Lady Indians capture 1st state title

Editor’s note: With a void in sports, The Commercial Review will occasionally run past stories from key events in the area’s athletic history. This story, from March 19, 1990, describes the Fort Recovery High School girls basketball team completing a perfect season and winning the Division IV state championship. It was the first of back-to-back state titles for the Indians.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio — As they approached their destination, the Fort Recovery Lady Indians weren’t quite sure what to think.

Fort Recovery, which for four years had been making strides toward a state championship, finally arrived late Saturday night, bringing a mixture of joy, relief, and yes, some sadness.

“That goal was just so much a part of us … we were a team with a mission,” Lady Indians’ coach Diane McClung said this morning. “It ended up that we couldn’t be stopped. That goal was why we practiced so hard and why we play the way we do.”

The final step in the Lady Indians’ journey was taken Saturday night, as they displayed composure down the stretch to hold off Middletown Fenwick 51-41.

Fort Recovery, which finished its season 27-0 and the only unbeaten team in Ohio, began the quest for a state championship years ago, when the current seniors were freshmen, and heartbreaking losses in the regionals the past three seasons didn’t break the Lady Indians’ spirit, only strengthened it.

“Every year, when we didn’t make it (to the state finals), we just wanted it that much more,” McClung said. “There was a feeling on this team that ‘we’re going to do it. We’re not going to be stopped.’”

No one, at least this year, could stop Fort Recovery, although Fenwick, which closes out at 24-3, gave its best shot in the Division IV championship game.

Fort Recovery’s victory gave Mercer County and the Midwest Athletic Conference two state titles as earlier in the day Coldwater took the title in Division III.

During the regular season, Fort Recovery defeated Coldwater 78-62.

Fenwick, which gave away several inches at every position on the floor, battled back from a nine-point first quarter deficit to within four points, 36-32, with 5 minutes to play.

But the Lady Indians, who were led by Kathy Lennartz with 18 points and 16 from Lynn Bihn, the Division IV tournament MVP, weathered the storm and dominated the closing minutes of the game. Lennartz and Hartnagel were also named to the Division IV all-tournament team.

Fort Recovery, which also got 11 points from senior Jennia Jenkins in the championship game, finished the game on a 17-5 run, sinking free throw after free throw down the stretch and applying a suffocating full-court press to Fenwick, which came apart at the seams.

Lennartz and Jenkins, both seniors, played key roles in the final five minutes, as did Bihn, the lone junior in the starting lineup.

Lennartz, who was 8-for-12 from the free throw line in the game, had what was perhaps the biggest shot of the night when she banked in a leaning 15-footer with 4:47 to play that gave her team a 40-36 lead and a little breathing room.

Bihn, who scored 23 points in Friday night’s semifinal victory over Berlin Hiland, put back a Lennartz miss 20 seconds later for a 42-36 Lady Indians’ lead.

Fenwick, which was led by 13 points from Kathy Long, got a jumper from Jeri Lee to cut the lead back to four with 4:13 to play, but their next points wouldn’t come until there were just 14 seconds remaining.

The Lady Indians, who showed signs that they were feeling the pressure in the third and early in the fourth quarter, hit only one field goal in the final 4:05, but Jenkins was 5-for-6 from the line, Lennartz 3-for-4 , and Bihn 2-for-2.

Fenwick, which like Fort Recovery had 27 turnovers in the game, committed four turnovers, missed six shots and had a shot blocked in the final four minutes as its dream of a state championship slowly faded.

McClung, whose team was 17-for-35 (49 percent) in the championship game, said her team’s composure under fire made the difference in the stretch run.

“There were a lot of times Fenwick would start to get close and we just kept our composure,” said McClung, who smiled her way through a press conference following the game.

“Once again, when the game got close, our kids certainly had an answer,” she said this morning.

Fenwick coach Mike Lockhart, who was mildly distressed with officiating that put Fort Recovery on the free throw line 18 more times than his team, said he was proud of the effort.

“I don’t think (Fort Recovery) got anything easy, I think they knew they were in a game,” said Lockhart. “There’s a lot of hurt in that locker room tonight. But the sun is still going to come up tomorrow. I think we showed a lot of class. We played an awfully good team.

“Fenwick, which was outrebounded 27-18 by the taller Lady Indians, fell behind early, as Fort Recovery used a balanced offensive attack and outscored the Lady Eagles 13-2 at the end of the first quarter.

Neither team could grab and keep the momentum during the second period, and both teams spent a majority of their time at the free throw line, where Fort Recovery was 4-for-9 and Fenwick 5-for-11.

Bihn, who along with sister Tina and Jenkins paced Fort Recovery with six rebounds, was forced to sit on the bench of the second period with two fouls.

Jenkins, who has been a member of the Fort Recovery varsity team for the past four seasons, took an active role underneath the basket in Bihn’s absence, posting up for two baskets underneath that helped the Lady Indians hold onto a 23-18 halftime lead.

Things got interesting fairly early in the third quarter, as Fort Recovery began to get impatient on offense.

The Lady Indians, who had lost to the eventual state champion the last three years in the Findlay regional, began to look shaky midway through the third quarter, as three consecutive turnovers sparked Fenwick on a 6-2 run that brought it to within one point, 29-28, with 3:05 to go in the quarter.

The three consecutive turnovers by the Lady Indians all came as they tried to get the ball inside to Bihn, who was playing with three fouls.

Fenwick, putting pressure on the passer and fronting Bihn successfully, called time-out after the third Fort Recovery turnover, and Lennartz and Bihn each hit baskets in the final two minutes.

After Bihn put the Lady Indians up 33-28 with 1:37 to play, Fenwick held for a final shot but it rolled in and out with four seconds left.

As the Lady Indians began to build their lead in the final two minutes of the game, the players on the bench began to exchange smiles and hugs, and even McClung, who rarely shows emotion during games, broke out in a smile and hugged team members in the final minute.

The celebration among the 2,000 or so Fort Recovery fans was raucous, but when the game ended the members of the team seemed subdued.

McClung said that she felt a dramatic come-from-behind victory over Kalida in the regional finals was one reason the Lady Indians didn’t go overboard in their celebration.

“I think after that (win over Kalida), the kids just really believed that we were going to win the state. It was just so much of a team thing,” McClung said.

She also said there was a certain sadness of having seven graduating seniors — four of whom have played for at least three seasons on the varsity — played their final game at Fort Recovery.

Jenkins was a four-year varsity player, while Hartnagle, Lennartz and Tina Bihn were all three-year members.

Lynn Bihn, who on Thursday was named the Division IV player of the year by the Associated Press, will be the only returning starter for the Lady Indians next season, but McClung said the experience of winning a state title will carry on their winning tradition.

Junior Jenny Etzler, who played a huge role in the victory over Kalida in the regional, told McClung shortly after the game, “Coach, we’re going to be here next year.”

“McClung, in her 11th season at Fort Recovery, also said the victory relieved pressure from her team, which was ranked No. 1 for the last two months of the season.

“There’s been a lot of pressure,” said McClung. “They’ve just handled it so well. You have not seen that in their play.”