By Stu Swartz
Fairfield’s lead got shaky at times, but the Lady Falcons wouldn’t let go of it during a battle of neighboring high school basketball teams Tuesday night in Goshen.
The Falcons trailed only briefly a couple times in the first half and iced the contest at the free-throw line late in holding off the determined Lady Redskins, 49-42.
“It’s always a good win when you play a neighboring rival like this,” said Falcon coach Steve Proctor.
“Coach (Lenny) Krebs does a great job with the Goshen program and we knew they would play us tough. They do things the right way and figured it was going to be a battle.
“We made some free throws near the end, but still could do a little better (17 of 27) there. We have been a little streaky at the line.
“Before sectional time, it is good for us to play a couple bigger-school teams like Goshen and Northridge. This should help get us ready for the tournament.”
Fairfield, 14-4, visits West Noble on Thursday.
Goshen’s Krebs said, “I would feel much better if this had ended in a victory. But, it was probably the most intense our team has played for the longest time in several games.
“I was pleased how we came out ready to play and stayed aggressive. We took a couple steps forward in this game.
“Now, we need to take the next step which is to be intense and aggressive without fouling. The difference turned out to be at the free-throw line. They shot 27 to our 12.
“We must learn to get to the line on the offensive end and not just live and die with the outside shot. We got the ball inside several times and weren’t able to finish.
“This was the best game I have seen Lauren Riegsecker (5-7 junior) play. Hopefully, she can continue to grow as a player with an effort like this.”
Emily Waits, 5-10 senior, had 15 points and eight rebounds for Fairfield while 5-3 senior Diamond Setterberg tallied 11 points with 9-for-15 at the foul stripe.
Haley Bechtel, 5-10 sophomore, chipped in with nine points, 5-6 sophomore Becca Kropf seven, 5-8 senior Brooke Schwartz five and 5-6 junior Jaimie Stack two.
Aimee Swihart, 5-5 freshman, hustled her way to 12 points for Goshen while Riegsecker netted nine and 5-8 junior Natalie Newell had eight points to go with a game-high 11 rebounds.
Olivia Zepeda, 5-10 senior, scored six points and 5-5 senior Lauren Shaffer hit a 3-pointer as they were playing their final home game at GHS.
Scoring two points each were 5-5 junior Meghan Neff and 5-9 freshman Ali Peters.
The Falcons led 9-8 after one quarter, 21-17 at halftime and 33-25 going into the final eight minutes.
Shaffer’s ‘3’ got Goshen within 34-30 and the Redskins got within 41-38 on a rebound bucket by Newell with 1:05 to play. Two free throws by Swihart at 0:53 kept Goshen within 43-30, but the Redskins could get no closer.
Goshen, 5-13, meets Elkhart Memorial at 6:15 Friday night in the opener of a girls-boys varsity doubleheader at North Side Gym.
Junior Varsity
Fairfield also won the JV game, 28-17, improving to 15-1.
Ellen Line scored six points for the Falcons, MyKayla Neilson, Emily Beasley and Kelsie Camacho five each, Megan Beasley four and Kari Beasley three.
Goshen got four points each from Amber Stevenson and Diamond Kelly, two each by Maranda Reed, Yesenia Montanez, Hailey Warrick and Wengerd and one by Lidia Vilumbrales.
