FITCH SECURES FIRST CONFERENCE WIN
AUSTINTOWN OH- For The Austintown-Fitch Falcons girls basketball team, The All-American Conference (AAC) has been a challenge when it comes to conference games this season. With Fitch facing off against the likes of Canfield, Boardman and Howland this season, and despite being competitive, coming up short in those three contests. However, Wednesday night saw The Falcons host the last AAC opponent they had yet to face this season in The Warren Harding Raiders. Harding would also enter Wednesday evening looking for their first conference win, with their lone prior conference contest a heartbreaking four point defeat to The Howland Tigers. While Fitch was 2-0 against Harding a season ago and wanted to continue that success on their home court.
The first half saw Falcon freshman Kylie Folkwein find her rhythm from distance, knocking down a big distance shot early to help propel Fitch to an early lead. But The Raiders kept on battling, while starting four freshmen on the varsity squad, all of which showed great poise and confidence in their play. That has translated to success with Harding being winners in six of their first eleven contests this season entering Wednesday. The first half had Fitch in front after the first sixteen minutes of play.
Coming out of the second half, a Harding freshman with a familiar last name, Gianna Pompelia was finding success all over the floor for The Raiders, ending up with eleven points scored on the game. While girls like Trinity Taylor and Caden Reed showed incredible flashes of brilliance on both the offensive and defensive sides of the game. Both Kylie Folkwein and Jocelyn Jourdan commanded the posts, as Fitch was able to create a lot of second looks with offensive rebounds. However, The Player of The Game performance goes to Fitch senior Zayda Creque, scoring 14 second half points and ending with 20 total to contribute to a 49-37 victory over The Raiders.
The loss for Harding (6-6)(0-2) will keep them on the road in the conference, entering a different nest this time, that of The Canfield Cardinals (9–1)(1-0) on Saturday, January 7th. Following their first conference win, Fitch (4-8) will also be in action on Saturday, but they will be out of conference, hitting the road in a bout with The Liberty Leopards (4-3). Below are interviews with Fitch senior Zayda Creque and Fitch Head Coach Natalie Lynn!
