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Washington cruises past Fairfield in opening playoff game
Demons defeat Trojans, will face Tipton in 3A-5 semifinals
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
No matter what the scoreboard read, Washington’s defense refused to switch off. The Demons girls basketball team made sure it faced little resistance in the opening round of the Class 3A Region 5 playoffs, dominating in a 63-21 win over rival Fairfield on Saturday.
Washington surrendered just one field goal in the second half. It came with 20 seconds left in the game as the Demons defense stifled the Trojans. Washington led 35-18 at halftime, and didn’t give up a point in the second half until Fairfield’s Anna McAvan hit a free throw with 35 seconds left in the third period.
“I think we've worked hard on playing fast and being aggressive and being scrappy,” senior Leighton Messinger said. “That definitely paid off, and that showed on the court here today.”
The Demons defense stole the show in a confidence-building win ahead of the 3A-5 semifinals. Adalyn Long didn’t need to match her 21-point barrage against Fairfield in the teams’ first matchup of the season. Messinger came up short of her 19 points on six made 3-pointers in the Jan. 29 rematch.
Instead, a collective effort on both ends propelled Washington to its highest points total of the campaign. Both seniors were still impactful. Long’s 13 points led all scorers, while Messinger chipped in 11.
Fellow senior Oaklee Sobaski matched Messinger’s 11 points and knocked down three 3-pointers. Freshman Ashlynn Long came of the bench and also hit three triples to finish with nine points. Sarah Berdo scored seven, while Reagan Miller added six.
“I feel like they did a lot better job tonight than most games with communicating whether they were (making) that one more pass and they're wide open,” Washington coach Colin Mulford said. “They did a lot better job of swinging it instead of just catching it and holding it and thinking as much. It was just more like that second nature tonight.”
Washington’s defense put the game far out of reach in the final 20 minutes after Fairfield kept things relatively close into the second quarter. The Trojans trailed by eight after the first and were down 21-14 with just over five minutes left in the second before the Demons went on an 11-4 run to close the half.
McAvan finished with six points off the bench to lead Fairfield. Faith Jones and Emma Metcalf each scored four, while Lauren Martin had three.
Fairfield finishes the season at 3-16, including a 1-8 mark in SEC play. The team’s five seniors, Jones, Lauren Martin, Emma Septer, Maddy Martin and Elyse Setterstrom wrapped up their Trojan hoops careers. The group was led by coach Brian Witzenburg for their senior campaign after Witzenburg took over the Fairfield program last May.
“We started this thing and we had to tear it all down and create a new foundation, and these seniors wanted to be part of that change and they were,” Witzenburg said. “So they are part of this foundation going forward. They put in all of that hard work, and I couldn't be more proud of every single one of our five seniors.”
The win sets Washington up for a rematch against 3A No. 11 Tipton in the 3A-5 semifinals. The Tigers beat the Demons 48-40 on Jan. 19. Washington held a 33-32 fourth quarter lead before a 9-1 Tipton run. The Demons made it a four-point game with 44.3 seconds remaining, but the Tigers held on to avoid the upset.
“We played really well against them last time,” Messinger said. “So, I just think that we're all ready to get our revenge and hopefully come out on top.”
Tipoff between Washington and Fairfield is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday at Tipton High School. The winner gets the chance to play for a place at the state tournament against either No. 1 seed Williamsburg or No. 4 seed Roland-Story.
