Sharpshooting showcase

ST. MARYS - Reese Rable made one 3-point attempt her last time on the court.

She quadrupled that number in the first quarter Tuesday night. 

The sharpshooter from St. Marys knocked down four first-quarter treys - and five in the contest - on her way to a game-high 17 points, leading her squad to a 44-21 victory over Fort Recovery.

"Her coming back and hitting four threes in the first half was nice to see," said St. Marys coach Jon Burke, who prior to that noted a rough shooting night from three by Rable and her teammates in a narrow win over Defiance last week. "Our defense was aggressive and we were able to get some turnovers. I would have liked to have seen us get out a little more in transition, but I was really pleased with how we played. We shot the ball well. We played well defensively. Fort Recovery did a nice job of slowing us down. It was a good game to win. A good, physical game." 

Fort Recovery played zone defense, but it didn't prevent Reese Rable from getting into a zone.

She hit three triples before the halfway point of the first quarter, and the Roughriders led 17-9 at the conclusion. The Indians had six turnovers in the frame, a common theme the rest of the night. 

A Cora Rable trey provided St. Marys its only points through the first 7 ½ minutes of the second quarter. The Indians had their chances to inch closer, but couldn't cash in. St. Marys got a little foul happy late in the half, and while the visitors had five more free-throw chances in the half, they made just 1-of-7, and Morgan Hesse scored two late buckets to put St. Marys in front 24-13 at the intermission.

"In the first half, we did a lot of things right," said Fort Recovery coach Holly Gann, whose team went on to trail 36-17 after three quarters. "We slowed them down. We controlled the tempo. But offensively, we couldn't handle the ball. We made some silly turnovers and unforced errors. We just had some mental mistakes. Those are some things we've got to clean up." 

Reese Rable went 6-of-12 from the floor and 5-of-9 from 3-point land. Cora Rable (13 points) and Hesse (12) joined her in double figures for St. Marys (6-2). 

Kennedy Muhlenkamp scored nine to pace the Indians (0-6), who finished with 22 turnovers.

Both teams return to league play on Thursday. St. Marys hosts backyard rival Wapakoneta in a Western Buckeye League contest while Fort Recovery plays host to Versailles in a Midwest Athletic Conference matchup.