Prep girls basketball: Icy touch dooms Falcons in loss to Oakwood

Fenwick High School’s girls basketball team made a quiet exit from the Division II sectional tournament Saturday, and it wasn’t hard to figure out why.

The Falcons shot 21 percent from the floor and misfired on all 17 of their 3-point attempts in a 52-33 first-round loss to Oakwood at Lebanon.

“We’ve had games like this,” said Fenwick coach Scott Dalton, whose squad finished 13-10 in his first year at the helm. “We’ve got a two-headed team. The game before that, we shot 46 percent from behind the 3-point line. We’ve got to be more consistent.”

DIVISION II SECTIONAL

The seventh-seeded Jills suffered a 51-43 loss at the hands of the Falcons on Jan. 22, but they jumped out to a 23-6 lead in the rematch.

Fenwick, the No. 6 seed, fought back and closed the gap to 23-15 at halftime. But the Falcons would get no closer.

“We had a week to prepare, and everybody’s healthy,” Oakwood coach Jeremey Finn said of avenging the earlier loss. “I thought we had a great game plan going in. I knew they had two solid post players and we’re not real big, so we really wanted to pack it in and make them shoot from the outside. I guess it worked.”

Mia Gorman (14), Lauren Hapgood (11), Kylie Neff (10) and Kyndall Ketterer (9) topped the scoring for the Jills (13-10). Ketterer grabbed 10 rebounds and Neff added eight.

“We knew they were going to put a little pressure on us,” said Finn, whose team committed 18 turnovers. “But we played hard, and we played hard for four quarters. The last time we played we struggled a little bit, especially in the fourth quarter. We did a better job of handling things today.”

Oakwood will meet fourth-seeded Monroe in a 7:30 p.m. sectional semifinal Tuesday at Lebanon. They split during the Southwestern Buckeye League campaign.

Kaitlynn Anzel collected 14 points and five rebounds for the Falcons. Jenna Adams added 7 points and 10 boards.

“It really stinks that we weren’t able to come out with a win, but you could tell even near the end we were still fighting hard. I don’t know if we would’ve been able to do that last year,” said Adams, a 6-foot-1 center. “Our coaches did a really good job of changing the atmosphere this year.”

Fenwick appears to be on the rise after its first winning season since 2013-14. The Falcons are losing five seniors: Adams, Anzel, Anna Beebe, Isabella Arends and Cat Richards.

“We really worked hard to try to push the team and make everything positive,” Adams said. “We focused on getting better and not dwelling on the losses or the past.”

One of the things she’ll remember the most from this year … the joy of milkshakes. Adams said the players earned a milkshake every time they took a charge.

“I think it’s one of the little things that shows how our coaches and the rest of the team have come together to turn this program around,” Adams said. “I’m looking forward to seeing how the girls do in the coming years.”

Dalton said his freshman and junior varsity teams combined for 29 victories this year.

“The foundation is set,” he said. “Now we’ve just got to develop shooters. We’ll get there.”

Oakwood 15-8-17-12—52

Fenwick 3-12-9-9—33

OAKWOOD (13-10): Kylie Neff 4 0 10, Kylie Foos 2 0 4, Mia Gorman 7 0 14, Lauren Hapgood 4 1 11, Kyndall Ketterer 2 4 9, Margie Conrath 2 0 4. Totals: 21-5-52

FENWICK (13-10): Anna Beebe 2 1 5, Hannah Beckman 2 0 4, Kaitlynn Anzel 6 2 14, Jenna Adams 2 3 7, Rachel Tebbe 1 1 3. Totals: 13-7-33

3-pointers: O 5 (Neff 2, Hapgood 2, Ketterer)

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