Washington girls fall to rival Fairfield

It was cold outside, but inside Washington High School, it was stifling.

Or maybe that was just the way to describe the press that the Fairfield girls? basketball team was using.

The Trojans? (11-4, 5-1 in conference play) defense gave Washington (4-10, 0-4 in conference play) fits on Friday night, holding the Demons to eight first-half points, en route to a 41-28 victory.

?It was awesome,? Fairfield sophomore Kylie Kurtz said about the effectiveness of the press. ?We can just keep pounding it and getting those steals to boost our momentum back up during the game.?

Kurtz scored a team-high nine points from off the bench, including a stretch of three consecutive buckets in the first half.

The Demons started to come alive in the second half, after a big move from Washington head coach Jay Zieglowsky.

Early in the third quarter, after a series of turnovers, the Demons? head coach subbed in all five of his bench athletes and it rejuvenated the Washington attack.

?I think we got some girls on the court who put a lot of energy out there,? Zieglowsky said. ?Your effort and energy is going to earn you playing time, and that?s what I?m going to go by right now. We have to give more energy and effort for 32 minutes.?

The Demons were outscored 10-7 the rest of the third quarter, but in the fourth quarter, they found a groove, outscoring Fairfield 13-2 over the final eight minutes when the starters came back in.

?When they went back in the game, they put more effort in,? Zieglowsky said. ?That was the point that I wanted to make. I?m not going to play girls on potential, you have to go out and prove it. You are going to have good effort and a good attitude or I?m not going to play you.?

While Fairfield won by double-digits, the Trojans struggled at times offensively, shooting only 34 percent from the floor, and finished 10 points under their season average.

?We have to go back and get better in practice,? Fairfield head coach Mick Flattery said. ?We have to be able to finish off games for 32 minutes. We host Burlington/Notre Dame on Thursday, ranked No. 1 in Class 1A. The good news about our team is that we didn?t have one girl score in double-digits tonight, we had a lot of seven-, eight- and nine- point scorers.?

Even with a night of offensive struggles, the Trojans were thrilled with the victory.

?Jay and his girls worked their tails off and they didn?t give up,? Flattery said. ?That 13-2 run in the fourth quarter is a great credit to him and how hard his kids are working. We knew they were going to make a run at us, it just happened to be too late. Anytime you win on the road, it?s huge.?

Both Fairfield and Washington will be in action again on Monday night, as the Trojans take on Davis County and Washington faces Central Lee.