Abby defeats Eagles on the road, falls to Tigers
By Nathaniel Underwood
In a contest that went right down to the wire, the Abbotsford girls basketball team came out on top in a Marawood-North matchup against Chequamegon last week, notching their second win of the season by capturing the road conference victory. They also played Stratford later in the week and were defeated in the non-conference game.
Stratford, 64-21
The Falcons struggled to find answers on both sides of the court in their Friday night matchup with Stratford. The Tigers pushed the ball down the court to great effect and got to the free throw line early and often as they downed Abbotsford 64-21.
Stratford dominated on both sides of the ball, keeping Abbotsford under 30 percent shooting from the field while nearly hitting half of their own shot attempts. They also held the advantage at the free throw line, making 17 of their 24 attempts, while the Falcons went 3-for-9 from the line. The 18 points in transition for the Tigers gave them a leg up as well, as the Falcons were not able to score any points via a fast break on Friday evening.
A basket from Jackie Soto got Abbotsford on the board first, but the Tigers would quickly take over the affair. Over eight minutes of game time passed before Azalea Atkinson got the Falcons back in the scoring column and over that scoreless stretch, the Tigers managed to score 24 unanswered points.
After another small 6-0 run for the visitors, back-to-back baskets from Asia Atkinson and Azul Diaz largely undid the damage. The Falcons were not able to make much headway against the tough Stratford defense, however, and still found themselves down 34-12 at halftime.
Two baskets for Azalea Atkinson over the first four Abbotsford possessions to start the second period helped them keep pace early, but the offense once again fell silent.
A 17-2 run for the Tigers over the next five minutes sealed the game for the visitors. Nevaeh Treankler’s layup midway through the Stratford run was the Falcons’ only source of points over the stretch.
Azalea Atkinson was Abbotsford’s chief scorer on Friday, going 4-for-8 from the field and putting up eight points. Asia Atkinson added another five points, Treankler ended the game with four points and two steals, and Diaz and Soto both had two points.
Chequamegon, 41-38
Jackie Soto hit the go-ahead basket with under 20 seconds left in the game, Azul Diaz delivered an insurance layup after securing a steal on the next possession and the Falcons notched their second win of the season in exciting fashion by defeating Marawood-North foe Chequamegon 41-38 on the road last Tuesday evening.
After holding onto the lead for most of the second period, a late run by the Screaming Eagles looked like it would be enough to rally past Abbotsford. With under four minutes to play, the visiting Falcons held a 35-31 lead. However, Chequamegon managed to score seven straight points, tying the game at 35-35 before a three from Mia Singer gave the home team their first lead since midway through the first period.
With just over a minute left, the Falcons needed to score quickly. While their first two shot attempts on the next possession did not find their mark, an offensive rebound by Celia Schindler and a subsequent shooting foul gave the Abbotsford junior two free throws. Schindler sank both of them,
See FALCONS BEST CHEQUAMEGON/ Page 16
UP AND UNDER - Asia Atkinson sneaks through a pair of Stratford defenders for a layup.
STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD
POST MOVES - Azalea Atkinson picks up two of her team-high eight points against the Tigers on Friday.
STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD Falcons best Chequamegon
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bringing the Falcons back within one.
The Screaming Eagles had a costly mistake on their next possession, giving the ball back to Abbotsford on an unforced turnover. Abbotsford made sure to capitalize on the gifted opportunity, getting the ball to Soto underneath the basket on an inbounds play. Soto worked open a layup and sank it, putting Abbotsford ahead once more. In Chequamegon’s haste to get up another shot, the home team had another errant pass, this time sending it into the backcourt where Diaz was the first to scoop it up and deliver the dagger.
The sequence capped off a back and forth second period in which neither team held more than a five-point lead. This varied greatly with the first half, which was dominated by lengthy scoring runs for each team.
Chequamegon was the first to take a significant advantage, going up 13-6. However, a pair of baskets from Schindler got the Falcons offense rolling, kicking off an impressive stretch where they rattled off 17 straight points. A floater in the lane put the Falcons ahead 14-13 and Riley Podevels hit a three and two free throws on back-to-back possessions to push Abbotsford ahead. They eventually stretched their lead out to 23-13, but Chequamegon finished the half with a 7-0 run of their own to make it a one possession game heading into halftime.
Soto led the Falcons with 11 points and Schindler added another 10 in the victory. Diaz picked up seven points, Podevels had five points and Azalea Atkinson finished with four. Marilyn Hammock and Asia Atkinson rounded out the scoring with two points each.
Abbotsford is now 2-10 this season and holds a 1-4 record in the Marawood-North. They will look to improve that conference record on Thursday when they invite the Athens Bluejays into town. Athens is 2-9 this season and is coming off a 56-43 victory over Chequamegon on Monday evening. The start time for the game has been moved up to 6:30 p.m.
