Big 4th quarter lifts Senecas by Stockaders

It took a bit for Calvert to defrost.Calvert defeated Old Fort at home on Friday 38-20 in Sandusky Bay Conference River Division play."I have to credit Old Fort's coaching staff," Calvert coach Aaron Sheets said. "They played hard man-to-man defense and they took our big girls away. Every time we tried to get down to our post girls, they were double and tripling up on them."Active hands and taking the ball away from the Senecas (4-3, 3-2) was the key to keeping the total score at the half to just 12. "Our effort in the first half was phenomenal," Old Fort coach Tyler Ardner said. "Only giving up 12 points in the first was really good."The Stockaders (3-4, 3-1) struck first in the game at the 5:44 mark, when Ally Quaintance sank a bucket, making it 2-0. Megan Rombach and Kaleigh Concepcion responded back with one basket each.Things were still relatively on ice for both teams in the second quarter, but the amount of turnovers are what got Old Fort.It called a timeout within the first minute of the quarter.Coming out of the timeout, the Stockaders turned the ball over, and there to capitalize on it was Carleigh Meier. Not too long after that, Kate Coleman made a trip to the charity stripe and made both of hers. Both teams kept turning it over, and by the end of the first half, it was 12-8."It was just an effort thing," said Ardner about keeping Calvert from scoring more in the first half. "We stressed to everyone to give 110% and we proved how well we can play in the first half, and unfortunately in the second half we ran out of gas."The message at halftime for the Senecas: If you don't want a loss like you did at Hopewell-Loudon, you need to get more physical.If Sheets begging for more effort finally sunk in, it was in the fourth."I told the girls, I know you have potential, but you have to believe in yourselves," Sheets said. "We did that in the fourth quarter. We started trusting each other, trusting the training. Yes we missed a lot of shots in the first half, and it was because Old Fort defense was that good. We woke up."With 7:32 on the clock, Mya Steyer hit her first basket of the night after canning a triple at the end of the third quarter.Then Rombach hit a bucket within a minute."We gave up shots in the fourth quarter especially when we went into our press. We will grow from this," Ardner said.Steyer then made another basket.With 2:22 on the clock, Steyer hit not one but two 3-pointers back-to-back."Once we got the 3's, it's the in-and-out game," Sheets said. "We couldn't make the ball in or out. The defense had to start guarding once we hit those threes, and we were finally able to penetrate them."Then the Stockaders hit a snag with their execution; Fortney got her final foul of the night. Time started ticking down. Addison Sheets scored the final basket on a offensive rebound for the Senecas in a wide open back court.The top shooter was Steyer with 13 points. Rombach led the Senecas in rebounds with eight. For Old Fort, the leading scorer was King with six points who also led the Stockaders with 10 rebounds.For the Senecas, they have a non-league matchup on Sunday at Anthony Wayne High School with Gibsonburg. "Sunday's game will help us get ready for districts and tournaments down the line," Sheets said. "It's going to be interesting and it's the reason we picked it up. They are good and have only lost twice to two top teams." Calvert 38, Old Fort 20Old Fort (3-4, 3-1): Lucy King 2-1-6, Adelyn Dick 2-1-5, Carly Fortney 1-0-2, Ally Quaintance 2-0-4, Nakiah Wall 1-0-3 TOTALS: 8-2-20Calvert (4-3, 3-2): Sofia Lee 1-0-3, Kaleigh Concepcion 1-1-3, Megan Rombach 3-3-9, Carleigh Meier 2-0-4, Addison Sheets 1-0-2, Kate Coleman 1-2-4, Mya Steyer 5-0-13 TOTALS: 13-6-38 Old Fort 2-6-8-4–20Calvert 4-8-8-18–38Three-point goals: Old Fort 2 (King, Wall); Calvert 4 (Steyer 3, Lee)