Fort Recovery loses at the last second

ARCANUM, Ohio — Makenna Huelskamp didn’t play in the Indians’ season opener, but she hit a key shot late in the fourth quarter.

With less than two seconds remaining, Alexis Gibbons came in to spoil Huelskamp’s season debut.

Despite Huelskamp hitting a go-ahead basket with just 1.1 seconds remaining for the Fort Recovery High School girls basketball team, Gibson sank a 15-foot buzzer beater to complete a 34-33 comeback on Saturday.

The Indians (0-2) played a strong first half, led by senior forward Karlie Niekamp, who had all 12 of her points in the first two quarters. Along with Niekamp’s strong first-half performance, Huelskamp hit a three, Bridget Homan had a hoop and two free throws and Kennedy Muhlenkamp hit a shot in each quarter to give FRHS a 25-18 lead at the intermission.

Fort Recovery’s offense slowed down in the third quarter, with Huelskamp having the only field goal on a 3-pointer. She also split a pair of foul shots, while Muhlenkamp made a pair. Despite only scoring six points, the Tribe saw its advantage grow to eight, as the Trojans (1-0) only managed five points.

The Indians’ offensive production came to a halt in the final period, as they surrendered the lead before Huelskamp’s shot with 1.1 remaining reclaimed it at 33-32. Gibbons followed the shot with her own game winner that also put her past Niekamp for the game high at 14 points.

Gabrielle Wooten was the only other Trojan with multiple field goals, finishing with two.

Jay opens

WESTFIELD — The Jay County girls swim team opened up Saturday with a third-place finish at the Kristen Rice Women’s Invitational hosted by Westfield.

Jay County finished with 392 points, trailing behind Westfield (802) and Yorktown (562) and beating Roncalli (180).

Maddy Snow took home the only victory, as her score of 159.85 in the 1-meter diving beat out Westfield’s Alexis Ball by 37.6 points.

The next best finish came from Brooklynn Byrum, Aubrey Millspaugh, Maisey Keller and Sophia Hoevel took fourth in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 4 minutes, 22.62 seconds.

Millspaugh also had the highest individual finish in a race, as her time of 6:13.75 was good for fifth in the 500 freestyle. She also placed sixth (2:37.81) in the 200 individual medley.

Both the 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay netted the Patriots 28 points by finishing fifth.

Kenzie Huey had the only other top-six finish, hitting the wall in 1:13.82 during the 100 backstroke.

Tribe dominates

FORT RECOVERY — The Fort Recovery boys bowling team bounced back from its opening loss with a 2,787-1,670 victory over Mississinawa Valley on Saturday at Miracle Lanes.

A.J. Siefring put together a strong day, rolling a 246 in the first individual game and following it up with a 237. Riley Grieshop and Gabe Acheson also broke 200 in the second game with scores of 247 and 200. In the first game, they shot 193 and 170, respectively.

James Westgerdes and Clint Pottkotter got the nod in the first game, putting up scores of 146 and 144, before Eli Lennartz and Anthony Roessner had 193 and 160 in the second.

During the baker games, the Indians (1-1) averaged 170.2 pins per game with a high of 205 in the first and 150 in the final.

Schoen leads

FORT RECOVERY — Ella Schoen put together the best day for the Fort Recovery girls bowling team as it took down Mississinawa Valley 2,507-1,798 at Miracle Lanes on Saturday.

Schoen finished as the only Indian with an average over 200 in the individual games, as she shot a 218 and 190.

Deanna Brown put up the second-best day for FRHS by rolling a 175 and  a 189.

Kayla Heitkamp and Saidy DeRoo each bowled in both individual games, totaling 312 and 294 pins, respectively.

Emily Lauber rolled a 137 in the first game, before Lilah Thein replaced her in the second, shooting a 184.

Fort Recovery (1-1) got 808 pins from the five baker games, putting up scores of 121, 158, 156, 186 and 187.

Tankers dominate

CONVERSE — The Jay County Winter Swim Team had five high-point winners and made five divisional cuts at the 2024 Oak Hill Swim Club Eagle Invitational on Saturday.

Cooper Glentzer made a divisional cut and was a high-point winner. His fifth-place finish (2 minutes, 21.92 seconds) in the 200-meter individual medley was good enough for the divisional cut. He also placed third in the 100 backstroke and seventh in the 50 and 100 freestyles to be the 13-14-year-old boys high point winner.

Other divisional cuts came from Elly Byrum (100 freestyle and 100 backstroke), Isla Kaiser (100 freestyle), Roz Diller (50 freestyle) and Grant Glentzer (100 freestyle).

Byrum also finished as the 13-14-year-old girls high point winner. Byrum combined her strong performances in the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke with the 100 breaststroke and 50 freestyle to claim the title.

Hayden and Carsyn Guggenbiller were the other two high point winners, claiming the 8-and-younger and 9-10-year-old girls, respectively. Hayden Guggenbiller finished first in the 50 freestyle, 25 butterfly and 25 backstroke, while Carysn Guggenbiller claimed a victory in the 50 butterfly.