Fayetteville Sweeps RT-C in District Doubleheader
The Fayetteville boys and girls basketball teams traveled to Round Top-Carmine high school Friday night to take on the Cubs in a doubleheader.
The Lady Lions started the action by dominating from the opening tip-off and winning their match with a final score of 82-47.
The Fayetteville boys followed suit in a more even contest and secured a 66-52 victory.
For the Lady Lions, they remain undefeated in district at 9-0 and move to 12-8 overall.
“This week in practice, we wanted to work on our press,” said Fayetteville head girl’s basketball coach Marcus Sodek. “I felt the first time we played them, we let a lot of things slip. We wanted to clean that up. Give credit to Round Top. The first time we played them, I think we beat them by 15. They played us pretty tough. We only had one district game left, so we wanted to play well and I thought the girls did that.”
Sophomore guard Brooklyn Jaeger finished with 35 points on the night and it seemed as though she couldn’t miss from anywhere she pulled up.
“This whole week, we’ve been working really hard,” Jaeger said. “Last time, we felt we were not playing our best game, so we were running a lot, hustling, trying to get in shape so we can get up and down the court. A lot of shooting drills that pushed our stamina. We really pushed ourselves up and down the court and fought really hard because this is a hard game usually.”
For Round Top-Carmine, they look to stay positive and continue growing as a team.
“This was our seniors’ last night to play in the gym, so it’s always exciting to see them compete whenever they have the chance to here in their home gym,” said Round Top-Carmine head girl’s basketball coach Catie Carney. “Fayetteville is extremely aggressive and they always are when they play us. They do a good job at whatever the task is at hand. Kudos to them on a good performance and we wish them the best of luck going forward. For us, it’s just being more aggressive and getting after it. We just have to continue to fight and move forward from here.”
As the Fayetteville boys team has been trying to find it’s groove throughout the year, their most recent win and stellar shooting performance should give them confidence going into their final stretch of games.
“We just try to keep it simple,” said Fayetteville head boy’s basketball coach Clint Jaeger. “Pass the ball around and if you’re open, shoot it. It doesn’t matter who you are. You got to shoot the shot to make the shot. We’ve been struggling a little bit this year with that. It’s nice to finally see our potential. Hopefully we can keep building on that.”
Fayetteville freshman guard Keagan Supak scored 33 points and continued to find the net with his shot throughout the game.
“It was just a fun night”, Supak said. “Fayetteville and Round Top is a pretty good matchup. Whenever you lose to Round Top, you don’t want it to happen. We always just want to win and compete. Tonight, we started playing good as a team. Actually working together and having fun. That’s what made it a good game.”
The Round Top-Carmine boys were in contention from start to finish and never took their foot off the gas, making a nice run in the fourth quarter to stay in it towards the end. “We started off cold. We couldn’t put the ball in the basket,” said Round Top-Carmine head boy’s basketball coach Blake Goehring.
“We’ve been out for a while. A couple times we’ve been quarantined in the last three weeks. It’s tough to step out and play a game without practice and it showed today. We keep fighting and keep getting after it. Fayetteville made big shots. Give them a lot of credit. They outplayed us tonight.”
The Fayetteville girls started their match by winning the opening tip and draining an open three from Jaeger. On defense, they played a 3-1-1 full court press and scored 11 unanswered points, mostly from turnovers, that forced Round Top to call a timeout as the Lady Lions went up 13-2 at just under the six minute mark in the first quarter. Round Top went into a 2-3 zone that forced Fayetteville to move the ball around. A lay up at the buzzer for Fayetteville gave them a 26-8 lead at the end of the period due to forcing turnovers and running the floor in transition. While the Lady Cubs started to settle in on defense, Fayetteville continued to hit shots in order to take a 39-19 lead at halftime. The dynamic of the game didn’t change in the second half. Round Top couldn’t spark any kind of run or gain any momentum due to the Lady Lions pressure on defense and accuracy from distance on offense. Fayetteville had a 60-31 advantage after the third quarter by finding the open player on the wing or near the baseline for an open shot. They also drove the lane off the dribble and finished at the rim en route to an 82-47 win.
The Round Top boys won their opening tip that was followed by a trap, steal, and lay up for Fayetteville. The Lions went on a 6-0 run in the first minute and took a 15-13 lead as Round Top answered back by settling down on offense after Fayetteville displayed their half-court trap. The Cubs also hit shots and drew fouls in order to go to the free-throw line and get back in it. Fayetteville started the second quarter hot while Round Top struggled to put the ball in the rim. The Lions were able to beat their man off the dribble and sink open shots before Round Top hit a lay up at the buzzer that made a 34-21 scoreboard at half. The Lions held their steady lead in the third quarter until Round Top guard Bryan Lunbeck swiped a steal and a lay up to cut the deficit to 10 at 41-31 with three and a half minutes to spare. As soon as it seemed like the Cubs were gaining momentum, Fayetteville would make a basket to maintain their comfortable advantage and head into the final quarter leading 47-33. Shots kept falling for the Lions, but Round Top found ways to make it a game as Cubs guard and coach’s son Ryker Goehring hit a three pointer from the top of the key to only go down nine with a score of 58-49 at the 3:37 mark. Fayetteville responded by making backto-back lay ups to take a 62-49 lead with only a couple minutes to play. The Lions kept their up tempo style on offense in the last minute as Round Top continued to apply pressure on defense. A game that could’ve gone either way towards the end resulted in a 66-52 win for Fayetteville.
1/29/21
Fayetteville boys 66, Round Top-Carmine 52
Fayetteville 15 19 13 19 – 66
RT-C 13 8 12 19 – 52
Fayetteville scoring: Logan Fritsch 4, Cooper Mau 4, Landon Urban 11, Parker Vitak 1, Keagan Supak 33, Aiden Wicke 4, Sterling Hopkins 9.
RT-C scoring: Bryan Lunbeck 12, Ryker Goehring 21, Kaben Lunbeck 2, Alex Pieper 3, Kannyn Goehring 3, Kevin Polasek 11.
1/29/21
Fayetteville girls 82, Round Top-Carmine 47
Fayetteville 26 15 21 20 – 82
RT-C 8 11 12 16 – 47
Fayetteville scoring: Emma Jurecka 26, Jeslyn Moralez 2, Kayme Schley 10, Brooklyn Jaeger 33, Mattie Konvicka 6, Rylie Dyer 5.
RTC scoring: Mallory Krause 3, Ilse Salina 2, Kate Eilers 14, Kim Rohde 4, Kennedy Flinn 4, Alexis Hudgen 16, Brooke Schobel 4.