Fort Loramie’s Olivia Mescher, center, holds up a district championship trophy while flanked by Alexis Koverman, left, and Ava Turner following a 52-19 win over Covington in a Division IV district final on Saturday at Troy’s Trojan Activies Center.
Luke Gronneberg | Sidney Daily News
Fort Loramie’s Avery Brandewie drives down the court as Covington’s Carlie Besecker defends during a Division IV district final on Saturday at Troy’s Trojan Activites Center. Brandewie scored 15 points.
Luke Gronneberg | Sidney Daily News
TROY — Some thought it would be a rebuilding season. Instead, the postseason success has stayed the same for Fort Loramie.
The Redskins won their sixth consecutive Division IV district title by beating Covington 52-19 on Saturday at Troy High School’s Trojan Activities Center. The Buccaneers scored the first four points, but Fort Loramie scored the last 12 points of the first quarter and built a 25-7 lead by halftime.
“At the end of last year, everybody said this is going to be a rebuilding year for us,” Fort Loramie coach Carla Seigel said. “The way we played this summer, I thought it was going to be a rebuilding year for us, too. But if you have great senior leaders, and they know the expectations of the program, and they can get the other girls to believe in the system, then great things can happen.
“We’ve had a pretty nice year so far this year, and it’s because of our senior leadership and the work ethic that they put forth. They work hard, and everybody works hard.”
Fort Loramie senior Ava Turner, who was recently named Shelby County Athletic League player of the year, scored four points in the first quarter to help get the squad started and finished with nine points.
Turner, who was a part of the program’s 2021 D-IV title run as a sophomore, said keeping up the program’s strong defensive pressure has been key to this season’s success.
It was key to Saturday’s success as well. Fort Loramie (24-2) unofficially forced Covington (14-11) into 37 turnovers.
“We just knew that we had to play good defense,” Turner said. “They depended on their posts a lot. Our posts really did a nice job of shutting their posts down, getting in front of them. Our guards were there helping on the backside in case they needed it.”
The Redskins will face SCAL rival Russia in a regional semifinal at 8 p.m. on Thursday at Vandalia-Butler’s Student Activity Center. Fort Loramie beat the Raiders 54-41 on Jan. 12 but lost 43-40 on Feb. 2 in Russia.
“Last time we played them, we had a lot of sloppy turnovers,” Turner said. “They’re going to throw a press at us, they’re going to throw traps at us. We’ve just got to be able to go to the ball, be strong with it, and get to the hole and finish.”
Fort Loramie mixed up its defenses, with a variety of man-to-man, zone, half-court and full-court schemes.
“I think our best is just man-to-man,” Seigel said. “That’s what we do well. To be in a district final and hold a good team to 19 points, is great. I think two or three of their players average double figures. I think our defense was just so nice today. We have girls with long arms, so we try to use them to the best of our ability.”
Sophomore forward Avery Brandewie scored a game-high 15 points while junior guard Skyler Albers scored 11 points.
The Redskins, which were without guard Carissa Meyer, got a nice boost off the bench from Ariel Heitkamp, who played in Meyer’s place. Summer Hoying added eight points off the bench and had several rebounds; Seigel said it was her best game of the season.
“It was definitely a team effort today,” Seigel said.
Fort Loramie outscored Covington 12-7 in the third quarter and 15-5 in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t the squad’s cleanest half. The Redskins unofficially committed 14 turnovers in the half.
“We’ve got to have better passes, and we’ve got to finish at the rim,” Seigel said. “When they started pressing us in the three-quarter court, we got the back door layup that we wanted, we just didn’t convert.”
Fort Loramie was ranked No. 2 in the final D-IV state AP poll, while Russia was just outside the top 10. Tri-Village and Marion Local, which were ranked first and fifth, will face off in the 6 p.m. regional semifinal on Thursday.
The two winners will meet in a regional final on Saturday in Vandalia.
“You’re talking about phenomenal basketball,” Seigel said. “You’ve got three of the top five teams in the state in our regional. Next week at Vandalia-Butler is going to be awesome basketball, if anybody wants to see great basketball. Every team has great offense and great defense.
“You’ve got to bring your ‘A’ game. There’s things we’ve got to fix if we want to compete at that level.”
