The squeak of basketball shoes on the floor; the thumping of the basketball being dribbled down the floor; these familiar sounds were once again heard this weekend. Finally!
The Florence Lady Falcons don’t suit up any seniors, and are a very young team. With only two returning starters, Kasidy Yeoman and Kolbi Wood, the team has faced a few challenges but coach Duane Zeiler is confident his team will be a force in District 6B.
On Saturday afternoon, Florence was host to Frenchtown in a non conference matchup. Frenchtown has to players that are 6 feet tall and a freshman that is 6’2”. Zeiler said he knew it was going to be a battle as the tallest player on Florence’s team is 6 foot tall Trista Williams, a sophomore.
With the height of the Lady Broncs in mind, Florence tried a different defense in the first half. They went with a zone defense but the Lady Broncs easily handled it.
“They just tore us apart, right off the bat,” said Zeiler. “Last year we were in full denial, just right in their face the whole time. I told the girls we were going back to it.”
After trailing by as much as 16 points in the first half, the Lady Falcons began to turn the game around. They went into a full court press and slowly climbed out of the hole they had been in. With time running out in the first half, Kylie Kovatch hit a short jumper to tie the game at 24 all. As the third quarter ended, Kasidy Yeoman sank a short jumper to give the Lady Falcons a two-point lead. Although Frenchtown made a few runs at Florence, they were never able to get any closer than three points in the final frame. Florence went on to win, 47-39.
“I think we had the momentum the rest of the way (from halftime)” said Zeiler. “We needed that win.”
Florence played two other games last week. On Wednesday, they lost to Loyola, 63-43. Then, on Thursday, the Lady Falcons defeated Arlee, 63-30.
“We needed a good, tough game where we were competitive. We knew Frenchtown was big. I thought our two ‘bigs’ (Williams and Kylie Kovatch) played every bit as good as they did,” concluded Zeiler.
Florence won, 47-39.
Florence – Kolbi Wood 9, Kylie Kovatch 20, Kasidy Yeoman 13, Josie Lewis 2, Kelsen Zahn 3
Frenchtown – Maddy Eggers 5, Casidy Bagnell 7, Lauren Demmons 11, Demi Smith 12, Sadie Smith 4.
The Lady Tigers of Darby notched a 43-11 conference win over Lincoln. Amber Anderson had 25 points to lead Darby.
Lincoln -Jessica Zarske 6; Jenna Templeton 5.
Darby – Amber Anderson 25; Makena Hawkinson 9; Keyia Goodwin 3; Kimmie Berry 2; Kylie Schlapman 2; Petra Mustafa 2.
Darby traveled to Philipsburg on Saturday to take on the Prospectors. The height of the Philipsburg team was tough for the Lady Tigers to overcome and they fell, 54-25. Anderson had 13 points to lead Darby.
Philipsburg 54, Darby 25
Darby – Amber Anderson 13; Petra Mustafa 5; Kylie Schlapman 4; Makena Hawkinson 2; Keyia Goodwin 1.
Philipsburg – Asha Comings 20; Rachel Ward 13; Lucia Lee 7; Reece Pitcher 6; Chaelyn Cotton 5; Ramsey Smith 2; Gretchen Hill 1.
Victor fell to Valley Christian, 51-26 on Friday. Emma Day had six points to lead Victor. Abby Kay added five, Hayley Tolley had four, Bella Scichilone had three, Kyla Tacker, Tia Allred and Virginia Brown each had two points.