Wendel’s world

FORT RECOVERY — Cali Wendel entered the fourth quarter with five points as the Indians trailed the Blue  Jays.

That changed in the final period as the senior made five trips to the free-throw line en route to 15 fourth-quarter points to fuel an Indians victory.

Wendel shot the lights out from the stripe in the fourth quarter to push the Fort Recovery High School girls basketball team past the St. John’s Blue Jays 63-53 on Thursday night.

The 51 points the Indians (4-8, 2-2 Midwest Athletic Conference) scored Tuesday against Ansonia were the most for them this season. They followed that performance with an even stronger offensive showing as the ball fell through the rim with ease in three of the four quarters Thursday.

“We were able to get shots within the flow of our offense,” FRHS coach Tyler Deitsch said. “That’s been the key point the last couple of games, not forcing things to try and get offense, but just taking what is there.

“It’s a brand new offense for the girls coming into the year and they’re figuring or have figured it out at this point.”

The third quarter was the key exception.

St. John’s (4-9, 1-3 MAC) held Fort Recovery to just two points in the quarter, which came off of a long two-point jump shot from freshman Cameron Muhlenkamp. The Indians kept the Blue Jays quiet as well, only giving up five points — Abby Kerner hit a three and Emma Will split two pairs of free throws — as the visitors stayed ahead by two points heading into the final period.

FRHS didn’t take long to fix its offensive woes.

Makenna Huelskamp got the final period started with a layup she scored by just driving straight to the rim off of the initial inbound.

Wendel took over from there.

“In the first half, I haven’t been very hot, so why not find my teammates who were hot?” Wendel said. “In the second half, I stayed calm and things just clicked for me.”

Karlie Niekamp passed to Wendel on an inbound play from the baseline and the senior then drove to the hoop, drawing a foul on Megan Kerner. Wendel hit the first foul shot to take a 1-point lead with 7 minutes, 8 seconds, remaining. The second clanked off the rim, but Muhlenkamp pulled down the offensive rebound to retain possession. The freshman found Wendel, who drove back into the lane and drew another foul on Megan Kerner. Wendel hit both free throws.

She then extended the lead to six points one play later as she walked into a wide-open 3-pointer near the top of the key.

Back-to-back baskets by Will cut the Blue Jays’ deficit back to one possession before Niekamp ripped down an offensive rebound and assisted Wendel on a long two-pointer. The seniors connected again 20 seconds later as Wendel assisted Niekamp on an inbound play to push the score to 50-44.

After trading buckets, the Indians held a five-point lead when Wendel recognized they were in the bonus and chose to pull the ball out to the volleyball line. With only two minutes left, Wendel’s decision forced the Blue Jays to come out and defend her, which she took advantage of by again attacking the defenders to pick up fouls.

“When the game was getting towards the end, I knew they had five fouls early in that last quarter,” Wendel said. “I knew just to keep the ball and they were going to foul because they were already down. Just make the free throws and that’s an easy way to get up.”

Wendel made the trip to the line four times in the final two minutes, nailing 7 of 8 freebies to push the lead to 10. Wendel finished 10-of-12 from the charity stripe to score a game-high 20 points.

“That’s the difference in the game,” Deitsch said. “She really iced the game. plus she defended both their best players tonight.”

The game closed out with two more layups from Will, while Niekamp and Huelskamp split free throws.

Wendel was the primary defender on Will in the first half, only allowing six points before the switch allowed Will to tie Wendel for 20. In the second half, Wendel defended Abby Kerner, who had 14 first-half points on four threes. Wendel only allowed the St. John’s senior to score six more points to total 20 as well.

The Indians had three levels of scoring in the game as Wendel handled the free-throw line, Niekamp patrolled the paint with seven hoops near the basket and Huelskamp torched the Blue Jays from distance.

Huelskamp was Fort Recovery’s second-leading scorer with 19 while Niekamp pounded for 16.

“That gives us options so we don’t have to get the ball in one spot and hope that we can get enough to score,” Deitsch said. “Now teams can see that on film and hopefully they have to do a bit more to stop us at different levels.”

St. John’s struggled to rebound in the game as well, grabbing 14 defensive rebounds but giving up 18 offensive boards.

Niekamp and Saige Leuthold both had five offensive rebounds as they pulled down 10 and nine, respectively. The former’s rebounding numbers earned her a double-double.

“Some of the struggles for us has been the ‘one and done,’” St. John’s coach Ian Finn said. “Sometimes I feel we play good defense but we give them two or three opportunities to get a bucket.

“In the second quarter, there was a time where (Muhlenkamp) got an ‘and one,’ missed the free throw, got the offensive rebound and (Niekamp) got another ‘and one.’ Those can be momentum killers.”

With the win, the Indians surpassed their conference win total from a year ago when they finished 1-8 with the sole victory coming against New Knoxville. Fort Recovery has five more MAC games, including the season finale against New Knoxville.

“It’s awesome to see the improvement in everyone,” said Niekamp, one of the five returning players from last year’s team. “Our team isn’t what we were last year. It’s awesome to see our growth from last year to this year and even from the beginning of the season to the end of the season.”

Junior varsity

Fort Recovery lost a low-scoring affair to St. John’s in the two-quarter junior varsity game with a final of 15-12 on Thursday.

The Indians scored six points in both periods, while the Blue Jays put up seven and eight. Grace Moenter hit a pair of threes in the second, including what turned out to be the game-winner.

Muhlenkamp tied Moenter’s game-high six points. Brynn Willmann added four while Sophia Guggenbiller had two.