Indians use 'Will' power to defeat Cavs

FORT RECOVERY - An old proverb goes "Where's there's a will, there's a way."

Fort Recovery has Whitney Will, and for three quarters, she had her way scoring points.

The Indians' junior personally outscored Coldwater through three quarters and the Indians cruised to a 6-0 record in Midwest Athletic Conference play with a 56-34 win over the Cavaliers Thursday night at Fort Site Fieldhouse.

The win sets up a battle for sole possession of first in the MAC next Thursday when Fort Recovery (13-2, 6-0 MAC) travels to Minster (14-3, 7-0 MAC).

Will outscored Coldwater 8-4 in the first quarter, 17-14 at the half and finished her scoring night with 23 points through three quarters with Coldwater having just 22 in the same stretch.

"Whit had a great game." Fort Recovery coach Brian Patch said. "Last year she had her season high against (Coldwater) and this year she has her season high (against Coldwater). She's played well. She was aggressive going inside. She missed a couple (Will was 10-of-18 from the floor) she'd like to have back. Overall she played really well."

Denise Schwieterman put Coldwater (7-9, 2-4 MAC) on the scoreboard first with a bucket 46 seconds into the contest, but Grace Thien's three-pointer with 6:41 left was the start of Fort Recovery's cruise to victory. Thien's trey kicked off a 15-0 run that featured scoring from Will, Jocelyn Kaiser, Kiah Wendel and Carly Stone. Danielle Welsch ended the scoring drought for the Cavaliers with a bucket with 1:41 left in the quarter. The Indians, however, led 19-4 after eight minutes and showed no signs of letting up.

"We knew we wanted to come out and get a hot start," Patch said. "We did a great job coming out. We threw a couple of new wrinkles out there. We were still shaky at times on what we needed to do. The most important thing was our effort was great. We were moving the ball well against their 2-3 (defense). We got good looks. Grace hits a three and we started getting the ball inside."

"That hurt us," Coldwater coach Connie May said of the Indians' run. "We had opportunities for layups and short shots and didn't hit. When you shoot 27 percent for the game and they shoot 50, you don't have an opportunity to win."

The Indians used pressure defense to take the Cavaliers out of their game. Maura Hoying, Coldwater's leading scorer at 10.6 ppg., attempted just three shots, all in the first half, and was held scoreless. The coup de grâce came in the final minute of the half when after a Kaiser bucket, Coldwater turned the ball over twice under the Indians' basket, resulting in two easy layups for Will.

"Defensively, our kids did a great job executing the game plan," Patch said. "We were fortunate they missed some shots."

"Their front-court defense hurt us," May said. "All those front court turnovers (Coldwater had 18 turnovers in the game) was really the ballgame. There was no letdown or give-in. It was a nice game for (Fort Recovery)."

Leading 37-14 at the half, Fort Recovery pushed the lead up to 30 at 50-20 midway through the third quarter. Patch called off the pressure and subbed out the starters down the stretch as Coldwater managed to make the deficit a little closer down the stretch.

In addition to Will's 23, Kaiser finished with 12 and Thien added 11.

Schwieterman led Coldwater with 10. Welsch finished eight.

Before next Thursday's game with Minster, Fort Recovery hosts St. Marys on Saturday with a noon JV tip. Coldwater returns Monday to host the Jets from Franklin Monroe.