Trojan girls drop non-conference game

FAIRFIELD — It took a while for the Fairfield girls to get started in 2023, and the sluggish beginning led to a non-conference loss to the visiting Centerville Redettes on Monday night.

Centerville scored the first 11 points of the game and Fairfield couldn’t rally back in a 58-38 defeat.

That 11-point advantage was built up over the first three minutes of the contest. Before the Trojans knew it, they were in a big hole, down 11-0 early.

Fairfield got a huge spark later in the first period, as Savannah Hollander rattled off 11 points over a four minute time frame. She had every Fairfield point in the first quarter, and the Trojans trailed 11-0 after one.

Fairfield hung in there in the second quarter, as the score stood 30-18 at halftime, but when the third quarter started, Centerville once again proved to have the upper-hand when coming out of the locker room.

The Redettes started the third quarter even better than the first. This time, Centerville scored the first 13 points of the half, and built a 43-18 lead.

“I think it was a big recognition for the kids to understand that we have to come out hard,” said Trojan head coach Rebecca Becker. “It’s a learning curve. We’re better than we were three weeks ago with it, but we’re still learning.”

Ashlyn Lisk knocked down a 3-pointer to end the Redette run, and Fairfield clawed back to within 14 points in the fourth quarter, but the Trojans could never get it back to single digits.

Hollander finished the night with 13 points to lead Fairfield. Lisk had 10. Maddie Jones finished with six. Briana Steele had five, and Grace Lyon closed the night out with four.

The Trojans fell to 1-8 with the loss. Fairfield’s game at Van Buren County (1-5) will be recapped in Thursday’s Union papers.