Michaela Writesel (30) of Fairbanks goes up for a shot on Tuesday against Jonathan Alder’s Abby Jones (42). Writesel scored 18 points and Jones tallied 20 during JA’s 102-30 victory. Also pictured is Alder’s Jillian Jaske (50).
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
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After last Saturday’s 84-40 loss to Tecumseh, Jonathan Alder girls basketball coach Steve Cawley was looking for a way for his team to get, in his words, “healthy again.”
The Lady Pioneers (8-3) found a cure Tuesday evening when they rolled to a 102-30 victory over Fairbanks.
“We were coming off a loss to a very good Tecumseh team,” said Cawley. “We got healthy with our shooting again tonight… unfortunately, it just came against Fairbanks.
“We had been a good shooting team up until the Christmas break,” he said. “We still shot well tonight, but we also missed some lay-ups. We are, however, getting back to where we were before the break.”
Alder, which will host Springfield Shawnee on Saturday, got out of the gate quickly with an 11-0 run that was punctuated by Abby Jones’ three-point goal.
Fairbanks (which slipped to 1-10) tallied its first points with 4:53 left to play in the opening period on a bucket by Sam Picklesimer.
Her jumper accounted for the only Lady Panther points during the first eight minutes of action.
Sydney Bourquin scored 13 of her 19 points during the same time as Alder took a 29-2 lead into the ensuing quarter.
A number of JA baskets came in transition off Fairbanks turnovers.
The Lady Panthers (who will host Cedarville on Thursday) coughed up the ball 33 times, including a number against Alder’s pressing, trapping defense.
“Jonathan Alder pressures the ball so well,” said Fairbanks coach Landon Fraker. “We work on that every day, but you can’t simulate that type of pressure during practice.”
Michaela Writesel ignited a bit of offense for the Lady Panthers in the second set.
She tallied nine consecutive points for FHS and finished the contest with a team-high of 18.
“Michaela hit a lot of open shots and also took the ball to the basket well,” said Fraker.
Writesel, however, provided about the only offense Fairbanks could generate for the remainder of the opening half.
Three-pointers by Sydnie Bushong and Corinne Parker helped the Lady Pioneers to a 58-13 halftime lead.
JA scored the first 10 points of the third quarter, with several buckets as the result of Panther turnovers.
Some of those miscues came against Alder’s pressure defense, but others were unforced.
Fairbanks finally broke back into the scoring column on a basket by Writesel.
She was joined in the scoring column by Bella Rowland and Megan Rausch down the stretch.
The Lady Panthers had one of their best scoring quarters of the season, but Alder led, 87-26, by the end of the stanza.
The Lady Pioneers eased off their pressure defense and preferred to play a halfcourt man-to-man the rest of the game.
That didn’t prevent Fairbanks from turning the ball over as JA’s transition game benefitted from those additional mistakes.
Alder opened the final quarter with Parker’s trifecta that pushed the visitors to within 10 points of sending the scoreboard crazy.
Back-to-back buckets from Mary Ferrito gave JA a 70-point spread, 96-26, with four minutes remaining in the contest.
FHS’ final points came on a free throw from Emma Kugel and an old-school three-point play by Writesel.
Maggie Ridder’s basket put the Lady Pioneers just two markers away from triple digits.
She then tallied the final two buckets to hit and then eclipse a century’s worth of points.
While Writesel was the lone Lady Panther in double figures, JA benefitted from five players in that category.
Jones led with 20 points, followed by Bourquin-19, Melissa Walbom-14, Bushong-11 and Ferrito-10.
Parker and Emma Shepherd were just two points shy as they both added eight.
Jonathan Alder
Jones 7-3-20, Bourquin 9-1-19, Walbom 6-2-14, Bushong 5-0-11, Ferrito 4-2-10, Parker 3-0-8, Shepherd 3-1-8, Ridder 3-0-6, Jaske 2-0-4, Moser 1-0-2, Zawodny 0-0-0, Wilson 0-0-0. Totals 43-9-102.
Three-point goals: Jones 3, Parker 2, Bushong 1, Shepherd 1.
Fairbanks
Writesel 7-4-18, Rowland 2-0-5, Rausch 1-0-2, Ziegler 0-2-2, Picklesimer 1-0-2, Kugel 0-1-1, Olson 0-0-0, Wanamaker 0-0-0, Bookwalter 0-0-0, Headings 0-0-0, Blevins 0-0-0. Totals 11-7-30.
Three-point goal: Rowland 1.
Jonathan Alder’s jayvees won the preliminary game, 44-33.
Maddie Wilson led the Jr. Pioneers with 16 points, while Ferrito scored 12 and Ellie Heisler added 10.
Molly Olson led Fairbanks with 12 points.