January 18, 2017 at 4:06 a.m.
Fort D strong
Tribe defense smothers Starfires in 51-31 victory
Fort D strong
FORT RECOVERY — To be undefeated nine games into the season, the Indians had to play solid defense.
No performance in the previous 18 halves was better than the way they started against the Starfires.
Fort Recovery High School’s girls basketball team kept South Adams scoreless through the first quarter and its defense made things difficult for the Starfires throughout in a 51-31 victory at Fort Site Fieldhouse.
“I thought the first half was probably one of the best defensive jobs we’ve done all year,” said FRHS coach Brian Patch, whose 10-0 squad finished fourth in the Division III Associated Press poll released earlier in the day. “When they don’t score the whole first quarter, I thought that was a sign, a reward to our kids for doing a great job defensively.”
South Adams coach Brett Freeman knew his Starfire team was going to have its hands full with the Tribe, he just didn’t imagine it would be as difficult as it turned out to be.
“We knew it was obviously a big challenge in front of us,” said Freeman, whose team has lost back-to-back games and fell to 10-9 on the year. “We didn’t come out necessarily sharp in any aspect again.”
South Adams missed all six shots it took during the first quarter while also turning the ball over a half dozen times.
Fort Recovery senior Jocelyn Kaiser sank a pair of free throws to start the scoring 1:09 into the game, and the next basket didn’t come until three minutes later. Carley Stone drained a pull-up jumper, and Kiah Wendel drove the length of the court for a layup after a steal and a 6-0 Tribe lead. Kaiser hit a jumper from the left side, and Whitney Will scored on an assist from Grace Thien to make it 10-0.
Thien hit four 3-pointers — two each in the second and third quarters — to lead the Indians in scoring with 12 points. Stone and Will followed with 10 points each, and Kaiser totaled seven points.
South Adams junior point guard Lexi Dellinger made a pair of free throws 49 seconds into the second period for her team’s first points. The first Starfire field goal didn’t come until there was 3:31 left in the half when Calyssa Lehman hit a jumper from the right side. By then, Fort Recovery was ahead 17-3.
Much of the problem offensively was the lateral quickness and length of the Tribe defenders. When Starfire forward Madi Wurster got the ball on the post, she was often double- or triple-teamed by Will and other Indians. Dellinger, as well as other shooters Sydney Pierce and Lehman, didn’t get many open looks because of a solid Tribe defense.
“When you’ve got two or three girls at times simply defending or swarming (Wurster), you have to have kids that are going to take care of (the basketball), swing the ball and knock some shots,” Freeman said. Wurster was unable to attempt a shot in the game. “There were a few times we were able to do that, but a majority of the time we didn’t shoot it overly well.
“Those combination of things probably aren’t going to add up to a score in your favor.”
Fort Recovery led 26-10 at intermission, and spent the entire second half getting its reserve players some action. In addition, the Tribe attempted to get some practice in on how it intends to play Midwest Athletic Conference rival Versailles, which is ranked third in Division III and hosts the Indians on Thursday.
“It was kind of a test run on a few things and it gives us a chance to see what we need to improve on,” Patch said.
Junior varsity
Like its varsity counterpart, Fort Recovery had a strong defense in defeating the Starfires 27-14 in two quarters of play.
The Tribe led 11-10 after the first quarter and held a 16-4 margin during the second to pick up the double-digit victory.
Fort Recovery’s Olivia Patch had a game-high 10 points while adding four rebounds. She also had a block and a steal. Brooke Kahlig was second on the team with seven points, and Val Muhlenkamp added six points to go with her game-best five rebounds.
Lydia Loshe led the Starfires with six points. Shaelynn Bowman totaled four points while Emilee Myers and Taylor Augsburger had two points apiece.
No performance in the previous 18 halves was better than the way they started against the Starfires.
Fort Recovery High School’s girls basketball team kept South Adams scoreless through the first quarter and its defense made things difficult for the Starfires throughout in a 51-31 victory at Fort Site Fieldhouse.
“I thought the first half was probably one of the best defensive jobs we’ve done all year,” said FRHS coach Brian Patch, whose 10-0 squad finished fourth in the Division III Associated Press poll released earlier in the day. “When they don’t score the whole first quarter, I thought that was a sign, a reward to our kids for doing a great job defensively.”
South Adams coach Brett Freeman knew his Starfire team was going to have its hands full with the Tribe, he just didn’t imagine it would be as difficult as it turned out to be.
“We knew it was obviously a big challenge in front of us,” said Freeman, whose team has lost back-to-back games and fell to 10-9 on the year. “We didn’t come out necessarily sharp in any aspect again.”
South Adams missed all six shots it took during the first quarter while also turning the ball over a half dozen times.
Fort Recovery senior Jocelyn Kaiser sank a pair of free throws to start the scoring 1:09 into the game, and the next basket didn’t come until three minutes later. Carley Stone drained a pull-up jumper, and Kiah Wendel drove the length of the court for a layup after a steal and a 6-0 Tribe lead. Kaiser hit a jumper from the left side, and Whitney Will scored on an assist from Grace Thien to make it 10-0.
Thien hit four 3-pointers — two each in the second and third quarters — to lead the Indians in scoring with 12 points. Stone and Will followed with 10 points each, and Kaiser totaled seven points.
South Adams junior point guard Lexi Dellinger made a pair of free throws 49 seconds into the second period for her team’s first points. The first Starfire field goal didn’t come until there was 3:31 left in the half when Calyssa Lehman hit a jumper from the right side. By then, Fort Recovery was ahead 17-3.
Much of the problem offensively was the lateral quickness and length of the Tribe defenders. When Starfire forward Madi Wurster got the ball on the post, she was often double- or triple-teamed by Will and other Indians. Dellinger, as well as other shooters Sydney Pierce and Lehman, didn’t get many open looks because of a solid Tribe defense.
“When you’ve got two or three girls at times simply defending or swarming (Wurster), you have to have kids that are going to take care of (the basketball), swing the ball and knock some shots,” Freeman said. Wurster was unable to attempt a shot in the game. “There were a few times we were able to do that, but a majority of the time we didn’t shoot it overly well.
“Those combination of things probably aren’t going to add up to a score in your favor.”
Fort Recovery led 26-10 at intermission, and spent the entire second half getting its reserve players some action. In addition, the Tribe attempted to get some practice in on how it intends to play Midwest Athletic Conference rival Versailles, which is ranked third in Division III and hosts the Indians on Thursday.
“It was kind of a test run on a few things and it gives us a chance to see what we need to improve on,” Patch said.
Junior varsity
Like its varsity counterpart, Fort Recovery had a strong defense in defeating the Starfires 27-14 in two quarters of play.
The Tribe led 11-10 after the first quarter and held a 16-4 margin during the second to pick up the double-digit victory.
Fort Recovery’s Olivia Patch had a game-high 10 points while adding four rebounds. She also had a block and a steal. Brooke Kahlig was second on the team with seven points, and Val Muhlenkamp added six points to go with her game-best five rebounds.
Lydia Loshe led the Starfires with six points. Shaelynn Bowman totaled four points while Emilee Myers and Taylor Augsburger had two points apiece.
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