Zoned out

FORT RECOVERY — Madie Schoenlein took a pass from Makenna Huelskamp at the 1:20 mark of the second quarter and hit a 3-pointer.

It was the Indians’ first made triple of the game after 13 consecutive misses. 

They would not make another.

Fort Recovery High School’s girls basketball team struggled from long distance Friday and mostly could not find good looks in the paint against the Mississinawa Valley Blackhawks as it fell 46-29.

“We tried to hit threes in the first quarter for sure,” said FRHS coach Tyler Deitsch. “We were very unsuccessful there. … We knew if we could hit threes early on, that would be big for us. We knew that this zone was coming, knew that we'd have to be able to shoot out of it, try to get inside-out looks. 

“And we got I mean, we got open looks, we got open shots, and they just weren't falling. We were kind of rushed, didn't really have our feet where they needed to be.”

Schoenlein’s 3-pointer — her only points of the game — and a steal and layup by Cameron Muhlenkamp got the Indians (0-2) within 12 at the half before the deficit quickly pushed back to 17.

Fort Recovery had its best spurt over a three-minute stretch of the third quarter when Bridget Homan and Muhlenkamp were able to force their way inside. Muhlenkamp started the run with a strong post move midway through the period, Homan scored once in the post and hit three free throws, and Huelskamp had a put-back hoop as the Indians pulled to within eight.

However, a Paige Emrick 3-pointer and a hoop from Brooklynn Seubert pushed the Blackhawks (2-1) back ahead by 14 at the quarter break and neither team had much offensive success in the final eight minutes.

Emrick, Mississinawa Valley’s senior point guard, had her best game of the young season with 13 points and four assists. She helped steady her team when Seubert (nine points) was on the bench with foul trouble.

“Tonight was her best night,” said MVHS coach Kirk Comer. “She did a good job. … She played with more confidence.”

It was the Blackhawks’ defense, though, that was their calling card. Running their Zorro zone, they mostly kept Homan and Muhlenkamp out of the paint. Fort Recovery, meanwhile, was unable to hit shots from the outside to open up the zone as it finished 1-of-20 from 3-point range.

It was the second strong defensive effort in a row for Mississinawa Valley, which beat Dixie 60-18 on Tuesday.

“We made some adjustments,” said Comer. “They were getting a lot of threes in the first half because they got it in the middle and they kicked it back out, they just didn't make it. … But we switched some things on defense on our Zorro and did it the way we're supposed to and did a better job of keeping the ball out of the middle.”

The Indians never led, falling behind 10-2 early and giving up the first seven points of the second quarter. They were down 27-10 before Schoenlein’s triple helped close the gap late in the opening half.

“Another slow start for us, which definitely hurt,” said Deitsch. “Having to dig yourself out of a 12-, 13-point hole early in the first half is never a recipe for success. But we definitely learned a lot of things again tonight. We learned that when our defense plays well, that's when our team's at its best. So that'll definitely be something that we'll look to shore up and kind of lean on and continue to develop.”

Only Muhlenkamp reached double figures for the Indians as she finished with an efficient 10 points on 5-of-7 (71%) shooting. The rest of the squad combined to hit for just 18%.

Homan followed with nine points and Huelskamp had six points to go along with her team highs of 10 rebounds and three assists.

Junior varsity

Fort Recovery did the bulk of its work in the opening quarter as it rolled to a 43-25 victory.

The Indians scored almost as many points (23) in the first quarter as Mississinawa Valley did for the entire game. Kendall Ranly had six of her game-high 14 points in the opening period while Hope Evers tallied six of her 11. Four other Indians also put points on the board in the opening seven minutes.

Paisley Hart scored five points, and Brooke Bihn and Brynn Huntsman each had four.

Cassidy Seubert’s seven points paced Mississinawa Valley.