Abby escapes Hatchets chopping block

The Abbotsford Falcons girls basketball team has made a complete 180 from last year’s squad, more than doubling up their win total from the 2020-21 season.

But last year’s team was young and inexperienced, though athletic and talented. They took their lumps, learned from last year, and are now boasting a 9-4 record overall after going 1-1 in games with Stratford and Tomahawk.

Stratford, 48-32

Maybe it was the cold weather. Maybe it was playing on the road against a tall and tough Stratford team. Or maybe it was the hangover from a tough loss to Phillips at home the night before.

Whatever the reason, the Falcons just could not seem to get the buckets or the stops they needed in order to upset the Stratford Tigers at home.

The Tigers rode Lauren Kraus and Bailey Linzmaier to victory on Friday night. Both players scored in double digits, with Kraus recording a game high 19 points and Linzmaier adding ten.

But outside of that duo, the Falcons did not allow another Tiger to score more than six points.

The Abbotsford played solid defense, that’s for sure, but their offense struggled against a Tigers team with some height. The Falcons held Stratford to a mere 19 points in the first half, but could only muster 11 points on their end. Briseida Escalera was the only Falcon to score multiple buckets in the first half.

Abbotsford improved dramatically in the second half. Sydney Falteisek got on a roll, connecting on three buckets, and Escalara hit a triple. Alea Graff also had multiple baskets, and the Falcons tallied 21 points in the second half.

Unfortunately, the Tigers were just a tad more efficient on offense. Kraus piled up the points in the final frame, scoring 13 of her game high 19 in the latter half. To make matters worse, the Tigers did an effective job of getting to the charity stripe and converting on their free throws, sinking 12 of 22 attempts. Meanwhile, the Falcons had just nine free throw attempts all night, converting on just three of those free throws.

Each made bucket and free throw sunk the Falcons’ comeback hopes just a little bit more, and Stratford prevailed thanks to a 29 point second half.

Escalara paced the Falcons with ten points, followed by Faltiesek with nine. Graff collected six points and Sommer Brodhagen and Adriana Fuentes added four and three points.

56-24

The Falcons finally got back to winning ways on Tuesday night, taking a trip to Tomahawk to duel the Hatchets in a non-conference game between Marawood and Great Northern squads.

While the Hatchets may have playing at home, and are in a different division from Abbotsford, the Falcons were not intimidated by the atmosphere.

The Falcons snapped their two game losing streak to improve to 2-2 in 2022 with a one-sided drubbing of the Hatchets that resulted in a 56-24 victory.

The Falcons sprinted ahead for a 2811 advantage at halftime, and kept the pressure on the Hatchets in second half, out-scoring their hosts 28-11.

Briseida Escalara had a huge game, scoring a team high 17 points. Sydney Falteisek added ten points. Bridgett Pogodzinski and Sommer Brodhagen both had seven points.

Stephany Espino finished with six points, Alea Graff tallied five points and Bella Aguilera and Brisssa Diaz rounded things out with two points.

The Falcons will be back in action on Thursday, Jan. 13. They will host the Chequamegon Screaming Eagles. The Screaming Eagles do not have a JV team, so the varsity game will tip-off at 6 p.m. instead of 7:15 p.m.

FIND A LANE -Calley Ruesch looks for a driving lane during the Falcons home game with Phillips. Ruesch had four boards against the Hatchets.STAFF PHOTOS/ROSS PATTERMANN