Indians fall to Raiders

HAILVAND, Ohio — There wasn’t a ton of scoring in the sectional opener.

The Raiders found just enough points to end the Indians’ season.

The eighth-seeded Fort Recovery High School girls basketball team kept the game close with the No. 5 seed host Wayne Trace Raiders during Division III sectional opener Thursday, but couldn’t get shots to fall down the stretch as its season ended with a 35-30 loss.

The win will send Wayne Trace (14-9) to the sectional championship at Parkway where they face the host Panthers.

“We had so many different girls step up in different ways,” FRHS coach Tyler Deitsch said. “It was huge for us to have girls who hadn’t really done things all season had a really big impact today.

“It sucks to lose, especially knowing this team won’t be the same next year losing three seniors. …

“I’m proud of the way these girls fought through adversity … giving us a chance to get back in it with the group that we have is great.”

Two of Fort Recovery’s freshmen stepped up big in the fourth quarter to keep the Indians’ hopes alive.

With a five-point lead, the Raiders applied pressure in the backcourt, forcing freshman Bridget Homan to bring the ball up the floor. Homan responded by taking the ball coast to coast, finishing through contact and converting a three-point play to pull Fort Recovery (8-15) to within two. Homan later scored off of a dribble handoff to hit the final shot from the floor for either team.

FRHS freshman Sophia Guggenbiller goes up for a layup in the sectional opener at Wayne Trace on Thursday that the Indians lost 35-30. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)

 

Fort Recovery also got a lift from freshman Brynn Willmann, who came in to guard the Raiders’ leading scorer Lexi Moore.

“We knew Brynn had a similar body type that matched up with (Moore),” Deitsch said. “Brynn is an aggressive defender and gives us fits in practice all the time … she reads things so well and is a very smart player. That was an adjustment we didn’t necessarily plan on making, but when we did and saw it worked, we stuck with it down the stretch.

“She didn’t get a ton of minutes this year, but the ones that she did were big, especially tonight.”

While the freshmen’s efforts, coupled with WTHS shooting 3-for-11 from the line to finish the game kept the Indians close, Fort Recovery couldn’t find the offense to pull out the win.

“We were able to take care of the ball and keep it in the hands of the girls we needed to,” said Raiders coach Bethany DeJarnett. “We were able to knock down some free throws when we needed to — not as many as we should have down the stretch but it got it done.”

Defensively, Wayne Trace came in with a game plan to try to shut down FRHS senior Wendel. The resulting ball pressure limited the Indians’ opportunities in the paint, as they didn’t hit a layup until the third quarter.

“We knew we needed to know where (Wendel) was at,” DeJarnett said. “With us keeping the ball out of her hands and pushing the ball out when doing their weave was a big focus for us because we knew they were going to try and penetrate to the basket. That was definitely a game changer for us that helped us a lot.”

After hitting five jumpers, Fort Recovery finally scored inside as Wendel drove off a screen by Niekamp with 2 minutes, 10 seconds, left in the third.

Despite the Raiders’ focus on Wendel, she scored a team-high 12 points.

“I just knew I had to score points,” Wendel said. “If I saw an open lane, I was going for it and if people were closing in to me I just went right into them hoping to draw a foul.”

Moore ended with a double-double for Wayne Trace, as she led all players with 15 points and 13 rebounds.

“We did everything that we needed to to stay in the game,” Dietsch said. “We just couldn’t hit shots down the stretch.”

“I’m super proud especially with that young of a team … being able to execute and stay in the game. At the beginning of the year, those were plays that we weren’t going to be able to execute, but our girls have learned a lot and they showed it tonight.”