Redskins take the lead for good in third quarter

ST. HENRY - After taking the lead early in the third quarter, St. Henry held Fort Recovery at bay for the rest of the game for a 49-42 Midwest Athletic Conference win on Thursday at Redskin Gymnasium on senior night.

"That's one thing we've been doing better with as the season goes along, of being able to not hold back and not be happy with what we have but to look for more," said St. Henry coach Kurt Huelsman. "Our girls have done a great job of attacking and not letting up. I have to give them credit for that."

The Redskins close out the regular season with a record of 9-12 (3-6 MAC) while Fort Recovery drops to 9-11 (1-8 MAC).

The first half saw the teams battle back and forth, trading the lead four times, and the Indians held a slim 20-19 halftime lead in spite of shooting just 7-of-29 from the field.

"We have to make some shots," said Fort Recovery coach Doug Bihn, whose team shot just 15-of-51 from the field in the game (29.4 percent). "You can't shoot less than 50 percent at the free-throw line (Fort Recovery was actually 10-of-20 from the line) and win these games. You can't shoot 30 percent or less than that from the field. We didn't score."

Tori Lennartz pushed the Indians' lead to 22-19 early in the third quarter, but buckets from Megan Post and Taylor Koesters put St. Henry in front 23-22 at the 5:51 mark of the quarter. Fort Recovery managed to tie it up at 25-all on Jocelyn Kaiser's three-pointer with 2:49 left, but St. Henry senior Ally Mikesell quickly broke the tie to give the Redskins the lead for good.

As the fourth quarter got underway, St. Henry began to push its lead up, leading 33-27 a minute into the final quarter after a pair of Olivia Stahl free throws. Fort Recovery closed the gap to 37-35 with 4:47 left after a Kendra Siefring bucket, but Mikesell got the hoop-and-harm three-point play to push the Redskins' lead back to five. The Indians never got closer than three points the rest of the way.

"Sometimes teams can get stale when another team goes on a run or the defense starts to pressure them a bit," said Huelsman. "That's what Fort Recovery did. They did a very good job of it (pressuring St. Henry, which had 22 turnovers). Our girls did a good job of responding.

"They made a run, and I think our girls did great job of responding," continued Huelsman. "They didn't back down. They kept attacking."

"St. Henry's a good team. A physical team and a quick team," said Bihn. "We rushed things a bit offensively. Hats off to (St. Henry), but we have to take our time and make some shots."

Mikesell paced St. Henry with 13 points while Koesters, the other senior for St. Henry, added 11.

Lennartz led all players with 14 points, but was just 4-of-17 from the field. Siefring added 11 points.

The teams will meet again in the opening game of the Division IV sectional at The Palace on Tuesday at 7 p.m.