Getting defensive

FORT RECOVERY - St. Marys' defense was cranked up from the opening tip.

The Roughriders' pressure forced Fort Recovery into turnovers and those turnovers more often than not turned into points as the Roughriders picked up 59-37 victory in non-conference girls basketball action on Tuesday at Fort Site Fieldhouse. The win moves the Roughriders to 6-1 with Fort Recovery dropping to 1-5.

St. Marys' full-court press and half-court defense forced the Indians into 22 turnovers, with the Roughriders getting a number of layups off steals.

"I thought our roster, top to bottom, was tenacious defensively," said St. Marys coach Jonathan Burke. "Proud of our defense. Thought we were able to get out in transition a lot. Kids worked hard tonight."

After a Whitley Rammel bucket with 6:41 remaining in the first quarter got Fort Recovery within a point at 3-2, the Roughriders kicked into gear, going on a 7-0 run as the Indians went nearly six minutes before getting another basket. After Fort got its fourth point, St. Marys went on a 15-0 run as Morgan Hesse came up with several steals-and-baskets to push the lead to 25-4 with three minutes to go in the half.

Fort Recovery did show signs of life late in the second, as Mara Pearson, Cali Wendel and Saige Leuthold got points to end the half on an 8-0 run to cut the margin to 25-12.

"Offensively, we didn't help ourselves," said Fort Recovery coach Holly Gann. "We turn it over, it becomes a fast break and a scramble. St. Marys is a great team. We knew that coming in."

Any momentum Fort Recovery had at the end of the first half was gone at the start of the second, as the Roughriders opened the third quarter with a 9-0 run with Hesse and Karsyn McGlothen picking up buckets.

The rest of the game had St. Marys trying to work the point margin to the 30-point mark while Fort Recovery tried to keep it around 20.

"I'm proud of the physicality Morgan and Karsyn played with. They played big in the post and we need that," said Burke. "We have some good teams coming up that have post-presence as well."

"Defense is what we focus on because we have to be able to do that first," said Gann. "The positive is when I thought when we were able to get into our half-court defense, we were able to defend and slow them down."

Kendall Dieringer led St. Marys with 13 points with Hesse adding 12. Noelle Ruane and Cora Rable each had nine.

Pearson finished with 14 points and nine rebounds for Fort Recovery. Wendel scored 10.

Both teams are in conference play on Thursday. St. Marys travels to Wapakoneta to face its Auglaize County rival while Fort Recovery plays host to Parkway.