Girls Basketball: Senior Kaitlyn White’s 25 points helps lead Fieldcrest past Marquette to start the season

FLANAGAN – The Fieldcrest girls basketball team built an eight-point lead after the first quarter of the season opener against Marquette Academy in Monday’s Integrated Seeds Lady Falcon Classic at Flanagan-Cornell High School.

The Knights then began the second quarter on a 13-4 run and eventually posted a 73-49 victory over the Crusaders.

[ Photos: Marquette vs Fieldcrest in the Integrated Seed Lady Falcon girls basketball Classic tournament ]

“What I appreciated out of this group, and that started from my first day with them, is what they are willing and able to adapt to any challenge,” first-year Fieldcrest coach Nathan Ehrhardt said. “A new coach with new ideas, they’ve rolled with everything. Even tonight, Marquette threw a lot of things at us that we maybe haven’t prepared for yet, but the girls adjusted on the fly.

“I thought we’d be OK scoring the ball, but my biggest concern was that we are asking a lot of girls to really step up into offensive roles they haven’t been in before. I know this was only Game No. 1, but I was happy with what I saw tonight on offense. Defensively we weren’t too bad either.”

“I felt like tonight we came out very confident with very little nerves. This was only the first game of our season, and we have some things to work on, but I think at times we showed what kind of team we are capable of being.”

—  Kaitlyn White, Fieldcrest senior guard

Fieldcrest guard Kaitlyn White started her senior season out strong by scoring 18 of her game-high 25 points in the opening half. She also collected three rebounds, three assists and four steals.

“Last year we had a really good senior group, but over the summer we really adjusted very well to what this year’s team is going to be,” White said. “I felt like tonight we came out very confident with very little nerves. This was only the first game of our season, and we have some things to work on, but I think at times we showed what kind of team we are capable of being.”

Sophomore guard Macy Gochanour netted 16 points, including four 3-pointers, and handed out six assists for Fieldcrest, which led 21-13 after one, 38-24 at the half and 62-36 after three quarters. Senior forward Riley Burton had 14 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and three steals, while classmate Aliah Celis pulled down 11 rebounds and passed for three assists.

“We dug ourselves a hole there in the first half, but that said, I really thought we came out and played a much better, much more relaxed second half,” Marquette coach Eric Price said. “We didn’t shoot the ball as well as I think we will this season and some of that was nerves and some of that was Fieldcrest speeding us up a little with the defensive pressure. We also had way too many turnovers and empty possessions.

“We tried to mix things up a little defensively, but it seemed like every time we did, one of their girls – more often than not one we weren’t expecting to – would hit a big shot. We have some youth on the floor right now, but tonight they were able to go up against a team in Fieldcrest that I think is going to have a really good season, so hopefully our more inexperienced players can take a lot away from tonight.”

Marquette senior Lilly Craig registered 17 of her team-best 24 points in the second half, including a turn-around 10-footer from the right wing seconds into the second half that gave her 1,000 points in her career.

“It was a weight lifted off my shoulders. I’ve been thinking about those nine points since the end of last season and all summer,” said Craig, who also had a game-high 13 rebounds, four steals and five blocked shots. “I was really nervous, and I think we all were in the first half. It wasn’t really about the points, but about how we were all going to play.

“It wasn’t the outcome we wanted, but I thought we all calmed down and played a pretty good second half. I’m excited to see how we can progress.”

Marquette’s Avery Durdan had nine points and six rebounds, while Kaitlyn Davis had six points, four assists and a pair of steals.

Both teams return to the tournament Tuesday with Fieldcrest playing Normal Community’s junior varsity team and Marquette taking on the host Flanagan-Cornell/Woodland Falcons.