Abby girls’ season comes to a close in O-F

Abbotsford’s 2022-23 basketball campaign came to an end in Osseo-Fairchild last Friday evening, where the girls’ team faced off against a tough Thunder squad in the second round of the WIAA playoffs. A combination of excellent three-point shooting, points off turnovers, and making the most of second chance opportunities allowed fourth-seeded Osseo-Fairchild to knock off the fifth-seeded Falcons, 88-63.

The two teams looked evenly matched in the opening minutes. The Thunder held a slight advantage, but Abbotsford was able to find enough opportunities against their opponents’ zone defense to keep pace.

A three from Adriana Fuentes-Rivera gave the Falcons a 12-11 lead, but two free throws from Osseo-Fairchild’s Madisyn Loonstra made Abbotsford’s time on top of the scoreboard brief. Despite that, the visitors still remained close for a time as both teams struggled to come away with points.

Nursing a three-point lead with four minutes left in the first period, baskets suddenly started to fall for the Thunder. Coming off a nearly four minute long scoreless streak, the home team put up nine points in under 60 seconds of game time, quickly changing the complexion of the game. Second chance points were huge for Osseo-Fairchild on this streak, getting four offensive rebounds on one possession that eventually turned into a basket for the Thunder, as well as turning a missed free throw into three more points after the home team corralled the rebound.

Suddenly down by 12 after trailing by no more than four, the Falcons managed to answer with a three from Brissa Diaz, but the damage had largely been done. Osseo-Fairchild continued to be efficient on the offensive end of the floor and while Abbotsford managed to match them, they still found themselves down 3827 at half.

A field goal from Sydney Falteisek and a made free throw from Sommer Brodhagen to open the second period brought the Falcons back within eight, but that would be all the closer the visiting Abbotsford squad would get. A three-point shot from Osseo-Fairchild’s Taylor Gunderson would be the immediate response from the home team, pushing the deficit to double digits once more.

The Falcons once again held steady against the Thunder for a time and a three from McKinley Klabon brought them back within single digits with ten minutes to play.

Unfortunately for Abbotsford, any hope following the basket was dashed over the next sequence of possessions. Osseo-Fairchild went on a 14-3 run to put themselves up 62-42, a 20-point advantage that put the game out of reach.

In their final game of the season, Falteisek and Brodhagen both recorded double-doubles and led the Falcons in scoring and rebounding. Falteisek put up 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the loss while Brodhagen had 14 points and 10 rebounds. Calley Ruesch added 11 points to also finish the evening in the double digits. Seniors Diaz and Fuentes-Rivera had eight and five points respectively while co-leading the Falcons in assists with five apiece in their final high school game. Fellow senior Madison Bloch also added two points. Klabon scored five points and Neveah Treankler rounded out the scoring with one point.

While they will be missing starters Diaz and Fuentes-Rivera next season, there is the possibility that they can return their top four scorers next year, as well as a number of other rotation players. The Falcons finished their season third in the conference with a 5-4 record against Marawood-North opponents and a 13-10 record overall.