Fort Recovery to rely on senior trio

The Indians have to replace their top two scorers in Jocelyn Kaiser and Whitney Will.

But to fill the void, the Tribe won’t be relying on single players to pick up the slack.

It’ll be a total team effort.

“I don’t know if it’s one person stepping in replacing Joscie and one person per say replacing Whitney, I just think we’re a different team and that happens every year when you lose kids,” said Fort Recovery High School girls basketball coach Brian Patch, who enters his fourth season leading leading the Indian girls after spending more than a decade guiding the boys.

“Each team is different depending on the makeup of them and we’re still in the process of finding out who we’re going to be and how we’re going to be as a team,” he added. “To be honest that’s the fun part of it.”

But while the Indians work to find their identity, it will be built around three seniors who have a combined 11 seasons of varsity experience.

Grace Thien, a 5-foot, 10-inch, guard, returns as the team’s leading scorer, having averaged 10.1 points per game. The sharpshooter made more than half (58) of Fort Recovery’s 105 made 3-pointers, and shot 42.3 percent from long range. Her 3.9 rebounds per game as a junior was tied for fourth on the team.

Carley Stone’s 7.5 points and five rebounds per game were fourth and second respectively, and the 5-foot, 9-inch, guard had more than four assists per contest to lead the squad. Stone and Thien are entering their fourth year on varsity.

Kiah Wendel averaged 3.9 points and rebounds per game, and the 5-foot, 5-inch, guard rounds out the three-member senior class that’s loaded with experience.

“Obviously leadership is what you want your seniors to provide for you,” said Patch, whose team was 19-4 (6-3 Midwest Athletic Conference) last year and was bounced from postseason play by Liberty Benton in the district tournament for the second year in a row.

“They’ve been in big moments for us as players,” Patch said. “That has kind of been our building block, that group of kids, since we took the job over as far as not just trying to win games year one but also planning for the future.”

Sophomore Val Muhlenkamp (2.3 PPG, 3.3 RPG) played in every game as a freshman, including important minutes in the postseason. The 6-foot forward will help make up for losing Will (10.5 PPG, 4.4 RPG) in the front court, while her classmate Brooke Kahlig will play a bigger role as a guard.

“Obviously their roles will expand more and just growing and developing as players,” Patch said. “Both of those are competing for starting spots right now.”

Patch’s daughter Olivia, a 6-foot, 2-inch, sophomore forward, played more of a reserve role as a freshman and the coach has high hopes for his eldest child.

“She’s our only true post player that likes to play with her back to the basket,” he said. “Obviously her size helps. She kind of anchors down our defense for us. Just for her to be able to get some touches inside and be able to score for us (she) will be that anchor with the defense and rebounding part of it.”

While Patch wouldn’t divulge too much into who will be the starting lineup as the team opens the season Thursday, he said he plans to use an eight-player rotation that also includes freshmen Kierra Wendel and Alli Vaughn.

“Lot of it could be from game to game, just depending on who is playing well in practice and matchups,” he said. “The kids all kind of want to start and I think that could be more motivation for them to drive them to that. 

“It’s not so much who starts but who is playing well for us at the time and who can finish the game for us.”

Fort Recovery won Division III sectional titles in each of the last two seasons, but wasn’t able to reach the district final. This year the Tribe drops to Division IV, but that doesn’t necessarily make the road to regional any easier.

The Indians are in a district that includes MAC rivals Marion Local, New Bremen, New Knoxville, Parkway, St. Henry and Minster, the last of which was one step away from the state finals a year ago.

“As far as that goes, having (MAC) teams all in compared to having other teams outside your conference is obviously going to be tougher because those teams know you better,” he said. “Definitely not going to be any easier as far as that goes — trade a Liberty Benton out for Minster — it’s still going to be the same thing.

“For us, we are just trying to concentrate on improving and getting better each and every day. Enjoy the journey and hopefully we can be ready to go tournament time."