Fairbanks’ Reese Poling (4) goes up for a shot against Mechanicsburg on Wednesday. The FHS sophomore led the team with 15 points during a 52-40 loss to the Indians. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
“We just can’t duplicate that type of pressure defense in practice.”
Those were the words of Fairbanks girls basketball coach Landon Fraker after Wednesday’s 52-40 loss to Mechanicsburg.
The game featured a pair of Ohio Heritage Conference teams that were previously unbeaten.
The Lady Panthers took a 5-0 record into the contest, while Mechanicsburg stood at 4-0.
The first half was particularly difficult for Fairbanks.
“They seemed to get a hand on the basketball on just about every play,” said Fraker. “That caused a lot of turnovers for us.”
It also didn’t help matters that FHS (which will host Triad on Saturday) ended up putting the Indians on the free throw line a good deal during the first 16 minutes of basketball.
Mechanicsburg’s defensive pressure prevented the Lady Panthers from getting into any type of offensive flow for much of the opening quarter.
Numerous FHS possessions ended with turnovers as FHS has no answer for the defensive tactic.
Nearly five minutes went by before Reese Poling gave Fairbanks its first points of the night.
The Indians later took an 8-2 lead on a pair of free throws by Dani Schipfer.
Poling hit two more points and Macy Miller assisted on a backdoor basket by Carly Lehman.
As a result, FHS trailed 8-6 by the end of the first period.
That, however, was as close as the Lady Panthers got until the final quarter.
Fairbanks put the Indians into the bonus early in the second stanza.
The visitors used the charity stripe to maintain their upper hand.
Poling buried a three-pointer to pull FHS to within 20-14 with three minutes remaining in the period.
Miller then blocked a pair of Indian shots.
Mechanicsburg, though, went on a 9-0 run to take a 29-14 halftime advantage.
Lehman and Miller, two of Fairbanks’ top scoring threats, were limited to a pair of points (by Lehman) during the first half.
The Lady Panther defense locked down during the third quarter and held the Indians to just six markers.
FHS’ offense also picked up just a little bit, but Mechanicsburg maintained double-digit leads.
A traditional three-point play by Poling narrowed Fairbanks’ deficit to 35-25 by the end of the stanza.
Miller scored her first points of the game when she made a strong baseline move early in the final period.
She followed with another bucket that pulled FHS to within 37-29.
The momentum shift continued toward the Lady Panthers.
Miller swiped the ball and fed it to Poling.
Poling, in turn, dished back to Miller for a basket that sliced the Indians’ lead to 37-31 with 5:31 to play.
Miller continued to be a defensive force as her next steal led to an assist on Elaina Lahmers’ three-pointer that whittled the FHS gap to 37-34.
At that point, the Lady Panthers seemed to hit a wall.
Although Fairbanks didn’t send the Indians to the free throw stripe as many times during the second half, the local team could not close the deficit any further.
Mechanicsburg maintained the upper hand by five and six points until the timer became the Lady Panthers’ enemy.
Fairbanks had no choice but to begin fouling in order to stop the clock.
The Indians sealed the game by hitting six consecutive charity tosses down the stretch.
The free throw line played a huge role in the outcome.
Mechanicsburg hit 17-of-26 from the stripe, while FHS was only three-for-three.
“This game was frustrating because we’re better than this,” said Fraker. “Mechanicsburg took the fight to us and we didn’t attack them.
“We didn’t execute very well at the end of the game.”
The Panther coach said he has a couple of ideas on how to better prepare his team for the type of pressure defense it faced against the Indians.
“I think we’re going to bring in some of the boys players for our practices,” he said. “Hopefully, they can help us deal better with pressure defense.”
Mechanicsburg
Schipfer 6-6-18, Skillings 4-5-14, Forrest 2-3-7, DeLong 2-1-5, Lim 1-2-4, Wilson 1-0-2, Conley 1-0-2, Wilhelm 0-0-0. Totals 17-17-52.
Three-point goal: Skillings 1.
Fairbanks
R. Poling 5-3-15, Miller 4-0-8, Lahmersd 3-0-7, Lehman 3-0-6, Carter 2-0-4, A. Poling 0-0-0, Reinhard 0-0-0, Ruff 0-0-0. Totals 17-3-40.
Three-point goal: Lahmers 1.
Fairbanks’ JV squad won the preliminary game, 33-16.
Anna Mueller led the Jr. Panthers with eight points.