Fairfield Union 41, Circleville 35
CIRCLEVILLE— With the league title on the line, visiting Fairfield Union stayed unbeaten in getting Circleville 41-35 Friday night.
“I thought my girls played hard – I thought they left it all out there. I told them before the game that two biggest things that will determine if we win or lose was how well we rebound — and, especially in the first half, I thought they beat us pretty good on the offensive boards — and how we handled pressure,” Circleville coach Brian Bigam said. “At times we did what we were supposed to and then at times we didn’t. At the end of the day, we didn’t box out well enough and we didn’t handle pressure well enough.
“And the other thing we didn’t talk about, but it’s obvious in the game of basketball, is free throws. They were 17 of 21 and we were 4 of 13. That’s the game in a nutshell,” Bigam added. “My girls played hard but that’s why we lost, why we’re not cutting down nets right now and they’re league champs.”
Playing the game in front of a loud, energetic crowd, the teams traded the lead seven times in the first half with the Tigers going in at the half up 21-20.
The lead went back-and-forth to start the third but after an early 23-22 edge for Circleville, the Tigers didn’t lead again.
The third quarter ended with the Falcons on top 29-28.
FU got the lead to four twice early in the fourth.
Circleville tied the game at 34-34 with 3:20 left after Ally Thornsley hit a three from the corner.
The Falcons got back in front 36-34 on a pair of free throws.
FU kept Circleville at bay stealing an inbounds pass a little bit later then got a big defensive rebound and was fouled (making one of the free throws) with 1:14 left in the game.
Circleville missed on a pair of free throws with 1:06 left and then Falcons sunk two 25 seconds later. Circleville hit one of two with 31 seconds showing to make it 39-35. After an FU turnover, FU’s Maycee Martindill stole the inbounds and converted it into a layup to wrap up the game’s scoring.
Maddie Blakeman and Addison Edgington led the Tigers with 11 points each.
Bigam said the Tigers got a big game out of Kaylee West who scored eight points in playing more minutes than usual.
The Tigers (16-3, 10-2) wrap up the regular season next week with a trip to Chillicothe (1-17) Tuesday, hosting Unioto (14-4) Thursday and then going to Athens (14-4) Saturday.
“We finish with Unioto and Athens and those are two games that are district championship type games,” Bigam said.
(Tournament brackets will be released Sunday afternoon.)
“When you get in the tournament, it’s going to be one game at a time, but I told them if we stay focused and continue to work hard each day, I think there could be a great opportunity we could meet up with Fairfield again,” he said.
The immediate priority is to get back to full strength.
“We’ve got to get healthy. There’s nasty sickness going through our team – I’m not using that as an excuse, but I told them they have the weekend off and they have to sleep, get IVs, pills, something,” he said.
The Falcons (19-0, 11-0) will try to finish out a perfect season with a league game against Liberty Union Monday and non-league tilts with Chillicothe and Miami Trace next week.
Fairfield Union 41, Circleville 35
Fairfield Union — Avery Cottrill 2-1-5, Christian Thompson 2-7-11, Maddilyn. Mitchell 0-1-1, Samantha Sattler 1-2-4, Taylor Smeck 2-2-7, Maycee Martindill 3-1-9, Alexis Leith 1-2-4. Three-point goals — Martindill (2). Totals — 11-17-41
Circleville — Maddie Blakeman 3-3-11, Ally Thornsley 2-0-5, Kaylee West 3-0-8, Addison Edgington 5-1-11. Three-point goals — Blakeman (2), Thornsley, West (2). Totals — 13-4-35.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Fairfield Union 9 11 9 12 41
Circleville 10 11 7 7 35
Liberty Union 64, Logan Elm 56
CIRCLEVILLE — Liberty Union closed strong to beat host Logan Elm 64-56 Friday night.
The Braves were holding a 41-37 lead entering the final period, but it was the Lions scoring the first nine points of the fourth to jump ahead 46-41 early in the quarter.
With the pressure turned up later in the period, Liberty Union converted three consecutive LE turnovers into six points over a 40-second span to push the lead to 60-47 with 1:40 remaining.
Kiki Ingram led all scorers as she put in 28 for the Braves. Kimmy Petty added 13, Gillian Savage and Kennedy Groff each had five, Molly Miller had three and Maggie Wilson two.
Brooklyn Angelo led LU (10-9, 4-7) with 21 points, Haedan Brunty had 17 and Macey Smith added 13.
The Braves (10-10, 2-9) head to McClain Monday and wrap up the regular season at Amanda-Clearcreek Friday.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Liberty Union 16 13 8 27 64
Logan Elm 16 11 14 15 56
Bloom-Carroll 60, Amanda-Clearcreek 44 (girls)
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Bloom-Carroll 10 26 14 10 60
Amanda-Clearcreek 11 4 10 19 44
Southeastern 52, Westfall 46 (boys)
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Southeastern 12 41 14 12 52
Westfall 6 9 18 13 46
Teays Valley 58, Groveport-Madison 28 (girls)
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Groveport-Madison 10 6 3 9 28
Teays Valley 15 16 10 17 58