2024-25 Fort Recovery girls basketball preview

Fast facts

•With the move to the Southwest District, the Tribe will be on the hunt to make its first regional appearance since the 2010-11 season. FRHS has only competed in the district final twice since the previous regional berth.

•Fort Recovery returns 55.3% of its scoring from the 2023-24 season, largely in part due to Karlie Niekamp accounting for 22.6% of all points scored.

•The Indians last won the Midwest Athletic Conference title in the 2019-20 season under coach Holly Gann.

Projected lineup

Paisley Hart - Guard

Makenna Huelskamp – Guard

Kennedy Muhlenkamp – Guard

Bridget Homan – Guard/forward

Cameron Muhlenkamp – Guard/forward

Karlie Niekamp – Forward

Emma Schmitz – Forward

Key departures

Cali Wendel

9.8 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.6 spg, 2.1 apg

Saige Leuthold

5.3 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 1.9 spg, 1.0 bpg

Sophia Guggenbiller

1.8 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 0.4 spg, 0.1 apg

Key returners

Karlie Niekamp

8.6 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 2.1 apg, 1.6 spg

Kennedy Muhlenkamp

8.3 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.6 bpg

Makenna Huelskamp

7.5 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.0 spg, 1.7 apg

2023-24 season

In his first season at the helm, Tyler Deitsch led the Indians to an 8-15 record, including a 3-6 record in the Midwest Athletic Conference to tie Coldwater for seventh. Fort Recovery was plagued with injuries including returners Kennedy Muhlenkamp and Kensey Gaerke, as well as starter Makenna Huelskamp, leading to a need for freshmen to fill in minutes. The Tribe’s best stretch of the season came early in the new year as it strung together victories against Ansonia, St. John’s and South Adams. FRHS got an 8 seed in the playoffs, but fell in the sectional opener to 5th-seeded Wayne Trace 35-30.

Games to watch

Thursday, Dec. 12, vs. Marion Local

The Tribe faces the Flyers twice between conference and the Battle of State Route 119.

Thursday, Dec. 19, at Parkway

FRHS picked off the Panthers despite finishing below them in the MAC standings last season.

Thursday, Jan. 23, vs. Coldwater

Coldwater and the Indians tied for seventh in the MAC a season ago, despite CHS claiming a 14-point victory.

Coach Tyler Deitsch says

“We’re a young team. We have two seniors and no juniors, so we’re going to be playing a lot of sophomores and having some freshmen getting a decent amount of minutes, but really, relying on our senior leadership. ... We’ve got a lot of length on our team, so being able to use our length and athleticism kind of makes us more versatile, especially defensively. We’re looking to be relentless on defense ... Our motto this year is ‘E.A.T.’ – Effort, Attitude and Toughness. Just always giving full effort all the time, having the right attitude in the right situation and building toughness through that is kind of the big thing we’re doing. ... We’re staying locked in and engaged to make sure we’re doing all the little things right so that the big things work themselves out. ...Everybody gets along super well. Everybody does the right things for the right reasons and putting the team over the top of ourselves is a big thing that just easily comes to this group.”

We don’t have to preach it at all, so playing team basketball is really easy for these guys.”