Roll cursor over photos for caption/credits. All photos by David Thoss
The Central High School girls basketball team traveled to Burlington to face the Demons in an SLC contest Monday night. The Demons had nine players score in a balanced attack and toppled the Falcons 41-36.
The game started out well for the Falcons against a tough defense from Burlington, opening up an 8-5 lead on 3 point goals by Randi Rederer and Abbie Erickson. The Lady Demons did come back to 3’s of their own to finish the quarter with a 11-9 lead.
The second quarter found the Falcons getting into a little foul trouble and point guard Hayden Krueger went to the bench late in the quarter with her 3rd foul. The Falcons clawed their way back, with Faith Lois taking over the majority of the ballhandling, getting to the free throw line and hitting the freebies. Rederer and Brittney Blazich showed nice inside passing to Lauren Zietsma for some easy baskets and the Falcons ended up with a lead of 23-22 at the half.
The third quarter was more defense and poor shooting on both ends of the floor. The biggest blow to the Falcons was losing time from their point guard, who went to the bench with her 4th foul with over 2 minutes to go in the quarter, and the Demons pulled out to a 29-27 lead.
The final frame saw the Falcons getting into a bit of a rythym, and opening up a 36-32 lead early in the quarter on a long 3 by Rederer. Burlington battled back, using a trap defense the Falcons did not solve. With a little more than 3 minutes to go the Falcons were only down by 1. Krueger went out of the game with 1:39 to go in the game, and Burlington turned up the pressure trapping defense. The Falcons did get some open looks at the basket but just didn’t get any to fall. Central was forced to foul and Sarah Strang, Kelsi Cesarz and Daniell Evert went 5-6 from the free throw line to close out the game at 41-36.
The Falcons were led by Lois with 12, Rederer with 9 and Zietsma with 8. The Demons were led by Evert with 10, Cassi McCarthy 8 and Michelle Sturdevant 6 points.
