FR turnovers costly in loss

MINSTER, Ohio — The Indians made the first basket of the second quarter for its largest lead of the game.

Then things started to go awry for the visitors.

The Fort Recovery High School girls basketball team committed turnovers on six consecutive possessions during the second quarter, helping the Minster Wildcats score 17 straight points Thursday in a 48-42 victory over the Tribe.

With the win, the Division IV No. 5 Wildcats (20-2, 9-0 Midwest Athletic Conference) secured the outright MAC championship. Fort Recovery, which is ranked eighth in Division III, fell to 16-3 and 6-3 in MAC play.

A field goal by Brooke Kahlig six seconds into the second quarter gave Fort Recovery a 16-10 advantage. Three straight baskets by the Wildcats tied the game before Grace Thien hit one of her game-high six 3-pointers for a 19-16 FRHS advantage with 3:54 to play in the half.

The next time the Indians scored was on a pair of Whitney Will free throws nearly two minutes into the third quarter, by then the Wildcats had taken a 36-19 lead by outscoring the Indians 23-5 in the second quarter.

Fort Recovery put up a fight in the fourth quarter to pull as close as four points but wasn’t able to complete the rally.

Thien was 6-for-10 from long range and finished 7-for-13 from the field with a pair of free throws for a game-high 22 points. She was the only player to reach double figures.

Will was second on the team with nine points, and her five rebounds tied Thien for the team lead. Jocelyn Kaiser added five points, Kahlig had four and Carley Stone chipped in two points.

Courtney Prenge and Taylor Kogge led Minster with nine points each.

The Indians travel to McComb for the regular season finale at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, before beginning postseason play against Parkway on Wednesday at 8 p.m. at Wapakoneta.