Fort Loramie headed to state and “hungry for more”
By Tim Langevin
Fort Loramie sent shockwaves throughout the girls Division IV tournament landscape with a resounding 48-30 win against top ranked and previously unbeaten Ottoville Thursday night.
On Saturday evening, the Lady Redskins complied with an encore performance in the regional finals by defeating New Madison Tri-Village 42-26, and in the process, earned a berth in the 35th Annual Girls State Basketball Tournament at Value City Arena in Columbus.
A total of 199 schools started the tourney trail and now, The Final Four matchups have been established. Fort Loramie (22-4) will battle Canal Winchester (26-1) in the state semi-final at 3:00 PM. on Friday. Neighboring Minster (18-6) faces Berlin Hiland (24-2) in the other semi-final contest at 1:00 PM.
“These girls wanted it. And they are hungry for more,” Loramie coach Carla Siegel said amidst a court-side, mob scene. “Will they play their butts off in Columbus? That’s up to them.”
An undersized and inexperienced Patriot squad hung tough with Fort Loramie for two and a half periods, but then ran out of gas. Sophomore post player Kayla Linkous headed the upset bid with 11 points in the first half on perfect lob feeds from Shaye Thomas and Hillarie Frech.
In the beginning, Loramie had difficulty defending the post and the offense wasn’t clicking, but Janel Olberding responded with nine points in the first frame to keep her team in it. The half expired in a 19-19 tie, where the capacity crowd witnessed five lead changes and five ties.
“In the first half, we didn’t execute our offense. Our passes were late. Our cuts weren’t sharp. Maybe the girls were alittle tight,” explained Siegel. “We kept fronting Linkous, but the back side help wasn’t arriving on time. I told the girls in the first quarter, the second quarter, and the third quarter. Finally, they got it.”
Indeed, Fort Loramie got it going at the 7:20 mark of the third quarter. After a 21-21 deadlock, the Redskins assembled a 21-5 scoring run to finish the game, silencing the Tri-Village fans in the process.
The Loramie defense held the Patriots to seven second half points and Linkous only managed four. She finished the game with 15 points, four below her season average. It was evident Tri-Village went to the well once too often.
Coach Siegel said, “Our defense played hard the entire game. It was obvious by looking at the score. We held them to 26 points in a regional championship game. That’s quite an accomplishment.”
Brooke Turner ignited the spirited run with a snazzy turnaround 12-foot jumper. Kristen Zumberger, fresh off the bench, bombed a three-ball from the corner and Loramie led 26-21.
Kara Gasson scored inside on a power drive and then Paige Hilgefort, sprinting down the court, scored on a fast break lay up and was fouled. The Loramie faithful erupted. She drained the free throw for a three-point-play and the lead expanded 32-24 after three quarters.
Siegel said, “Hilgefort’s three-point-play was huge. That was a senior showing how bad she wanted it. She played with all her heart.”
Another senior realizing this is it, Gasson shared her emotions, “I’m proud of everything. We worked so hard. It wasn’t easy. We had that bad stretch in December, but we pulled through and kept our heads high. It’s an awesome feeling getting over the hill. I’m excited to go to Columbus.”
Zumberger opened the final quarter with another long three and Clair Ruhenkamp converted a three-point-play as the Loramie lead ballooned to 38-24 with 4:18 left. Ruhenkamp finished the game with seven points and Zumberger added six points.
With the game in hand at the 1:12 mark, coach Siegel pulled her starters and they were greeted by a standing ovation from both sides of the court.
Olberding and Turner each scored 10 points and Tessa Benanzer tallied four points.
Junior point guard sensation Janel Olberding said candidly, “My freshman year we lost in the regional finals. Last year we lost in the regional semi-finals. We can’t keep saying next year. Now is the time. And we don’t want to just stop here.”
Fort Loramie hasn’t been just winning. They have been disposing the competition like Bic Razors–once and done. The Redskins’ six tournament victories have been an average margin of 30.3 points.
And what about coach Carla Siegel? In her 11th season, she has won 204 games with two state appearances, seven league titles, and six 20-win seasons. Not a bad resume for the former Loramie star of the late 80s.
A proud program, the Lady Redskins have been to the “Big Dance” four times, but no cigar. Perhaps, the fifth time will be the charm.
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