, was second for the Indians with six points. Vicki Roessner had three assists.

No Blue Jay player reached double figures as the home team used a balanced effort to improve to 14-3 and 5-2 in the MAC.

Brittany Pohlman and Kim Miller shared the St. John’s team high of nine points. Alisha Byrne had eight points, including a couple of key 3-pointers, Bockey scored seven points and Beth Schnipke had six.

Miller followed Clark with six rebounds, and Tammy Pohlman had three assists.

Junior varsity

Fort Recovery couldn’t manage more than six points in any quarter in a 51-21 loss to the Blue Jays.

St. John’s was in control all the way, jumping to a 29-12 lead at the half. It went 5-of-9 from 3-point range, and outscored the Indians 10-1 at the foul line.

Kristen Metzger led the long-range effort, hitting all of her four 3-point tries for 12 points.

Victoria Recker shot 6-of-9 to lead the Blue Jays with 15 points. She added four rebounds and three assists.

Stephanie Knippen had 11 points, five rebounds and three assists.

Anne Koesters had eight points and four rebounds for the Indians, who had 19 turnovers compared to just seven for St. John’s.[[In-content Ad]]