Fort Loramie plays team basketball to upend Convoy Crestview, advance to Division IV state championship

A 15-2 run to open the fourth quarter helped the Redskins win in the state semifinals

DAYTON, Ohio - Trailing by four heading into the fourth quarter of the Division IV state semifinal game Saturday afternoon against Convoy Crestview, Fort Loramie head coach Carla Siegel asked her team a simple question.

"I asked them if they wanted it, I asked them if they wanted to be done today," Siegel said. "And the resounding answer was no."

The Redskins responded to their head coach by scoring the first 10 points of the final period and 15 of the first 17 to take a 44-35 lead and ultimately a 50-41 win to advance to the Division IV state championship game, where they will play Waterford on Saturday morning at 10:45 am. 

Junior Avery Brandewie scored the first eight of those fourth quarter points to give Fort Loramie the lead, but she credited the team with how the quarter started.

"I had to get the passes from someone, so I'm not going to take all the credit," Brandewie said. "They opened it up for me, and allowed it to space out and we are a team, straight up."

While the 5-foot-10 forward wasn't going to take credit, her coach saw something that made her feel confident even if the Redskins trailed early in the fourth.

"She had that glint in her eye and I knew that we were okay," Siegel said. "That one shot that she took off her one foot, one-handed, I was like 'what is she doing, oh she banked it in, good let's go.'"

Crestview led 11-7 after the first quarter and stretched it to eight twice in the second quarter as Cali Gregory had 14 of her team-high 22 points in the half, including three 3-pointers in the second quarter.

"I told the girls that we didn't have a very good first half, offensively or defensively, rebounding was terrible," Siegel said. ""I just stressed those things in the locker room about doing the little things to win the game but I didn't do anything miraculous."

The Redskins came out of that halftime speech and scored the first eight points before the Knights responded with an 8-0 run of their own. 

Then in the fourth quarter, Fort Loramie clamped down and allowed just eight points, with six of those coming on a pair of 3-pointers in the final minute with the Redskins already leading by nine on the first and eight on the second. They forced the Knights into just 3-of-16 shooting and five turnovers in the final eight minutes.

"I think this team above all, it is about friendship and whenever we play defense together, we just play really good defense," Fort Loramie senior Summer Hoying said. "That can't be stopped."

Fort Loramie players celebrate in a timeout during their Division IV state semifinal win over Crestview on March 14, 2024 / Ryan Isley, SBLive Sports

That was why when coming into the interview room after the game, Siegel asked if she could bring five players instead of the normal two or three. She wanted to bring all five of her starters who also played the entire fourth quarter. 

So joining Siegel were Brandewie, Hoying, Victoria Mescher, Skyler Albers and Jaden Rose.

Brandewie led Fort Loramie with 22 points, Mescher had nine, Albers scored six and Rose and Hoying had four each. 

"We preach team basketball at Fort Loramie," Siegel said. "And I thought these five girls played team basketball (today) and their team basketball is what won the game."

-- Ryan Isley | ryan@scorebooklive.com | @sbliveoh