There’s no backing down for Lady Flames

FREDERICKSBURG — Goal-setting is part of every Faith Academy girls basketball season.

One of those goals is to win a pre-district tournament, and the Lady Flames came within a possession of reaching that goal.

Faith lost to Fredericksburg, 45-41, in the championship game after beating Bandera, 61-44.

They now improve to 7-3 overall.

Head coach Jerry English said he couldn’t be prouder of his players, noting he did not think it was realistic for his team to go 4-0.

“For us to go 4-0 was hard to imagine,” he said. “We had a chance. We always found three or four points.”

English said he did not think Faith matched up well with Fredericksburg. 

“They had all kinds of size,” he said. “It just got so physical. Every play after the first half was a blood bath.”

The Lady Billies had three players who were 6 feet tall. 

Fredericksburg took a 9-2 lead in the first three minutes of the contest. However, Faith battled back and only trailed, 15-14, at the end of the period. 

Then the Lady Flames went on an 8-1 run that lasted five minutes. 

Fredericksburg’s depth paid off as the Lady Billies trailed only 29-27 at halftime. 

The contest was stopped twice because some players had to be bandaged because of cuts, English said.

Once the Lady Billies took a four-point lead, they went to their stall offense. Because Faith had two fouls to give, the Lady Flames had to foul four times.

Laura Lykken hit a three-pointer to trim the deficit, 39-38. 

Fredericksburg made four free throws to ice the game.

The Lady Flames coach said his players did not shy away from the contact.

“We did not back down too much from that,” he said. “When we got in that physical situation, we did not shrink and give up.”

English was especially happy with Deanna Hoover’s play. The power forward did not back down from contact, he said.

“Deanna is not physical by nature, but she stepped it up,” he said. 

Junior point guard Kendra Field scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds. 

English said Fredericksburg used three different players to guard her, and she was knocked down at least 10 times while going in for layups.

“They would try to physically manhandle us, especially Kendra,” he said. “In the first minute, she splits the defense and does a great job penetrating and tries to lay it up.”

Sister Brooke Field added 11 points and 14 rebounds. Laura Lykken dropped in seven points and took three rebounds, while Katie Jung scored five points, and Shiloh Reaves had four points and three rebounds. 

“I was so proud of our girls,” English said. “Every time it looked like we could not stay with them, we came back again. It was a really fun game to watch. We had a lot of girls step up, but the two Field sisters were real warriors.”

The coach said he was happy with the way his squad performed against Bandera.

“Overall I was pleased with the effort and intensity level of this game,” he said. “I was pleased that we were able to get some quality minutes from our bench. We are still not very consistent in our play and make some really poor decisions that result in too many turnovers, but I am pleased with our progress.”

The coach said Bandera had tall players who were good rebounders. 

Kendra Field led her team with 27 points and seven rebounds followed by Brooke Field with 12 points and six rebounds, Katie Jung added five points and four rebounds, while Shiloh Reaves and Deanna Hoover each had four. Breigh Gray added three, Taylor Vaughn scored two and Taylor Castleberry dropped in a free throw. 

Hoover grabbed five rebounds, while Gray pulled down four.

Both Field sisters were voted to the all-tournament team.

“It ended up being a really good tournament,” English said. “Once we won three games, and got to the championship finals, our team really wanted to win.” 

Courtesy photo