The game is on! Despite Thursday’s major snowstorm, unbeaten and number one-ranked Division-IV Fort Loramie, 20-0, travels to Findlay on Saturday to take down the Liberty-Benton Eagles, 17-1 and ranked number eight in Division III.
This big girls game is also on … ScoresBroadcast.com and WMVR, 105.5 TAM FM, with air time at 1 PM and tip-off at 1:30 PM.
And you can bet it’s “game on” for both clubs as two of very elite small school girls programs in the state serve as Ohio’s Saturday afternoon headliner.
It’s a tall order for head coach Carla Siegel’s Redskins. The Eagles feature six girls 5-9 to 6-0 in height. The most imposing is sophomore Lauren Gerken, who averages nearly 19 points per game in the post and at forward.
Riley Irwin, the daughter of head coach Nate Irwin, pumps in 14 more.
Irwin, who is concluding his 18th season at the helm of the Eagles program, has a gaudy winning record of 344-78. He has led his club to 13 Blanchard Valley Conference titles. The Eagles were state camps in 2010.
Meanwhile, Fort Loramie is seeking its fourth straight AP Poll state championship. In another week, the Redskins take aim on a fourth Ohio high school state tournament crown in the last nine years. Siegel is completing year number 23 guiding Fort Loramie girls basketball. Her teams have won 75 of their last 76 contests.
Today, Fort Loramie counters the Eagles monstrous size advantage with a suffocating defense and consistent scoring from Colleen Brandewie, Ava Sholtis, Riley Heitkamp and Ava Turner. The 5-10 Sholtis offers the most size of the quartet. The Redskins will use their quick hands to deflect passes in the post and to shake the ball free when it does reach the paint.
In last year’s game, the Eagles struggled to get the ball comfortably over the timeline to run their halfcourt offense. Liberty-Benton was blanked in the opening frame and could muster only eight baskets for 32 minutes in falling to Fort Loramie, 37-20. As a freshman, the talented Gerken led the Findlay squad with eight, including a three-pointer.
Gerken missed the first game of the season this year when Minster handled the Eagles by double digits. But Liberty-Benton has been flying high ever since, posting 17 straight triumphs.
The number one state-ranked D-IV Botkins boys, 18-1, hope to continue sailing right along at D-II Lima Shawnee, 10-6, on Saturday night. The defending state champs are shooting at a 53 percent clip for the season, scoring 53 per four quarters and yielding only eight points per period.
Shawnee has advanced to the regional tournament the last three seasons and promises to be a tough foe for the Trojans. Saturday evening’s tilt features an Indians unit which will play up tempo. Botkins wants to control the boards and the game’s pace.
Once again, SCORES and WMVR are on the scene with the pre-game segment at 7 PM.
Botkins’ Jacob Pleiman is averaging 20 points and ten rebounds over the last eight outings. Jameson Meyer is connecting on nearly four triples per game over the last nine. Spanning six recent contests, Carter Pleiman is averaging six points, six assists and six boards.
It has been “game on” for the Trojans, who have won 32 of their last 33.
