FRHS girls open Tuesday

The Indians were on the verge of a Midwest Athletic Conference championship.
They got to play in a district semifinal too.
Being so close to both a MAC title and a district finals berth a year ago has the Tribe itching to get back on the court, and for good reason.
It only lost one of its key contributors from last season.
“We return a lot of experience,” said Brian Patch, Fort Recovery High School’s girls basketball coach. “We’re an older team. Probably one of the more older teams I’ve had in a while.
“We return six kids who played a lot of varsity basketball. They understand where we’re at and what we need to do to be successful.”
They top returning player for the Indians, who open their season Thursday at home against Crestview, is Whitney Will. The 6-foot senior was first-team All-MAC, averaging a team-high 11.4 points while grabbing five rebounds per game. Her performance earned her a spot to play at the next level, as she committed to play for University of Saint Francis.
“I think for her … we’re going to be, rough, not in a bad way, but we’re going to be on her because she’s capable of so much and expectations are so high,” said Patch.
Will is the leader after fellow All-MAC first-team selection Kendra Siefring (10.3 PPG, 5.8 RPG) graduated in May.
“Her work ethic is second to none,” Patch added. “She’s just relentless in how hard she plays. “She is going to be counted on a lot for us, being our really true post player with experience. We’re going to rely on her heavily.”
Fort Recovery, which was 19-5 (7-2 MAC) last season, has a handful of capable ball handlers to help facilitate the offense. That starts with junior Carley Stone, who led the team with 48 assists while her six points per game was fifth on the team in 2015-16.
“We’ve been trying to get Carley to be more aggressive in scoring,” Patch said. Stone earned All-MAC honorable mention as a sophomore. “She’s always been kind of a point guard and always tried to get everybody else involved.”
Senior Jocelyn Kaiser’s 41 assists was third on the team behind Stone and Siefring, and she was fourth with seven points per game. She and Stone will handle most of the point guard duties.
Junior Grace Thien, a second-team All-MAC player as a sophomore, is perhaps the best shooter on the team. She shot nearly 40 percent from the field a year ago, and made 40 of her 112 3-point attempts (35.7 percent). She was third on the team with 8.4 points per game, tied for third with 4.1 rebounds per game and ranked fourth in assists.
Like most players, however, Thien struggled at times. Patch said the focus for her in the offseason, as well as the rest of the team, is building confidence in their abilities.
“A lot of that is just the reps and feeling comfortable doing it and knowing (they) can do it,” he said, noting he put together film packages of each player doing things well so they can see they’re capable.
With Siefring gone, Kiah Wendel will slide into the fifth starting spot. The 5-foot, 5-inch, junior guard was first player off the bench as a sophomore, and she tallied 4.7 points per game. She had some crucial buckets down the stretch for the Indians, including a career-high 18 points in a win over Tri-Village in early February.
“She’s capable of doing that,” Patch said. “For her it’s just confidence.”
Filling Wendel’s role from last year is likely to be senior Audra Metzger, another 5-foot, 5-inch, guard.
“She’s played with us last year so she knows what to expect,” said Patch. Metzger saw time in all 24 games, but wasn’t relied upon much to be a scorer. She only had seven points and nine rebounds in slightly less than seven minutes per game.
“She’s a bulldog out there, she’s relentless,” Patch said. “She has that mentality you want on your team.”
Freshmen Brooke Kahlig, Val Muhlenkamp and Olivia Patch are in line to have an impact early in their respective playing careers. Patch, the coach’s daughter, stands a towering 6-feet, 1-inch, and Muhlenkamp is an inch shorter.
“Val Muhlenkamp, she helped us out a lot this summer with rebounding and being able to score,” said Patch. “(She) has tremendous upside (and) has made great improvements already.”
Patch also noted the offensive skills and energy of Kahlig, and his hopeful his daughter’s height can help along the boards.