Tribe hands JC junior varsity defeat (12/29/04)

FORT RECOVERY — The border rivals locked horns in a great game for a half at the junior varsity level, but Fort Recovery dominated the second half to hand the Jay County girls cagers their first loss of the season by a 52-37 score.

After leading by just two points at halftime, the Indians extended the advantage by holding the Patriots to just five third-quarter points. The Tribe (7-2) went ahead by as many as 18, saw the lead slip to single digits and then pulled away again for the victory.

Abby Niekamp and Sam Staugler shared the team high for Fort Recovery with 14 points apiece. Niekamp just missed a double-double as she grabbed nine rebounds, and Staugler finished with seven boards.

Jill Pottkotter added nine points and eight rebounds. Val Fortkamp had six points, three assists and three steals, and Brittany Brackman finished with six points and four rebounds.

Jay County (10-1) got 12 points from Abby Loy and 10 from Cassandra Huelskamp. But, they shot just 14 percent from the field in the second half and finished 4-of-27 from 3-point range (15 percent).

Nicole Pfeifer finished with seven points, Whitney Homan had four steals, and Amber Champ dished out four assists.

The Patriots did manage a win in the freshman contest, dominating the middle two quarters en route to a 33-18 triumph.

After playing to a 7-7 tie in the first quarter, Jay County outscored the Indians 9-0 in the second and 10-2 in the third for a 17-point lead. It improved to 7-0 with the victory.

Amber Edmundson paced the Patriots with eight points and five rebounds. Sharon Dirksen and Katie Runyon each added six points, and Dana Horn grabbed five steals.

Statistics for Fort Recovery were not available at press time.[[In-content Ad]]