Flyers fall in regional semi

TIPP CITY - Hustle. Maximum effort by every player on the court. Bodies flying all over the place. Marion Local and Felicity-Franklin put everything on the line Wednesday night in the Division IV regional semifinal.

In typical fashion, it came down to the team that made the least mistakes and biggest plays in crunch time.   

Felicity-Franklin was that team.

Cardinal point guard Ashley Moore scored 12 of her 24 points in the fourth quarter - including the go-ahead three-point play and the insurance free throws in the waning seconds - as Franklin secured a spot in Saturday's regional final with a 65-62 win.

The Cardinals will play the winner of tonight's game between Fort Loramie and Russia on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Tipp City.

"I told the girls 'Don't hang your heads. We had a great season. We were one of 16 left,' " Marion Local coach Treva Forkamp said. "I had great senior leadership from the six that I had. I said 'You've got to look up to them because they were great role models.' "

Marion Local led 47-43 entering the fourth quarter following an 8-0 run to end the third. The Cardinals opened the fourth with consecutive 3-pointers to go in front 49-47, a lead they held until Allie Thobe went coast-to-coast for a layup to put the Flyers on top 57-56 with four minutes to play. Thobe recorded one of her three fourth-quarter steals seconds later for an easy layup to set her team in front 59-56.

Moore scored the final nine points for the Cardinals. Her layup with 1:05 left brought the deficit to 61-60. After Marion Local's Cadence Jacobs hit 1 of 2 from the charity stripe, Moore scored through contact and hit the foul shot for the eventual game-winner. Moore was sent back to the line after a Flyer turnover. She missed the front end of a 1-and-1 but collected her own rebound and sunk two free throws after getting fouled again. Marion had a shot at tying the game but the play was broken up and the three-point attempt hit off the iron.

"It was a set play for Emily Mescher to get the 3 and shoot it," Fortkamp explained. "We never got 14 (Moore) screened. She never really went down.

"She just sat there and waited for that pass to go there. She got a hand on it and that was the difference. We definitely wanted a 3 and I wanted a quick one so we could get another shot off."

The start of the game for the Flyers couldn't have been much worse. The end of the first half, however, couldn't have been much better.

Marion found itself down 8-0 with 5:36 remaining in the first quarter. The Flyers had eight turnovers in the quarter but overcame those to climb back within five at 19-14 by the end.

The Blue and Gold got behind 24-16 early in the second quarter before closing the half on a 15-6 run. A Jacobs trey cut the lead to 24-21. Soon after, Thobe scored in transition and then dished to Emily Mescher to tie the game at 28-all. Jacobs gave the Flyers their first lead of the game with another triple and they stayed in front by a score of 31-30 at halftime.

Brittany Drake's three-pointer gave the Cardinals back the lead with 5:25 in the third quarter. They went up 43-39 after another Drake field goal but Marion went on an 8-0 run over the final 1:40 of the quarter to take the lead into the home stretch.

"It came down to the little things tonight: turnovers, offensive rebounds, not moving our feet and not being able to contain (Moore) going to the hole," Fortkamp said. "(Drake) hit some big threes."

Drake and Moore opened the fourth with back-to-back treys to put the Cards back in front at 49-47 and then the battle to the end began.

Maria Ruwe scored 19 points for the Cardinals, while Drake and Mikayla Hamilton added eight apiece.

The Flyers finished with 21 turnovers compared with Franklin's 19. Jacobs tied Moore's game-high with 24 points and added a team-high seven rebounds. Thobe scored 17 and Mescher added 15. The Midwest Athletic Conference and district champion Flyers end with a record of 23-3.

"I told the girls it's not meant to be," Fortkamp said. "You think it's bad now, but it's a small bump in the road in life. The sun will come up (this) morning. You'll reflect back and look back and think of how much fun you had and what a great season you had."