Breens’ offense, Fairfield’s defense wins

FAIRFIELD - Drive to the corner, turn dribble up the baseline, muscle inside and score the bucket. And repeat. Again.

If there was any doubt to Tuesday's girls basketball game between Knoxville and Fairfield after the Trojans led 11-4 at the end of the first quarter and 27-15 at halftime, Danielle Breen scored 10 of the home team's 14 points in the third quarter to increase the lead to 41-26 on the way to a 56-37 nonconference win.

'They switched to a man and I feel pretty confident playing against a man because I like my physical ability compared to most girls,” Breen said. 'I just kept taking it in and it went my way most of the time.”

And that was after drilling a 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the first half. Breen finished with 16 points. Hannah Simpson scored the other four points of the third quarter after pounding in eight points in the first half to end with 12.

Delaney Breen scored right before the first quarter ended and had nine points in the first half, 15 in the game. She was 4-for-5 on free throws and Danielle Breen was 3-for-5.

'Thank goodness because that hasn't been happening,” Danielle Breen said of the free throws.

Delaney Breen decided to do something else that hadn't been happening.

'At the beginning of the year I wasn't driving to the basket so I actually decided I'm going to do that,” she said.

'I get on her about that,” Danielle Breen said.

'And what do you know, but I score points shooting layups,” Delaney Breen said. 'We just ran and ran. Danielle and I did some scouting and we saw they were a little loosey-goosey getting back, so let's go.”

Knoxville head coach Jim Uitermarkt didn't recognize his 18-4, now 18-5 Panthers. 'We didn't have any energy in the first half especially. I don't know who that team was. Fairfield beat us to the punch at everything, loose balls, rebounds.”

The Panthers have played eight games in 13 days, but Uitermarkt said that was no excuse.

In fact, it should have sharpened the team's attack.

Something Fairfield has done is sharpened its sense of identity, an identity it found in a loss.

'We need to have everybody involved and get four or five of us with at least eight or nine points,” Delaney Breen said.

The whole bench jumped all at once when reserve Macy Rayburn scored late in the game.

Fairfield started the season with a 5-1 record, then lost four of five and had won two in a row before Monday's 53-51 loss to West Burlington.

'I don't think too much about records because we have lost some games we should have won,” Danielle Breen said.

Fairfield head coach Pat Pacha has scouting reports before the Trojans play teams.

'They are about a page long,” Delaney Breen said. 'So we know what we are getting in to.”

One thing Tuesday's report showed was that Knoxville's Maggie Wilkins averages 25 points a game. She scored 16.

'That was our main focus and she got more than we wanted her to,” Delaney Breen said.

Fairfield improved to 9-6.

'We are figuring out who we are and it's a good time of the year for it,” Fairfield assistant coach Josh Allison said. 'I think a lot of it is willpower and we are tenacious. we have people step up when we need it.”

One sequence with 3 minutes remaining in the game gave fans a great glimpse of the identity of Fairfield. Ahead 19 points, the scrappy Trojans relentlessly pounded the offensive boards and came up with four consecutive rebounds.