Mid-Prairie had a tough game against Fairfield

Mid-Prairie suffered an opening season loss against Fairfield Tuesday, losing 63-42.

Both teams appeared to have early season struggles with offense and ball handling. Mid-Prairie turned the ball over 32 times and Fairfield recorded 28 errors.

Mid-Prairie coach Stephen Bender was not happy with his squad?s performance.

?It was disappointing. We played much better in our scrimmage at Kennedy in Cedar Rapids a week ago,? coach Stephen Bender said.

?Fairfield is a good team. I wouldn?t want to take anything away from them. But we picked up 11 fouls in the first seven minutes and they were playing much more aggressively than us with far fewer fouls. It kind of took our players out of the game,? he said.

?We picked up some good learning tools. The success of their press let them dictate the pace of the game. We need to learn how to pass through a press and not dribble through it,? Bender said.

?A lot of it comes from not playing together since last season. We had some scrimmages this summer, but we were never able to get our starting lineup together at one time for a game,? he said.

He said his team, which qualified in 2016 for the 3A state playoffs, had a similar start last year.

?We didn?t really get going until midseason. It just takes some time to get everyone headed in the right direction,? he said.

Fairfield head coach Mick Flattery was very happy with how his team played Tuesday evening.

?It was a very physical game,? Flattery said. ?I was very proud of how our gals played through the fouls, keeping their composure and having many step up in different situations.?

Fairfield was very good at the free-throw line, making 21 out of 29 free throws during the game.

There were a few injuries during the game.

?Unfortunately, Nichole Buch went down with an ankle [injury] and Kylie Kurtz had her nose busted up,? Flattery said.

Sami Fritz was the lead scorer of the evening with 24 points, eight rebounds and three steals.

Ashley Bloomquist scored eight points and had three steals, followed by Brynna Bowan with four points and four deflections.

Fairfield will play Friday against Waterloo West.

Mid-Prairie will return to the court against Tipton, Tuesday, Nov. 29, at Tipton.

GTNS news writer Andy Hallman contributed to this story