By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
FAYETTE (December 2, 2024) – Last basketball campaign, Fayette’s girls won two games. This year the season is in its infancy stages, but the Eagles have already matched that win total of a year ago with a 45-40 win over Swanton. Fayette is now 2-1 on the season, while the Bulldogs fell to 0-2.
“This is a good start for us,” Eagle coach Travis Arkwright said. “It gives us confidence that we can play with good teams and beat teams and now it comes down to us being more consistent.”
“We let one get away the other night against a good Stryker team but at the same time, we are capable of playing with those teams and gaining a confidence level every day.”
Addy Schang’s steal and dish to Kennedy Kunkle halfway through the first quarter gave the Eagles an 8-6 margin, and the Bulldogs couldn’t regain an advantage for the next 20 minutes.
Jessica Finfera’s free throw 40 ticks into the second forged an 11-11 tie, as Swanton hit a stretch where they couldn’t dent the scoreboard from the field, going 0/6 and committing seven turnovers.
Fayette had 10 miscues of their own in the same quarter, but the Eagles made good on most of the possessions where they got a shot, going 6/9 in the quarter with Zoie Brown doing much of the damage.
Three times Kelsie Storrs found the senior post player for layups and Brown got a fourth bucket from Erika Fetterman to help boost the Eagles up 24-16 at half.
Schang’s cut to the basket maintained that eight point lead at 28-20 with 3:34 to go in the third when Swanton made their move.
Finfera knocked in a long triple and Madilynn Stevenson scored off an Eagle turnover to chop the margin to 28-27, and after Fetterman split two at the line, Finfera stole an inbounds pass and scored with 1:10 on the clock to bring Swanton even at 29-all.
Kunkle’s bucket regained a 31-29 Fayette advantage, but Lexie Yeager countered with a triple to put the Bulldogs back up 32-31 with 22 seconds to go.
The next lead change came 12 seconds later when Storrs laced a left side triple to give Fayette a 34-32 lead after the third.
After a flurry of turnovers to start the fourth, Swanton got the lead back two minutes in when Lauren Bettinger’s drive-plus-one made it 35-34.
Forty-four seconds later Kunkle put the Eagles ahead for good when Willow Mitchell found her inside on an inbounds play and a 36-35 lead.
Schang made that one-point margin turn into four when she bagged a left side triple, then Brown’s three-point play with 1:29 left in the game bumped it to 42-35.
“That was kind of what the defense was giving us right there,” Arkwright explained. “They were trying to take one reversal pass away to the option was the skip pass.”
“I think we did a good job not settling for that pass all the time and we did a good job getting downhill attacking the paint.”
Swanton made one last charge as Stevenson hit a triple and after Fayette misfired from the line, Yeager hit from the left side to slice the lead to 42-40 before Schang and Storrs went 3/4 at the line to finish off the Bulldogs.
Fayette had 21 turnovers compared to Swanton’s 27 in the contest marred by those miscues and an overabundance of fouls.
“That was a credit to all the girls who came in,” Arkwright said of his team’s perseverance to overcome those errors. “Morgan Simon, Mesa Gorsuch did a great job off the bench. Kennedy Kunkle did a great job off the bench, you know it’s better sometimes to have to say ‘whoa’ instead of ‘go’ but at the same time you have to play smart and adjust to the way the game is being called.”
Brown’s 14 led all scorers while Kunkle added 12 for the Eagles. Finfera had 12 to pace Swanton.
SWANTON (40) – Yeager 9; Finfera 12; Stevenson 7; Elliot 0; Bettinger 8; Mosko 2; Lagrange 2; Totals: 10-3-11 – 40
FAYETTE (45) – Schang 9; Simon 0; Mitchell 0; Storrs 9; Gorsuch 0; Fetterman 1; Brown 14; Kunkle 12; Totals: 14-2-11 – 45
SWANTON 10 6 16 8 – 40
FAYETTE 11 13 10 11 – 45
