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Coldwater players Connie (Timmerman) Holdheide, Connie (Alig) May and head coach Charlie Maier celebrate after the Cavaliers won the 1990 Division III state girls basketball title at St. John Arena at Ohio State.
In 1990, the Coldwater and Fort Recovery girls basketball teams both won their first state championships in the same season.
It remains the only time two MAC teams have done so, and both won their first titles in dominant fashion.
"We were glad we went Division III and they were Division IV, thank the Lord," said Amy (Siefring) Meyer, a sophomore on that Coldwater team and now the Cavaliers' coach. "I mean, that would've been a really big problem in our world."
The Cavaliers made two trips to the state semifinals, in 1985 and 1988, and the Indians went to the regional final for three straight years but lost to the eventual state champion - first Delphos St. John's, then Kalida twice - every time.
"We were so close each year, it showed us without a doubt that we could be successful if we kept working hard and believing in ourselves, our teammates, and our goals," said Diane McClung, the Fort Recovery coach. "We went to Columbus after we lost at regionals and watched the state games, and that further reinforced that we could be successful at the state level."
Going into the 1989-1990 season, Fort Recovery brought back a raft of experience.
The four starters and the top bench player were seniors, with junior Lynn (Bihn) Hughes joining the starting lineup for a veteran group.
"Jennia Jenkins, Kathy Lennartz, and Tammy Hartnagle could shoot the outside shot as well as go all the way to the bucket or pull up for the shot," McClung said. "Tina and Lynn Bihn were our inside players, with both being excellent on the boards and with the inside shot. All five players could run the floor on the break and they were all excellent passers."
Fort Recovery's Lynn (Bihn) Hughes goes up for a shot against Middletown Fenwick in the 1990 Division IV state final at St. John Arena in Columbus. Hughes scored 16 points to earn MVP honors in the tournament.
Coldwater' seniors, Connie (Alig) May and Connie (Timmerman) Holdheide, were on the 1988 team. The Cavaliers also had two juniors, Cheryl Moeller and Nichole Mustard, as well as three talented underclassmen, sophomores Meyer and Karla (Thobe) Siereveld and freshman Jenny Rauh.
Like Fort Recovery, Coldwater had a tight-knit team. With fewer game reps, the Cavaliers' chemistry came almost entirely from playing together in the offseason.
"I think essentially our team was built in the summer, because we played everywhere and anywhere we could play and we went as a group," Meyer said. "We played at Fort Recovery, we played at St. Marys, we played at Marion, Celina. Anybody that would let us play, we piled into a car and we drove and we played basketball."
Those teams had four 1,000-point scorers - Rauh, still the MAC's all-time leading scorer, as well as May, Meyer and Hughes.
Both teams also leaned on a full-court press, particularly Coldwater.
"We had to, actually, because we weren't that tall," said Charles Maier, the Coldwater coach. "We had good athletes. We weren't that tall, but we had a lot of people at 5-8, 5-9, 5-10, that type of thing, and we had quick guards."
In order to maintain pressure for the whole game, Maier played a deep bench, often giving eight or nine girls regular minutes to keep everyone fresh.
Despite a strong area basketball scene - including Celina, which won its first state title a year later, and several dangerous MAC opponents - both teams went undefeated into January.
Maier added bigger schools like Toledo Central Catholic to the schedule to show his players they could compete against anybody, and Coldwater won its first 10 games before a one-point loss to Spencerville.
Fort Recovery started out 8-0 before heading to the Pit in Coldwater on Jan. 11.
"Fort Recovery was very much a nemesis," Meyer said, "to the point that I don't even like the color purple."
"I think it was because we were so close and we worked so hard with those people," May said. "Yeah, they're a rival, but they're also good friends. It's like a game of poker - you don't want to get beat by your buddy."
The Indians prevailed, scoring 15 unanswered points in the third quarter to pull away for a 78-62 win.
"We turned the ball over too many times in the first half, did not handle their pressure well, and led by only three at halftime," McClung said. "At the beginning of the second half Coldwater tied the game, but we responded well. We turned up the offensive and defensive pressure in the second half, cut down on turnovers, and got the ball inside to Lynn Bihn while Hartnagle, Lennartz, (Jenny) Etzler and Jenkins got the shots on the outside."
Against the Cavaliers, Hughes set a new career high with 31 points, 21 of which came in the second half.
"When you've got somebody who's tall like that, and who had strength when they got the ball to her, we pressured the guards," Maier said. "If you could pressure the guards so they couldn't get the ball to her, we negated their size.
"They had pretty good guards too," he added with a laugh. "That made it more difficult."
From that point, neither team lost again.
In the tournament, Coldwater faced a strong district, where from 1989-1992, the winner went on to the state title game.
Fairview ended the Cavaliers' season the year before and did so again in 1991 in a triple-overtime classic. But in 1990, the Apaches came up against O-G in the semifinals, and the Titans knocked them out. The Cavaliers then rallied from a 14-point deficit to beat O-G in the final.
Fort Recovery's toughest test came when it again ran into Kalida in the regional final.
With a minute to go, the Wildcats led by five, and four Fort Recovery starters fouled out. But in the final 67 seconds, led by Tina Bihn and the subs, the Indians outscored Kalida 11-2 to win their first regional title.
"They played their hearts out and they did it, they pulled it out," Hughes said. "I think that goes back to believing in each other, supporting each other.
"I really think we had a special team. We truly had a special team that year, and they don't come around very often."
The state tournaments were held at St. John Arena, predecessor of the Schottenstein Center at Ohio State.
More than 10,000 fans watched the three games in Division IV and 11,000 watched Division III.
"It was packed," Hughes said. "I think that's huge, playing there versus playing in the arena they play in today. You don't get that feeling, because it's so huge that obviously you're not going to sell that arena out. But at St. John, it was pretty close."
Tim Buschur, the Fort Recovery athletic director at the time, relayed that they sold 2,500 tickets. With Coldwater fans who went to both games and other fans from around the MAC, he estimated it may have been more than 4,000 rooting on Fort Recovery.
Coldwater took on Heath in the state semifinals on Thursday. The Cavaliers never led in regulation and trailed with nine minutes to play, but the Bulldogs started to tire out, and Coldwater tied the game with 56 seconds left.
"We knew that we could score, and score quickly," May said. "I know we were rattled, but Charlie always instilled that 'never give up' attitude, and I think we all fed off of that."
After the Bulldogs retook the lead with 29 seconds to go, Coldwater missed two shots before Kris Dupps grabbed the rebound for Heath. Holdheide then forced a turnover, and Moeller hit the tying shot at the buzzer.
"One of the drills that we ran was what we called a tip-from-behind drill," Maier said. "When somebody's ahead of us, we're sprinting from behind, trying to tip the ball to one of our players. As soon as we'd get the tip, the player that tipped it would stop and go back toward the basket, and the player would try to hit them with the pass off the tip. That's exactly what happened."
Coldwater outscored the Bulldogs 4-0 in overtime for the win. After the loss to the Cavaliers, Heath won 54 straight games before losing to Coldwater again in the 1992 state semis.
Fort Recovery played Berlin Hiland the next night and took a 10-point halftime lead on the way to a 60-43 win, as it improved to 26-0.
"Back then, it seemed like life and death," Hughes said. "It wasn't life and death, but for our community to experience something like that was huge, and it showed. There was a sign in Fort Recovery: 'If you're the last one out, turn the lights off.'
A cardboard sign near Fort Recovery High School in 1990 celebrated the county's two state champion girls basketball teams.
"I'm sure there were people left in Fort Recovery," she said, "but I would say the majority of Fort Recovery was at that game."
Fort Recovery's players and coaches were in the stands for the first game on Saturday, when Coldwater took on Brookfield for the Division III title.
"I remember they brought their girls down in a big limo," Maier said. "We were in our yellow bus, and they were in a big white limousine.
"They were pretty confident, but they weren't the caliber of that Heath team."
Brookfield led by 13 in the third before Mustard and May sparked another rally.
The Cavaliers held the Warriors scoreless for four minutes to end the third and took the lead in the fourth, then finished on an 8-0 run to seal a 62-55 win.
"That's a feeling that you never forget," May said. "It's an ultimate high, because you know you have 5,000 people, basically your whole town, there watching: your friends and your family, the people in my class, from my friends that I ran around with to the guys, Tony Dues and Brian Harlamert, Steve Howe and all those guys. … It meant so much, not only to us."
Fort Recovery took on Fenwick that night and led the whole way. Fenwick got close with four minutes to go, but Fort Recovery responded with another big run to win the state title and finish 27-0.
"We had never faced a team that tried to slow the game down so much," McClung said. "We were able to get the game moving faster than they wanted, but did not take a decisive lead until in the fourth quarter, when our pressure, drives, inside shots and free throws gave us the win."
"This team's composure under fire made all the difference," she added.
Both teams won a second title within two years. Fort Recovery went back in 1991, and the Indians beat McDonald in overtime behind Hughes' 43 points, which remains a state tournament record. Coldwater beat Loudonville to win another Division III title in 1992.
"You win that first one, and success brings success," May said. "For a long time, our teams were extremely competitive, making it to regionals often, making it to state and winning at state again in 1992.
"I think that first time, there's something special about that," she continued, "because it's a feeling nobody ever knew, and once you achieve that, you just want more of it."
