Victoria Mescher is a four-year varsity player and played in her 100th victory in a Redskins uniform. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Julie McMaken Wright)
Carla Siegel’s program, the one she’s played in and coached in for 34 seasons, becomes the first girls basketball program in Ohio to win 1,000 games. And the Redskins did it in dominating fashion to win their 31st district championship.
New Carlisle, OH – Fort Loramie girls basketball teams have posed for dozens of team photos centered around trophies and cut-down nets.
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But never quite like the one immortalized on Saturday afternoon.
Front and center was a homemade banner: “1st Team to 1,000 Wins.”
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As the banner was brought to center court following the routine photos of their 31st district championship, head coach Carla Siegel got an idea. She walked toward the bleachers and called for all the former players in the crowd to come down, join this year’s team, pose with the banner, and smile for cameras and cellphones.
So down came former players – some of them mothers, aunts, sisters and grandmothers to players on this year’s team – for a once-in-a-lifetime photo opp.
“It’s not this team that did that,” Siegel said. “It’s 54 years of Fort Loramie girls basketball. It’s five head coaches, probably 25 assistant coaches, and I counted today 295 players. So it’s all of them combined. It’s mothers of these players and it’s aunts of these players that made that happen.”
Avery Brandewie was leading scorer with 22 points for the Redskins in the district win over Middletown Christian.
The Redskins had just vanquished another outgunned foe that got a hard lesson in Fort Loramie girls basketball. This time it was Middletown Christian. The Eagles were victim No. 1,000 in a 65-31 rout in a Division VII district final at Tecumseh High School.
Alongside those 1,000 wins are only 283 losses. The Redskins have played in 12 state tournaments and won four state titles, including last year when they finished 28-2. Siegel played three years for the Redskins’ varsity, graduated in 1989, and came home from college to be an assistant coach for five years.
For the past 26 years, Siegel has been head coach with a record of 566-128 and all four of the state titles beginning in 2013. She figures she’s been a part of at least 700 of the wins beginning as a player under the first head coach, Jane Poeppelman, who won 340 games.
“It’s gratitude,” Siegel said. “I’m so happy that I got to play at Fort Loramie under Jane because she was a good coach. I love basketball, and I love my town, and you put those two together it’s awesome. I’m very fortunate, and I know that.”
The program’s legacy runs through the families of this year’s two best players – seniors Avery Brandewie and Victoria Mescher. On the big milestone day, Brandewie scored 22 points and Mescher scored 20.
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Brandewie’s sister, Colleen, played on the 2021 state championship team. And her mom, who was Stacy Drees at the time, played in the early 1990s.
“Every year I feel like we’ve always had sisters and moms,” Brandewie said. “They set the foundation for us. We look at them for inspiration every single year. It’s just an honor for us to be a part of it and to be on this team.”
Autumn Turner hit two 3-pointers for the Redskins.
Mescher’s mother, Renee Mescher, and aunt, Tracy Schulze, played for the Redskins in the mid-1990s. But Mescher’s family traces all the way back to the first season when her grandmother, Ann Chaney, played on the team. Chaney was at Saturday’s game and came down to the court for the photo.
“Fort Loramie girls basketball is a family, and it was really special to be a part of the one-thousandth win today,” Mescher said. “To see my grandma down here and know that I’m playing for the same program that she built the foundations of, is really special.”
Mescher is a four-year varsity player and played in her 100th victory in a Redskins uniform. Brandewie is also a fourth-year player but missed four games last year with an injury. However, if the Redskins repeat as state champs she will reach 100.
The next step toward those four wins and a hoped-for second straight state title begins at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Vandalia Butler in the region semifinals against Delaware Christian. The Eagles have never been to the state tournament, but surely they’ve heard of the Redskins.
However, if the Eagles are oblivious to the history of Fort Loramie basketball, their attention will be gotten if they watch game film of what the Redskins did to Middletown Christian’s Eagles on Saturday.
The Fort Loramie Redskins became the first girls basketball program in Ohio to win 1,000 games.
While it took 54 years to win 1,000 games, it took about four minutes to win No. 1,000. Points came fast in the first 88 seconds – two Brandewie free throws, a Mescher basket off a steal, a Brandewie basket inside and another easy two for Mescher off another turnover forced by the press.
“We knew what this game had in store for us, so we just came out playing our game, and just had the fun that we always have in practice,” Brandewie said.
When Izzy Meyer scored with 4:05 left in the first quarter, the Redskins led 19-0.
When Izzy Meyer scored with 4:05 left in the first quarter, the Redskins led 19-0. Their defense and hot shooting were more than the Eagles could have planned for.
“We definitely had a lot of trust,” Mescher said. “We were passing the ball really well. We were talking to each other and communicating very effectively. And I think that showed in our outside shooting, and we were able to get the ball in when it was needed. We played our game today and didn’t focus on any of the outside factors.”
The score grew to 21-0, 28-3 at the end of the first quarter and 31-3 at the start of the second quarter before the Eagles finally began to score now and then.
“That was amazing,” Siegel said. “The way they were buzzing around on the floor was so exciting. And we hit some big shots, too, and the icebreaker was just over with.”
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As much as Siegel has won she didn’t expect a start quite like that in a district final against an 18-win team.
“Anytime you play in a district championship game, the other team is good – they got here,” she said. “Before the game I’m anxious. How’s my team going to perform today? Are they going to make some shots? Are they going to be able to defend the way I want?”
Redskin Victoria Mescher, surrounded by defenders, looks for a teammate to throw to.
The fast start was a promising sign as the Redskins enter regional play. It was their sixth game without sophomore point guard Maddie Shatto who is out for the season with an ACL tear in her right knee. Siegel, who values senior leadership, turned to Autumn Turner, the only senior who wasn’t starting. On Saturday, Turner made two 3-pointers in the first half and scored eight points.
“I went with senior leadership, and I just told Autumn, ‘You’re the girl – make it work,” Siegel said. “And she’s loving this opportunity.”
The victory party didn’t end on the court Saturday. Siegel and her team returned to Fort Loramie for a celebration party. Poeppelman was expected at the party, and Siegel was hoping for lots of former players and some of her high school teammates to come as well.
In the run up to the milestone, Siegel hasn’t said much about it publicly. Her focus, as always, is the next game and what it’s going to take to win. So after Saturday night’s festivities, she turned her attention to Delaware Christian and planning how to win No. 1,001.
“That’s all we’re worried about is Delaware on Wednesday,” she said. “And then after that game, we’ll get ready for whoever we play.”
If you wonder how a small-school program can be the winningest program in state history, that’s how. One game – and one win – at a time.
Avery Brandewie grabs one of her defensive rebounds in the 1,000th win of Fort Loramie.
