Tribe disrupts Bulldogs in win

CELINA, Ohio — The Indian defense was suffocating from the get-go.

It forced three consecutive turnovers and didn't allow a field goal attempt until midway through the opening period.

Despite a slight lapse during the third quarter, the Indians got back to business in the latter part of the second half.

Fort Recovery High School's girls basketball team kept the Celina Bulldogs out of their system on both sides of the court en route to a 35-22 victory on Tuesday at Celina Fieldhouse.

“That is something we have to hang our hat on,” said FRHS coach Brian Patch, whose team moved to 10-11. “We've been talking about that all year. We have to be able to guard people, especially if we're struggling to score. That is something we have to do every game.

“I thought for the most part we've done that. I thought tonight we seemed really active in the first half and we were pretty solid.”

Celina coach Cenzie Rushton said the early deficit forced the Bulldogs (5-17) out of sync and they had trouble getting back into it.

“As soon as we get in a game where we feel like we're playing from ehind we just do our own thing and we don't execute,” she said. “We don't run our own offense. It's the same story all year.

“We don't play to what our identity is. We just go out and play basketball. We don't have the basketball IQs to just go out and run around and play.”

Fort Recovery scored the first eight points of the game before the margin was trimmed to just three points, 10-7, early in the second quarter.

Celina senior Brooke Robbins tallied five consecutive points and a pair of Makenna Klingshirn free throws put it to the one-possession game.

Fort Recovery scored 14 of the next 16 points to go out front 24-9. Olivia Patch tallied five of those points, including a 3-pointer shortly before the halftime buzzer, and Alli Vaughn scored four points. Paige Fortkamp had a layup and a bonus free throw in the run, and Kierra Wendel accounted for the other two points.

But a seven-point swing the other way — three points from Klingshirn and two each from Emily Braun and Robbins — brought the Celina deficit to single digits.

“For the third quarter I thought we let up,” Patch said. “We didn't play as hard and focused.

“Then we came out in the fourth quarter and I thought we were better. We were focused on the defensive end.”

Vaughn led all players with 13 points, the second time in three games she's scored in double figures after a career-high 20-point effort Thursday against St. Henry. As Fort Recovery's offense worked more deliberately at moving the ball to spread apart the Celina defense, the sophomore Vaughn was able to attack the rim. She ended 6-of-11 from the field and made her only attempt from the foul line as she scored nine of her points after intermission.

“We actually hurt our offense because I thought we were trying to rush everything too much,” Patch said of the start to the game. “We were trying to do everything off of one pass. When we slowed down and not rushed, then I think that's when she was able to do more things.

“Letting people clear out of the paint she was able to get by people and get to the hole.”

Olivia Patch finished second on the team with nine points, and Val Muhlenkamp contributed six points.

Klingshirn was Celina's leader offensively with eight points.



Junior varsity

A strong first quarter created enough cushion for Fort Recovery to grab a 12-9 victory in two periods of play.

The Indians (7-12) had a 10-5 lead after the first quarter, which was good enough despite getting outscored in the second.

The Tribe's Hope Wendel led all players with eight points. Elena Evers and Macy Day ended with two points each.