Senior night got off to a slow start, but Circleville turned it around on the way to a 39-29 win over visiting Fairfield Union Friday.
Along with senior night, it also was the first home game for the unbeaten Tigers since teammate Addison Edgington was seriously injured in an automobile accident last weekend.
“Honestly, every day has been different. There’s 14 for us and it’s been different emotions for different people at different times,” Circleville coach Brian Bigam said. “But I think the goals that we set at the beginning of the year and the sisterhood these girls have, they’re able to keep the goals in focus.
“Obviously, we’re playing for Addison but tonight we’re playing for Faith and Gabby being their senior night. And I’m proud of the way they’ve rallied around each other.”
The game was scoreless for more than five minutes and the first quarter ended with the Falcons leading 3-2.
Circleville (17-0, 11-0) kept its defensive pressure up and got its offense on track in the second quarter to hold an 18-6 lead at the half.
“The game wasn’t pretty the whole time. I thought defensively, in that first half, we were exceptional,” Bigam said. “Then I thought we got tired in the second half, and they were able to exploit some things because we were slow moving.”
Whether the emotions of the night played into the slow offensive start or not, Bigam said it really came down to not executing.
“These girls, the emotions they’ve went through in the last week and then my two seniors having the emotion of senior night — but I’m never one who’s going to point to that or ever make excuses. We didn’t space the floor and we were dribbling too much,” he said. “I thought it was not following the game plan and we forced some stuff that wasn’t there. It wasn’t on the D, it was offensively.”
McConnell led the Tigers in her last home game scoring 12 of her game-high 17 in the fourth quarter. Maddie Blakeman added eight.
Elly Lewis led Fairfield Union (6-13, 4-9) with 14.
The Tigers have a rescheduled matchup at Gallia Academy on the calendar for Saturday afternoon and then go to Liberty Union Tuesday for their next league action.
Circleville 39, Fairfield Union 29
Fairfield Union — Elly Lewis 5-0-14, Maddilyn Mithcell 0-1-1, Taylor Smeck 1-1-3, Jill Cooperrider 1-2-4, Maycee Martindill 0-2-2. Alexis Leith 2-1-5. Three-point goals — Lewis (4). Total — 9-7-29.
Circleville — Faith Yancey 2-0-4, Maddie Blakeman 2-3-8, Isabelle Perini 2-0-4, Ally Thornsley 1-4-6, Gabby McConnell 5-4-17. Three-point goals — Blakeman, McConnell (3). Total — 12-11-39.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Fairfield Union 3 3 10 13 29
Circleville 2 16 7 14 39
