March 4, 2018 at 4:51 a.m.
Defeated at district
Fort Recovery falls to Minster in Division IV district final
Defeated at district
Copyright 2018, The Commercial Review
All Rights Reserved
WAPAKONETA, Ohio — The Wildcats made it a point to disrupt the Indian offense.
The Tribe was out of rhythm, had difficulty executing set plays and committed too many mistakes.
Just when the Indians appeared to get within striking distance, the Wildcats put the game out of reach.
The Fort Recovery High School girls basketball team had its season come to an end Saturday with a 53-40 loss to the conference rival Minster Wildcats in the Division IV District championship at Wapakoneta.
“Their defensive pressure sped us up a lot,” said FRHS coach Brian Patch, whose team finished 19-6. “Really didn’t have much of a chance to run an offense.”
Those offensive struggles were prevalent early as the Indians turned the ball over on their first two possessions of the game. Minster (21-3), which repeated as district champion and advances to the regional at Vandalia Butler, scored the first four points of the game and led the entire way.
“We played with the lead the whole time and sometimes it didn’t look like we knew how to play with the lead,” Minster coach Mike Wiss said.
Fort Recovery, which trailed by six after the first quarter and nine at half, fell behind 32-19 two minutes into the third quarter.
That’s when the Indians chipped away at the deficit. Carley Stone split a pair of free throws after getting fouled as she attempted to put back on offensive rebound. After more than three minutes of both teams failing to score, Grace Thien broke out of a slump to drain back-to-back 3-pointers.
Thien wasn’t able to get open against the Wildcats as she did Thursday in the district semifinal against Ridgemont. The sharpshooter, who is the school’s all-time leader in 3-pointers for a season (78) and for a career (191) missed her first five shots of the game and was held without a point in the first half.
But with 2:16 remaining in the third she made her first triple from the right wing, and the next time down the court she nailed one from the left wing.
“Hoping so,” Patch said on if Thien ending the drought may have gotten the Indians over the hump. “We had cut it down, I think one point we were down 13 and (assistant coach Jeff) Vaughn looked over and said ‘We took this thing to six, we have a chance.’”
“We couldn’t get enough scores in a row.”
Thien nearly had three in a row but her next shot from long range rimmed out.
“That was a struggle from the very beginning,” Patch said. “If you asked what was our worries on offense it was Grace Thien having a bad shooting night just because we were going to rely on her so much to have to score.”
She was 2-of-7 from the field.
Thien’s consecutive shots from behind the arc marked just the third time all game the Tribe scored on successive possessions. Turnovers were a big reason why.
“Then the turnovers shot ourselves in the foot every time we got back to make a run,” Patch said. Minster brought over an extra defender every time Kierra Wendel, Stone or Thien tried to drive to the basket. Even when the Tribe guards tried to go over the top to forwards Olivia Patch or Val Muhlenkamp in the post the Wildcats were there with more pressure.
“When you struggle handling the basketball, not running a great offense and getting beat on the glass it doesn’t spell a recipe for success,” Brian Patch said.
Minster had a 19-15 edge in rebounding during the first half with seven offensive boards. Fort Recovery ended up winning the battle on the glass, though, 30-27.
Thien finished with eight points in the final game of her high school career. Val Muhlenkamp, who led all players with 11 rebounds, had a team-high 12 points for the Indians.
Fort Recovery and Minster met Feb. 15 at Fort Site Fieldhouse and the Wildcats left with a 38-35 victory on a Jenae Hoying triple before the final buzzer. In that game, Minster junior Courtney Prenger did not play.
She was in action Saturday, and the Indians had a tough time keeping her off the block. She muscled her way to the post, made half of her 12 field goals and got sent to the free-throw line 13 times before fouling out in the fourth quarter.
“Courtney Prenger for us battled,” Wiss said. The 6-foot, 2-inch forward finished with a game-high 18 points.
All Rights Reserved
WAPAKONETA, Ohio — The Wildcats made it a point to disrupt the Indian offense.
The Tribe was out of rhythm, had difficulty executing set plays and committed too many mistakes.
Just when the Indians appeared to get within striking distance, the Wildcats put the game out of reach.
The Fort Recovery High School girls basketball team had its season come to an end Saturday with a 53-40 loss to the conference rival Minster Wildcats in the Division IV District championship at Wapakoneta.
“Their defensive pressure sped us up a lot,” said FRHS coach Brian Patch, whose team finished 19-6. “Really didn’t have much of a chance to run an offense.”
Those offensive struggles were prevalent early as the Indians turned the ball over on their first two possessions of the game. Minster (21-3), which repeated as district champion and advances to the regional at Vandalia Butler, scored the first four points of the game and led the entire way.
“We played with the lead the whole time and sometimes it didn’t look like we knew how to play with the lead,” Minster coach Mike Wiss said.
Fort Recovery, which trailed by six after the first quarter and nine at half, fell behind 32-19 two minutes into the third quarter.
That’s when the Indians chipped away at the deficit. Carley Stone split a pair of free throws after getting fouled as she attempted to put back on offensive rebound. After more than three minutes of both teams failing to score, Grace Thien broke out of a slump to drain back-to-back 3-pointers.
Thien wasn’t able to get open against the Wildcats as she did Thursday in the district semifinal against Ridgemont. The sharpshooter, who is the school’s all-time leader in 3-pointers for a season (78) and for a career (191) missed her first five shots of the game and was held without a point in the first half.
But with 2:16 remaining in the third she made her first triple from the right wing, and the next time down the court she nailed one from the left wing.
“Hoping so,” Patch said on if Thien ending the drought may have gotten the Indians over the hump. “We had cut it down, I think one point we were down 13 and (assistant coach Jeff) Vaughn looked over and said ‘We took this thing to six, we have a chance.’”
“We couldn’t get enough scores in a row.”
Thien nearly had three in a row but her next shot from long range rimmed out.
“That was a struggle from the very beginning,” Patch said. “If you asked what was our worries on offense it was Grace Thien having a bad shooting night just because we were going to rely on her so much to have to score.”
She was 2-of-7 from the field.
Thien’s consecutive shots from behind the arc marked just the third time all game the Tribe scored on successive possessions. Turnovers were a big reason why.
“Then the turnovers shot ourselves in the foot every time we got back to make a run,” Patch said. Minster brought over an extra defender every time Kierra Wendel, Stone or Thien tried to drive to the basket. Even when the Tribe guards tried to go over the top to forwards Olivia Patch or Val Muhlenkamp in the post the Wildcats were there with more pressure.
“When you struggle handling the basketball, not running a great offense and getting beat on the glass it doesn’t spell a recipe for success,” Brian Patch said.
Minster had a 19-15 edge in rebounding during the first half with seven offensive boards. Fort Recovery ended up winning the battle on the glass, though, 30-27.
Thien finished with eight points in the final game of her high school career. Val Muhlenkamp, who led all players with 11 rebounds, had a team-high 12 points for the Indians.
Fort Recovery and Minster met Feb. 15 at Fort Site Fieldhouse and the Wildcats left with a 38-35 victory on a Jenae Hoying triple before the final buzzer. In that game, Minster junior Courtney Prenger did not play.
She was in action Saturday, and the Indians had a tough time keeping her off the block. She muscled her way to the post, made half of her 12 field goals and got sent to the free-throw line 13 times before fouling out in the fourth quarter.
“Courtney Prenger for us battled,” Wiss said. The 6-foot, 2-inch forward finished with a game-high 18 points.
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