14 for the freshman

FORT RECOVERY — Cameron Muhlenkamp entered the starting lineup in early January after her sister, Kennedy, suffered a season-ending injury.

In the freshman’s first nine starts, she totaled 13 points.

Start number 10 beat the previous nine combined.

Muhlenkamp had a career night to lift Fort Recovery High School’s girls basketball team to a 47-43 victory over the Celina Bulldogs on Monday.

“Anytime we can get a win at this point in the season going into the tournament is huge, especially with a bit of a slump we’ve been on since we went on that (winning) streak mid-January,” FRHS coach Tyler Deitsch said. “Obviously we would have liked to not lose the big lead, but being able to fight through and overcome some obstacles to make sure we got back into the position that we needed to … is huge for us. Definitely building momentum going forward and into the rest of the year and in the tournament.”

Muhlenkamp’s first start came on Jan. 4 at Versailles and she scored only one point in the game. In the eight games between then and Monday, her highest total was four points in a win over St. John’s.

Against the Bulldogs (7-13), Muhlenkamp scored a career-high 14 points, 12 of which came in the second half.

Her sole bucket in the first came off of a drive where she drew a foul, but couldn’t complete the 3-point play.

Muhlenkamp’s first basket in the third quarter came in transition as she led the break off of a steal by Makenna Huelskamp. Later, she scored on a step-through from the middle of the lane, drew a foul and finished the three-point play with the free throw. The freshman added one more point by splitting a pair of bonus free throws.

In the fourth quarter, Muhlenkamp finished with two more hoops on which she cut behind her defender and received a pass for an easy layup.

“I just saw it wide open and I wanted to score, so I went for it,” Muhlenkamp said. “It just helps having the upperclassmen to help guide me, and our coach tells me exactly what to do, so I don’t have to do a lot of things.

“It feels really good and I’m ready to go into the next game with my confidence boosted.”

The freshman added five rebounds and an assist to her stat line.

Outside of numbers that show up on the box score, Muhlenkamp came up with a huge play late in the game for the Indians in a different way. With 39.6 seconds left and a one-point lead, Fort Recovery (7-12) had a sideline-out-of-bounds play out of a timeout, but was struggling to enter the ball. With the five-second count looming, Karlie Niekamp tried to inbound to Saige Leuthold, but Kate Braun knocked the ball loose.

Muhlenkamp was able to quickly dive on the floor to save the possession as Deitsch called another timeout.

“Really, I kind of just blacked out,” Muhlenkamp said. “I saw the ball on the floor and knew I couldn’t let them get it, so I dove for it.”

The Indians safely inbounded the ball on the ensuing possession and went 5-of-6 from the foul line in the final 28.5 seconds. Cali Wendel hit all four of her free throws, including the final two with 1.5 seconds to ice the game.

“We knew they had five fouls,” Wendel said. “Our coach told us to be strong with the ball because we want them to foul us and get on the free throw line and make these shots to get ahead in the game and close it.

“I knew I could hit them. We work on a lot of pressure free throws in practice. I got a lot of confidence from coaches and teammates and knew I could do it.”

Offensive woes plagued the Bulldogs in the second and third periods as they managed just nine points. The Indians boasted a 12-point lead going into the fourth quarter, but turnover trouble allowed Celina to rally and tie the game with 1:22 left as Alex Kimmel converted a three-point play.

But FRHS reclaimed the advantage, Muhlenkamp saved the key loose ball and free throws finished off the win.

“There were times where we played well and times where we didn’t,” Celina coach Bret Baucher said. “We put ourselves in a hole. That’s kind of been our M.O. this year.

“We found a way to dig out, but it’s hard at this level to get over that hump.”

Kimmel led Celina with a game-high 17 points on an efficient night from the floor shooting 6-for-7.

Brooke Baucher added 16 points to Celina’s total.

The two combined for 18 of the Bulldogs’ 21 points in the fourth quarter to fuel the comeback.

Muhlenkamp’s career offensive output couldn’t have came at a better time, as Celina held Niekamp and Huelskamp to a combined five points.

Wendel tied Muhlenkamp with 14 points after a solid first quarter shooting the ball.

Leuthold also finished in double digits for the Indians with 12 points.

Fort Recovery boasted an advantage on the glass, outrebounding Celina 32-24. Niekamp pulled down the most of anyone in the game, securing seven boards.

Turnovers kept the Bulldogs in the game. Despite giving up the rock 18 times, they forced Fort Recovery to turn it over 26 times, including eight in the final period during the comeback.

Junior varsity

Despite struggling in the second half, the Indians pulled out a 26-25 victory over Celina to pick up their third win of the year.

Fort Recovery (3-14) was outscored 19-12 in the second half, but a strong second quarter gave them enough padding to hold on. Muhlenkamp had four points in the quarter, while Bridget Homan and Madie Schoenlein each added three.

Muhlenkamp also led the junior varsity game with eight points, with four in both the second and third quarters.

Allana Carroll led the Bulldogs with 10, seven of which came in the final period.

After Carroll, Alaina Vehorn scored six points on a pair of third-quarter triples.

Sophia Guggenbiller scored all seven of her points for Fort Recovery in the second half to help fend off Celina’s comeback.