Great start keys Lady Green by Musketeers

By Robin Eberle, The Delphos Herald
Published:  Friday, January 26, 2007 (1 year, 9 months ago)
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FORT JENNINGS — The Fort Jennings Lady Musketeers hosted Ottoville’s Lady Green Thursday evening in Putnam County League action.

In the second meeting of the season for these two backyard foes, Fort Jennings and Ottoville had two missions. One, the Lady Musketeers had hopes of avenging an earlier season loss to the Lady Green; two, they wanted to even their PCL record at 3-3. On the other hand, Ottoville was looking to erase a tough loss to state-ranked Minster last Saturday (35-32), as well as stay on the heels of Leipsic in the PCL race.

Ottoville, ranked sixth in Division 4’s latest girls poll, accomplished both, defeating the pesky Lady Musketeers 65-52 to stay in league contention with a 5-1 PCL record and 12-3 overall. Fort Jennings falls to 6-9 overall and dips to 2-4 in PCL play.

The game couldn’t have started any better for Ottoville, nor any worse for Fort Jennings. The Lady Green raced out to a quick 14-0 lead in the first four minutes of the contest on the strength of five steals from their tenacious defense and Courtney Schimmoeller’s seven of her game-high 22 points, along with Erica Vorst’s five of her 14-point total. Rachel Landwehr’s soft shot off the glass stopped the Lady Musketeer bleeding and Erica Metzger followed with a bucket to shorten the gap to 14-4. Teammate Jessica Ladd sandwiched a layup in between two more threes from the sharp-shooting Schimmoeller to extend the Lady Green’s first-quarter lead to 20-6. Two free throws from Metzger and 1-of-2 from Ottoville’s Erika Kaufman brought the lead to 21-8. The Lady Green’s Gina Beining showed off her range, burying a long 3 to finish off the first quarter with a comfortable 24-8 advantage.

The Lady Musketeers did not go away. Landwehr’s old-fashioned 3-point play at the 3:30 mark of the second stanza found scrappy Fort Jennings down only 26-16. Vorst and Schimmoeller answered the bell on a Vorst layin, followed by Schimmoeller’s layup and her fourth 3 of the half. For good measure, a Beining bunny, elbow jumper and la-up ballooned the Lady Green lead to 37-20. The quarter ended with a 40-22 Ottoville margin.

After Beining opened the third with a bucket, the 6-4 Landwehr hit three straight baskets to shorten Ottoville’s lead to 42-28. Kaufman decided to get involved in the Lady Green’s 3-point assault, bumping the lead back to 45-28. Metzger and Landwehr combined back-to-back baskets to shorten Ottoville’s lead to 47-34. A Jill Hohlbein steal and assist to Vorst gave the visiting team a 54-34 advantage. The third quarter ended with Ottoville enjoying a comfortable 56-36 margin.

The final stanza got interesting at the 3:30 mark when Fort Jennings’ Amber Schuerman buried a 3 from six feet behind the arc and closed to a 61-47 deficit. Two free throws from Hohlbein pushed it back to 63-47 and assured the Lady Green of a victory against a scrappy Fort Jennings foe.

Ottoville head coach David P. Kleman was pleased with his team’s performance.

“We played well together and we’re getting where we need to be,” he stated.

Beining added 13 for Ottoville, whose next matchup is Saturday afternoon versus non-conference foe Jefferson at Jefferson Middle School.

The Lady Musketeers were led by Landwehr’s 21 points, followed by Metzger with 12. Fort Jennings next hardwood action is against Bluffton for a Saturday afternoon matinee.

In the JV contest, Ottoville defeated the host Lady Musketeers 40-3.

Freshman Mallory Eberle led Ottoville with 11. Fort Jennings Kayla Knippen canned three free throws.

OTTOVILLE (65)

Erica Vorst 5-0-5-4-14, Courtney Schimmoeller 4-4-2-2-22, Erika Kaufman 2-1-2-1-8, Tricia Honigford 0-1-0-0-3, Krystal Markward 0-0-1-0-0, Jill Hohlbein 0-0-2-2-2, Gina Beining 5-1-0-0-13, Brittany Beining 1-0-3-1-3. Totals 17-7-15-10-65.

FORT JENNINGS (52)

Katie VonLehmden 2-0-0-0-4, Jessica Ladd 1-0-0-0-2, Amanda Horstman 2-0-0-0-4, Erica Metzger 2-2-2-2-12, Amber Schuerman 1-1-2-2-2, Lynzie Swartz 1-0-0-0-2, Rachel Landwehr 10-0-2-1-21. Totals 19-3-6-5-52.

Score by Quarters:

Ottoville 24 16 16 9 - 65

Ft. Jennings 8 14 14 16 - 52

Three-point goals: Ottoville, Schimmoeller 4, Kaufman, Honigford, G. Beining; Fort Jennings, Metzger 2, Schuerman.

JV score: 40-3 (Ottoville).

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