2025-26 Fort Recovery girls basketball preview

2024-25 season:

The Tribe finished last season just under .500 with a 12-13 record. After moving to the southwest district, Fort Recovery reached the district title game for the first time since the 2010-11 season but fell to Arcanum 44-25. FRHS had a rough start to the season, dropping five of its first seven games before a 6-1 stretch that included Midwest Athletic Conference wins over New Bremen and Coldwater lifted it above .500. It went on a three-game slide before heading into the postseason. The Indians finished in a tie with Coldwater for sixth in the MAC at 3-6.

Coach Tyler Deitsch says:

Coach Tyler Deitsch says

“This team, it's gonna be finding that new role and trusting themselves and being able to do things that other people aren't willing to do. ... Really digging in and being more aggressive defensively this year and helping that lead into everything else that we that we're trying to do. ... We want to pick the ball up as early as we can. What we're really trying to do is make teams do what we think that they're not very good at. So instead of just focusing on trying to stop the basketball and ... protecting the basket, not giving layups ... we want to take away any open shots on the outside and just make teams do what we don't think that they're very good at. So getting things left, really shrinking the floor as much as we can and then really applying pressure and creating some chaos to give us an advantage going the other way ... So that's the big thing is really just taking away things that teams are really good at, which then just allows us to play within our system versus being more matchup dependent ...”

Projected starters

Madie Schoenlein – Guard

Makenna Huelskamp – Guard

Cameron Muhlenkamp – Guard

Emma Schmitz – Forward

Bridget Homan – Forward

Top returners:

Bridget Homan

8.6 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 1 apg, 1.4 spg

Makenna Huelskamp

6.3 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.3 apg, 2.1 spg

Cameron Muhlenkamp

2.8 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 1.8 apg, 1.8 spg

Key departures:

Karlie Niekamp

13.0 ppg, 9.4 rpg, 1.6 apg, 2.3 spg

Kennedy Muhlenkamp

11.4 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 1.4 apg, 2.0 bpg

Schedule:

Date    Opponent    Time

Friday, Nov. 21    Memorial    6 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 28    Mississinawa Valley    6 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 2    Newton    6 p.m.

Thursday, Dec. 4    St. Henry    6 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 6    Jay County    noon

Tuesday, Dec. 9    Crestview    6 p.m.

Thursday, Dec. 11    Marion Local    6 p.m.

Monday, Dec. 15    Ansonia    6 p.m.

Thursday, Dec. 18    Parkway    6 p.m.

Monday, Dec. 22    Houston    6 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 27    Preble Shawnee    11 a.m.

Monday, Dec. 29    Graham Local    3 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 8    New Bremen    6 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 10    Arcanum    1 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 15    Minster    6 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 20    South Adams    7 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 22    Coldwater    6 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 24    Franklin Monroe    10 a.m.

Thursday, Jan. 29    New Knoxville    6 p.m.

Monday, Feb. 2    Celina    6 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 5    Versailles    6 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 12    St. John’s    6 p.m.

Home games in bold

Games to watch:

Friday, Nov. 28, vs. Mississinawa Valley

The visit from the Blackhawks marks the first big test of the season. Mississinawa Valley advanced to the 2025 regional final in Division VII before falling to Fort Loramie while the Indians were Division VI district finalists.

Thursday, Dec. 18, vs. Parkway

A year ago, these teams represented the split in the Midwest Athletic Conference. Parkway was fifth in the league at 5-4 while Fort Recovery sat sixth at 3-6. If the Indians are to move into the top half of the MAC standings, this is one of the results they will have to flip.

Saturday, Jan. 10, vs. Arcanum

The Trojans ended Fort Recovery’s 2025 tournament run by a 44-25 score in the district championship game. Arcanum lost its top scorer to graduation but returns every other significant contributor. The Indians know a tournament rematch is a possibility, so this will be a chance to learn where they stand.

Fast facts:

•The Indians return 41.2% of their points from the 2024-25 season. A bulk of that scoring came from Cameron Muhlenkamp, Bridget Homan and Makenna Huelskamp.

•This will be Tyler Deitsch’s third year at the helm of the Fort Recovery program. The Tribe is 20-28 (6-13 Midwest Athletic Conference) under his leadership.

•The Indians’ district dry spell continued as they fell to Arcanum in the 2024-25 final 44-25. Despite making the championship game last year, FRHS hasn’t claimed a title since the 2011 season.