Fort Loramie wins D4 state title

The machine in Shelby County knows as Fort Loramie basketball showed again their dominance on the biggest stage, as they won their third Ohio Division Four state title in school history after defeating McDonald 60-26 in a game that saw the Redskins jump out to a huge first quarter lead and never look back. [player_tooltip player_id="159039" first="Dana" last="Rose"] led a balanced attack with 13 points and five rebounds, while Kenzie Hoelscher added 12 as the Redskins saw 11 players score, as they improved to 29-1 on the season. Molly Howard led the Blue Devils with ten points. Fort Loramie jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first two minutes as McDonald struggled to protect the ball allowing the Redskins to build their lead. Following Molly Howard’s 10-footer to give the Blue Devils their only bucket of the opening period, Fort Loramie ended the quarter with a 10-0 run as [player_tooltip player_id="159381" first="Ava" last="Sholtis"] came off the bench to add four points. The Redskins ended the opening period with a 17-2 lead. McDonald settled in during the second period to try to get back in the game. One thing Loramie did is answer every McDonald score with a response to maintain their lead. Taylor Tuckek scored four points in the quarter but the Redskins maintained a 20-12 lead at the half. Fort Loramie went on another patented run to open the second half with the first ten points capped by a three from Corynn Heitkamp <em>(pictured above)</em>, pushing the Redskins lead to 40-12. The Redskins shot 56% from the field in the game and outscored the Blue Devils 25-9 in points off of turnovers, and with their bench being nine players deep, Fort Loramie outscored McDonald 23-0 with bench points. "I can remember when I started coaching in 1997 and I walked into the gym and saw three boys state banners on the wall and none for the girls," Fort Loramie coach Carla Siegel said. "I knew that our girls program was just as good as the boys and wanted to get a banner on the wall." "Now we have three...and all I wanted was one."