March 3, 2017 at 5:43 a.m.
Turnover, misses topple Tribe
Indians fall to Eagles in consecutive seasons
Turnover, misses topple Tribe
Copyright 2017, The Commercial Review
All Rights Reserved.
ELIDA, Ohio — At the start of the second half, it looked to be déjà vu for the Indians.
The Eagles hit yet another 3-pointer to go ahead by 13. It was their long-range shots a year ago that ended the Tribe’s season.
But as Jocelyn Kaiser caught fire from the field to get the Tribe back into the game, it was a few too many missed shots by her teammates and a rare turnover in the final minute that sent the Indians home again with a season-ending loss to the Eagles.
After trimming a 13-point deficit to one possession in the waning moments Thursday night, the Fort Recovery High School girls basketball team turned the ball over and had four consecutive shots miss the mark in a 43-37 loss to the Liberty-Benton Eagles in the Division III District semifinal at Elida Fieldhouse.
The Eagles (21-3), who were tied with the Indians for eighth in the final Associated Press poll, will meet the fifth-ranked Columbus Grove Bulldogs at 2 p.m. Saturday.
“I thought tonight’s loss was all on our offense,” said FRHS coach Brian Patch, whose team lost in the district semifinal to Liberty-Benton in consecutive years. “We missed a ton of easy, inside shots.”
Fort Recovery was 5-for-22 (22.7 percent) from the field in the first half as it trailed 24-14 at the break, while Liberty-Benton shot 47.1 percent (8-for-17).
Jensen Hiegel made the second of her three 3-pointers 2:10 into the second half, giving the Eagles a 27-14 advantage. But then Jocelyn Kaiser scored on three consecutive trips down the court. Whitney Will added a bucket after another Hiegel triple, and Kaiser hit a jumper from the left side to make it 32-24 Eagles.
“She is a tough matchup,” Liberty-Benton coach Nate Irwin said. “She is physical, she is strong. She has a great little pull-up jump shot. It is kind of a lost art in basketball. There are girls that can hit threes and there are girls that can score inside in the post. She had a good midrange game there.
“We just didn’t have an answer for her.”
Kaiser led the Indians with 14 points, 12 of which came in the second half. She was the only Tribe player to reach double figures.
“I thought she played well,” Patch said. “Obviously being a senior she did not want it to end and she played that way.
“The bad thing is when our two leading scorers (Grace Thien and Will) hit two field goals combined it is going to be hard to win games. Jocelyn just didn’t have a lot of help out there from an offensive standpoint. (Will) got to the free-throw line but we missed way too many open shots that we normally hit.”
Will was 7-for-8 from the charity stripe and finished with nine points.
Kaiser hit a jumper from near the right elbow to cut the Fort Recovery deficit to 40-37 with 1:18 remaining in the fourth, and Savanah Richards split a pair of double-bonus free throws with 59.4 ticks left to make it 41-37.
The Tribe’s next time down the court, Carley Stone had the ball near the right wing. Patch said it was his intention to have her drive to the basket with Thien coming off a flare near the 3-point line for two options. To start the play, Stone passed the ball to the right block toward Will, who wasn’t ready. Caitlin Elseser stepped in front of it with less than 50 seconds to play for the key steal.
“As well as we handled the ball all game — I think we only had six or seven turnovers — that was a big one at that point in the game,” said Patch, whose team finished with seven giveaways.
Hiegel missed both double-bonus free throws with 33.2 seconds remaining, and on the next possession Fort Recovery had three shot attempts miss the mark. Elseser made a pair of freebies with 6.3 seconds remaining.
“We gave ourselves chances because we didn’t turn it over but we just couldn’t hit shots,” Patch said. The Indians shot 28.6 percent from the field for the game after going 33.3 percent in the final 16 minutes.
Liberty-Benton used the long-range shot effectively in last year’s semifinal win over Fort Recovery, going 7-for-11 from long range. This year, the Eagles appeared to be well on their way to repeating the performance as they were 5-for-12 from behind the arc in the first half.
Irwin said his team isn’t the greatest 3-point shooting team this year, but had to resort to the perimeter shots early because of the Tribe’s inside zone.
All Rights Reserved.
ELIDA, Ohio — At the start of the second half, it looked to be déjà vu for the Indians.
The Eagles hit yet another 3-pointer to go ahead by 13. It was their long-range shots a year ago that ended the Tribe’s season.
But as Jocelyn Kaiser caught fire from the field to get the Tribe back into the game, it was a few too many missed shots by her teammates and a rare turnover in the final minute that sent the Indians home again with a season-ending loss to the Eagles.
After trimming a 13-point deficit to one possession in the waning moments Thursday night, the Fort Recovery High School girls basketball team turned the ball over and had four consecutive shots miss the mark in a 43-37 loss to the Liberty-Benton Eagles in the Division III District semifinal at Elida Fieldhouse.
The Eagles (21-3), who were tied with the Indians for eighth in the final Associated Press poll, will meet the fifth-ranked Columbus Grove Bulldogs at 2 p.m. Saturday.
“I thought tonight’s loss was all on our offense,” said FRHS coach Brian Patch, whose team lost in the district semifinal to Liberty-Benton in consecutive years. “We missed a ton of easy, inside shots.”
Fort Recovery was 5-for-22 (22.7 percent) from the field in the first half as it trailed 24-14 at the break, while Liberty-Benton shot 47.1 percent (8-for-17).
Jensen Hiegel made the second of her three 3-pointers 2:10 into the second half, giving the Eagles a 27-14 advantage. But then Jocelyn Kaiser scored on three consecutive trips down the court. Whitney Will added a bucket after another Hiegel triple, and Kaiser hit a jumper from the left side to make it 32-24 Eagles.
“She is a tough matchup,” Liberty-Benton coach Nate Irwin said. “She is physical, she is strong. She has a great little pull-up jump shot. It is kind of a lost art in basketball. There are girls that can hit threes and there are girls that can score inside in the post. She had a good midrange game there.
“We just didn’t have an answer for her.”
Kaiser led the Indians with 14 points, 12 of which came in the second half. She was the only Tribe player to reach double figures.
“I thought she played well,” Patch said. “Obviously being a senior she did not want it to end and she played that way.
“The bad thing is when our two leading scorers (Grace Thien and Will) hit two field goals combined it is going to be hard to win games. Jocelyn just didn’t have a lot of help out there from an offensive standpoint. (Will) got to the free-throw line but we missed way too many open shots that we normally hit.”
Will was 7-for-8 from the charity stripe and finished with nine points.
Kaiser hit a jumper from near the right elbow to cut the Fort Recovery deficit to 40-37 with 1:18 remaining in the fourth, and Savanah Richards split a pair of double-bonus free throws with 59.4 ticks left to make it 41-37.
The Tribe’s next time down the court, Carley Stone had the ball near the right wing. Patch said it was his intention to have her drive to the basket with Thien coming off a flare near the 3-point line for two options. To start the play, Stone passed the ball to the right block toward Will, who wasn’t ready. Caitlin Elseser stepped in front of it with less than 50 seconds to play for the key steal.
“As well as we handled the ball all game — I think we only had six or seven turnovers — that was a big one at that point in the game,” said Patch, whose team finished with seven giveaways.
Hiegel missed both double-bonus free throws with 33.2 seconds remaining, and on the next possession Fort Recovery had three shot attempts miss the mark. Elseser made a pair of freebies with 6.3 seconds remaining.
“We gave ourselves chances because we didn’t turn it over but we just couldn’t hit shots,” Patch said. The Indians shot 28.6 percent from the field for the game after going 33.3 percent in the final 16 minutes.
Liberty-Benton used the long-range shot effectively in last year’s semifinal win over Fort Recovery, going 7-for-11 from long range. This year, the Eagles appeared to be well on their way to repeating the performance as they were 5-for-12 from behind the arc in the first half.
Irwin said his team isn’t the greatest 3-point shooting team this year, but had to resort to the perimeter shots early because of the Tribe’s inside zone.
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