Northern Miami Valley Basketball News: Big wins and 40 points
By Tim Langevin
Make no mistake. It wasn’t pretty. And it wasn’t the way Fort Loramie coach Carla Siegel scripted it. Eleven games into the season, it’s obvious that the Lady Redskins aren’t clicking on all cylinders, as in the team that dismantled its post-season opponents last year.
Perhaps a bit spoiled? Where did that “mojo” go?
Willing to do anything to get that “mojo” back, all the girls dyed their hair red. It was noticeable considering most of them were blondes before.
Jackson Center coach Gregg Gooding, the master of demise, had his troops primed for the upset, but the red-heads prevailed 43-39 in overtime Saturday afternoon in SCL girls basketball action.
It was another frustrating win for Siegel: “It was a frustrating game. We never got to play the way we wanted to play offensively. Just couldn’t get it going. We couldn’t shoot from the outside. We couldn’t get our post players involved. Frustrating game all around.”
Both teams scorched the nets in first quarter action. The Lady Tigers shot 62 per cent from the field and the Lady Redskins shot a sizzling 66 per cent to take a 16-12 lead.
Jackson Center’s Brooke Richard and Taylor Cummons paced the Tigers with five points each and Claire Ruhenkamp and Reggie Brandewie sparked Fort Loramie with four points a piece.
Loramie scored four times off their high-low set with Janel Olberding pulling the trigger down low to Ruhenkamp, Brooke Turner, and Brandewie twice. JC countered with the guard play of Richard and Cummons slicing the defense with dribble-drive penetration.
The pace played in JC’s favor in the second quarter as the Tigers outscored FL 11-8. Cummons scored on a fast break layup and then converted a three-point-play. Ruhenkamp pounded in the paint for two baskets and made 2-of-2 free throws. FL led 24-23 at the break.
The game came to a screetching halt in the third quarter as FL out-pointed JC 4-2 for a 28-25 lead. It was eight minutes of organized chaos. The difference-maker was Loramie’s 3-2 zone defense. The Tigers attempted only seven shots and missed them all. The Redskins weren’t much better, converting 1-of-8 field goals.
“We had trouble with their 3-2 zone,” Gooding said. “We were patient, but the problem was that we don’t have any big inside presence and we couldn’t get any penetration from our guards.”
Siegel said, “We like to use our 3-2 once in awhile. We prefer man-man pressure, but we needed to do something different to stop their penetration.”
Kristen Zumberger broke the spell with a hard drive to the hoop to give Loramie a 33-29 lead with 5:32 left in regulation.
But No! JC wouldn’t go away. Cummons scored on a drive And One to cut it to 33-32 at the 5:18 mark.
Turner scored in the paint for Loramie. But No! Richard responded with a 15-footer and then again with a three-ball and JC led 37-35 with 3:18 left. Upset in the making.
Both teams exchanged misses and then Olberding knotted it 37-37, canning two clutch free throws.
Jackson Center milked the clock for over a minute, but Cummons was unable to get a shot off. Overtime.
In the overtime period, Ruhenkamp scored in transition and then again on the block thanks to some high-low action. Turner added a bucket in the paint and the red-heads prevailed. The upset bid denied.
Gooding said, “It was a great effort. No moral victories, but we played hard. Our defense has improved by leaps and bounds. As long as we keep playing defense, we will beat some people.”
He added, “Our six seniors have put a lot into this. Four years ago we only had three wins.”
Ruhenkamp led Fort Loramie with 15 points. Olberding added 10 and Turner posted eight. Olberding and Ruhenkamp are closing in on the 1,000-point plateau. Olberding is nine points shy and Ruhenkamp 45 points short. What a combo these laddies proved to be.
Richard paced Jackson Center with 16 points and Cummons added 14.
The Lady Redskins improve to 6-1 in league play and 9-2 overall.
The Lady Tigers drop to 4-3 and 6-4.
Chips and Salsa
The Anna Lady Rockets continue to fly, defeating Marion Local 76-54 Saturday. Anna sits atop the SCL with a 6-0 record and 10-1 overall. Natalie Billing led the scoring parade with 24 points. Rebecca Burch added 18 points and Megan Fogt tallied 13 points.
The Minster Lady Wildcats remained unbeaten with a convincing 51-34 win over Celina Saturday. Delanie Wolf paced a balanced attack with 16 points. Minster improves to 10-0 on the season.
Speaking of milestones, Sidney‘s Zach Yinger has scored 872 points in his four-year career and is 128 points shy of 1,000. At his current pace, he should reach the barrier February 11 at Troy sometime during the second quarter. Which begs the question? What if Yinger would have focused more on basketball instead of golf after his sophomore season? At the time, Penn State was knocking on his door. As it stands, Yinger will play golf for Ball State, receiving a 60 per cent scholarship.
Despite the graduation of Greg Kahlig, Fort Recovery hasn’t skipped a beat. The Indians are 8-1, suffering their first loss of the season Saturday against Kalida 56-40. Another Kahlig named Jared (not the Subway guy) leads the team in scoring at 12.0 ppg.
Player of the Week
Sidney’s Daniel Ocke has elevated his game. The 6′ 6″ senior exploded for 40 points against Northmont December 30 and followed it up with 22 points against Piqua and 24 points against Greenville to raise his season average to 23.3, second only to Travis Trice of Wayne at 24.3 in the GWOC. Ocke has 645 career points in three seasons. Make no mistake, this kid has all the tools to play at the next level. He can post down low or step back and drain the three.
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