By Gary R. Rasberry
grasberry@dailystandard.com MARIA STEIN -- Balance was the key word of the night for the Marion Local Flyers on Wednesday.
Three players were in double figures and eight players scored as the Flyers ended the 2004 portion of the schedule with a 9-0 record with a 66-33 win over Troy at the Hangar. The Trojans fall to 1-7 with the loss.
Two nights after junior standout Maria Moeller posted a quadruple double in a win over Wapakoneta, the Flyers picked up scoring from different areas.
One scorer that gave cause for coach Treva Fortkamp to smile was Holly Fortkamp. Most of the season, Fortkamp had been slumping with her shot.
That was not the case on Wednesday as Fortkamp made all five of her shots, including three from behind the arc, to finish with 14 points. "I've been waiting for that for nine games," said coach Fortkamp. "She knows that too. It's just a confidence factor. She has the confidence she can build on from this game. She got on a roll, which is what we need."
Another hot hand was Kelli Stucke. The senior scored 13 points for the second straight game. The first half, Stucke missed all three of her attempts but came to life in the third quarter, hitting three treys and was 50 percent (5-of-10) from the field.
"Kelli was hot Monday night. She was hot tonight," said Fortkamp. "I need to see that from our three spot (in the lineup)."
The Flyers led by 11 at the break before breaking the game wide open in the third quarter thanks to a 25-7 run. Jenna Barhorst began to dominate the inside more in the third quarter, scoring eight of her 14 points in the period.
One key to keeping the Trojans down was stopping junior Kelli Oda. the 5-8 guard found her touch in the first half, scoring 12 of the 16 Troy points in the half. In the second half, Oda was given a closer presence, resulting in her making just one of eight attempts and finishing the (Continued from page 1B)
game with 14 points.
"I thought we played pretty good defense on Monday. (Oda) came out tonight and had 12 of their 16 points in the first half," said coach Fortkamp. Once we stopped her, we were able to stop their team."
The Flyers were 26-of-57 from the floor for 45.6 percent. The Flyers were just off by 0.60 percent from Monday's 46.2 percent shooting in the 71-40 win over Wapak. The Flyers were only 39 percent from the floor in the first half but made up for it with a strong second half of high percentage shots.
"I don't think we shot well in the first half," said Fortkamp. "When you don't shoot well it looks like you're playing bad. We had good ball movement against their zone. Everybody got a bit of the action."
The bench came up with 23 points, mainly from Holly Fortkamp. Andrea Pohlman added seven points when subbing in for Kelsey Schaefer up front.
Moeller, who had 25 points on Monday, opted to pass the ball more against Troy. Moeller finished with seven points before coming out for most of the second half with the game well in hand.
"She didn't shoot near as much as she usually does," Fortkamp said of Moeller, who was 3-of-7 from the field to go with six rebounds and several assists. "That's the kind of player she is. She's able to spread it around. That's good that we know that other people can score. It's just not Maria and Jenna all the time."
Through nine games, Fortkamp has been pleased with her team's play.
"I think we're making process everyday," said Fortkamp. "I tell the girls that we worry about only one game, and that's the present. We don't worry about the future and we don't worry about the past. It's about today's game."
Natasha Huckleby added 10 points for the Trojans.
Marion returns to action on Jan. 6 at home with New Bremen as Midwest Athletic Conference play resumes after the holidays. |
