Elaina Lahmers (30) of Fairbanks goes up for two of her 14 points on Saturday. Also pictured is Triad’s Madi Cox. FHS won, 70-34. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
Fairbanks girls basketball coach Landon Fraker saw very quickly what would be a problem for the Triad hoop squad while watching films a few days ago.
Fraker saw the Lady Cardinals had trouble if an opposing team slapped a good pressing defense on them.
The Lady Panther bench boss designed a 3-2 full-court press that took Triad completely out of its game during a 70-34 victory on Saturday evening.
“Our press worked well tonight and we were able to score a lot of points off it,” said Fraker as the Lady Panthers improved their record to 2-3.
Triad’s senior siblings, Cati and Frani LeVan, tried to dribble and pass their team out of the press.
Fairbanks, however, was able to negate that.
“The LeVan girls are scary good,” said Fraker. “However, we were able to take them out of their press breaker.”
It was a frustrating evening for the Lady Cardinals’ top players as they combined for only 18 points.
Both twins also fouled out of the game during the fourth quarter.
“Fairbanks’ press definitely hurt us,” said Triad coach Erica Trainer. “The thing is we prepared for it during practice.
“However, we’ve got some inexperienced players on the floor.”
The Lady Cardinals tried to quickly break FHS’ press on numerous occasions.
All that did, however, was lead to a bunch of their 43 total turnovers.
“It’s one thing to play with a sense of urgency,” said Trainer. “It’s another to play out of control.”
Neither team put on a sparkling offensive show during the first few minutes of the contest.
The score was deadlocked at 5-5 when Frani LeVan scored a pair of her team-high 13 points.
Fairbanks’ Anna Poling swished a couple of charity tosses with 4:52 left in the opening stanza.
FHS went back on top 7-5 and never again trailed.
Ashtin Fauber’s bucket narrowed Triad’s deficit to 11-7.
Elaina Lahmers answered back with a basket for Fairbanks.
Emma Kugel then connected on a pair of charity tosses that sent Fairbanks into the second period with a 15-7 margin.
Triad (3-5) was able to stay within a handful of points during the early portion of the ensuing quarter.
Carly Lehman, however, scored six of her game-high 23 points and pushed FHS out to a 26-16 spread.
The Cardinals kept surrendering the ball on turnovers as they just couldn’t get anything going on offense.
Gracie Pyers scored in transition after a Triad miscue to send Fairbanks into the turn with a 33-20 lead.
Although FHS had a somewhat comfortable lead at halftime, Fraker was even more pleased with the way his squad played after the break.
“I think we did a better job of executing our transition offense during the second half,” he said. “We didn’t always score off it, but we ran it better.”
The Panther coach said if his squad can become more consistent with its transition offense, “we’ll really get rolling.”
Fairbanks completely gained control of the contest during a brief stretch in the third quarter.
Elaina Lahmers scored in transition, Megan Rausch took the ball to the hoop and Lehman tallied a pair of buckets off Triad turnovers.
As such, Fairbanks climbed to a 44-20 lead and never looked back.
The Lady Panthers’ margin stood at 56-29 by the end of the third stanza and they coasted to victory.
Both local teams will return to action on Wednesday.
Fairbanks will host Greenon, while Triad will be at home against Southeastern.
Fairbanks
Lehman 7-9-23, Lahmers 4-6-14, M. Miller 5-2-12, Pyers 2-1-5, Rausch 2-0-4, Kugel 0-4-4, Poling 1-2-4, Carter 1-0-2, L. Miller 1-0-2, Smith 0-0-0. Totals 23-24-70.
Triad
F. LeVan 4-5-13, Walls 2-4-8, C. LeVan 2-1-5, Fauber 1-1-3, Snider 1-0-2, Ferguson 1-0-2, Easton 0-1-1, Cox 0-0-0, Nott 0-0-0. Totals 11-12-34.
Fairbanks rolled to a 23-9 victory during the junior varsity game. Triad was short on players, thus only two quarters were played.
Kate Ruff and Lindsey Smith both scored six points for the Jr. Panthers.
Hailey Snider led Triad’s JVs with six.
Gracie Pyers (3) of Fairbanks shoots a jumper Saturday evening at Triad High School. Pyers tallied five points during the Lady Panthers’ 70-34 victory. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)