SYRACUSE – After a close first quarter, Fairfield slowly pulled away from Wawasee, taking a 55-36 decision from the Lady Warriors in the girls baskeball season opener for both teams. Wawasee junior Kylee Rostochak hit a couple of three-pointers to keep the game tight early, but the Lady Warrriors struggled from the floor the rest of the way. During one stretch from the end of the third quarter until the two-minute mark of the fourth, Wawasee didn’t make a field goal. “Our offense was a bit of a disappointment,” Wawasee head coach Kem Zolman said. “But I think that’ll come around as the season goes along. It’s a long season, and this was just the first game.” Both teams struggled with foul trouble, but in different ways. Each team finished with 22 fouls. While the Lady Falcons spread their team fouls over eight players, Wawasee had three players foul out. Only one Lady Falcon was disqualified. Zolman felt like many of the Lady Warrior fouls came from frustration as Fairfield slowly pulled away. “The games really mean something to them this year; it means more, and they expect to play better,” he said. “We’re not going to throw in the towel. They’re a lot more firey this year, and they’ll bounce back from this.” Defensively, Wawasee showed signs of the pressure the team wants to challenge opponents with, pressing when they got the chance. But Fairfield capitialized when they caught the Lady Warriors out of position, scoring 20 points in the paint. In the second half, Fairfield adjusted its offense, working the ball around the perimeter until either a layup or an open three-point shot presented itself. Lady Falcon junior Katie Kieper hit four treys in five tries en route to 14 points. Teammate Alexis Zook hit nine free throws in 10 shots to match Kieper’s 14 points. Fairfield’s Andrea Hager scored all nine of her points in the second half, hitting a trio of shots inside the paint and adding three free throws. “Give credit to the girls for being where we coaches told them to be,” said Zolman. “But Fairfield didn’t get the memo to be where we were positioned. “We’ve really got to shore up our defense. We allowed too many threes, but then we over-adjusted in the second half and left the paint exposed. It’s all part of the growing pains we’ll have, and we’ll get there.” Rostochak paced the Lady Warriors with a game-high 17 points, with sophomore Hannah Haines adding eight. Aubrey Schmeltz added four points, with Elizabeth Jackson, Aubrey Kuhn and Kaley Wood contributing two points each and Seaquinn Bright adding one to round out the scoring. Zolman emphasized the resiliency of his team after the game. “We’re learning what it takes to be successful at the varsity level, and they’ll bounce back from this,” he said. “They’ll come back to practice (today) ready to go to work.” Fairfield was called for a technical foul with 29 seconds remaining in the game. In an effort to clear his bench, Fairfield head coach Brodie Garber put in a junior varsity player not listed in the varsity scorebook, triggering the illegal subsitution technical.
