By the dozen

FORT RECOVERY — Late in the third quarter, the Indians ran a set play where Cali Wendel received a flare screen to get open on the left wing. Kennedy Muhlenkamp delivered a perfect skip pass to hit Wendel in her shooting pocket, who in turn knocked down her first three of the night, and cut the Cardinals’ lead to five with 2 minutes, 30 seconds left in the third quarter.

In turn, the Cardinals responded with 12 straight points.

The New Bremen Cardinals went on a 12-0 run the final minutes of the third until half-way through the fourth to power past the Fort Recovery High School girls basketball team 40-29 in Thursday's Midwest Athletic Conference opener.

“The girls played hard like they always do,” FRHS coach Tyler Deitsch said. “Had trouble finding the basket tonight. We couldn’t get it in from close, or far out.

“But, whenever it comes down to it, we get into crunch time, and we really have to put the pressure on and don’t have to worry about foul trouble like we do in the first half, we can really get after things and cut big deficits down.

“But with our numbers and fouling issues, it’s tough to be able to play like that for a full game.”

The Indians (1-4, 0-1 MAC) were scoreless through the first half of the third quarter, before Karlie Niekamp got the ball with her back to the basket. She turned to make a move over her right shoulder and pump faked to get Chloe Homan – who blocked four shots in the game – off her feet to complete and up-and-under play to break the scoring.

After a free throw from Marina Nelson, Wendel hit her shot to cut the lead to five.

The Cardinals (1-2, 1-0 MAC) ended the period on a 6-0 run with a bucket from Homan on an offensive rebound, a fast break by Michaela Firks and a drive where Firks was fouled but couldn’t complete the 3-point play.

“I think we attacked more offensively is the first thing,” New Bremen coach Andy Timmerman said. “We didn't force anything. We were patient … just we offensively had a lot more fluency.”

The run continued to start the fourth on a drive from Nelson, a free throw by Mary Rindler and a Firks’ three.

The run ended when Niekamp put back an offensive rebound at the 4:30 mark.

Niekamp sparked the offense in the fourth quarter for the Indians, scoring nine points, including a transition 3-point shot and a late-game steal in the back court.

“I was just trying to keep working hard, keep chipping away at the deficit,” Niekamp said. “I just kept working hard to keep my teammates going and see what we could get.”

The Indians got off to a slow start offensively, scoring six points in both the first and second quarter and five in the third. The best period for Fort Recovery was the fourth, putting 12 on the board.

Against Jay County on Dec. 2, the Indians had a slow start as well, scoring nine combined before dropping 19 in the fourth quarter.

“We’re very good situationally,” Deitsch said. “Whenever we struggle to get into that flow, because we have girls out with foul trouble and we're just missing shots, it's tough.

“When you put this team’s feet to the fire, that's when they stop thinking about things and they just start reacting and playing and relying on what they know instead of (overthinking it).”

New Bremen’s leader was Firks with 15 on 6-of-13 from the floor and 2-for-5 from the free throw line. 

Homan also made a large impact, netting a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds to go along with her four rejections.

Despite being forced in and out of the game due to foul trouble, Niekamp led the Tribe with 13 points and eight rebounds.

The next step for Fort Recovery will be finding a way to spread out its efficiency in the first three quarters as well, rather than playing from behind in the fourth. A big key to that will be having Niekamp out on the floor.

“No. 3 is a motor for us, and we need her on the floor,” Deitsch said. “Whenever she is, she does great things, …

“So we need to be able to keep her going (and keep) our girls from being getting frustrated, especially dropping a few games in a row here. But she's someone that has definitely been a bright spot in our team.”