Sports

Wildcats pounce on Cardinals in double header action

By Christopher Shaban
Eagle Times Sports
Langdon — The Den was no place for the birds on Tuesday as Fall Mt. took both ends of a double header over Stevens in convincing fashion before a large crowd.

FM 58, Stevens 38

With Morgan Beauregard starting out hot as a pistol for FM, the Wildcats grew a small lead into a 24-15 lead after the first quarter. Beareguard connected for 12 first quarter points while the FM press was giving the Cardinals fits dictated the tempo of the game. Stevens was getting good looks at the hoop but couldn’t buy a basket as an 8-0 FM run was keyed by 3 straight steals off the press. By the half the Cardinals began to establish their game as Julia Tursky started hitting from the outside but trailed 34-21 at the break.

Turskey started the second half right where she left off draining a deep three pointer cutting the FM lead to 34-24 then Avery Stewart got hot. Stewart scored 8 of the next 10 Wildcat points at the worst possible time for the Cardinals as they went ice cold and suddenly the FM lead was 51-30 after three quarters.

“ I never underestimate Stevens, they are a solid team and we always need our best effort against them,” said Stewart after the game. FM would end the night limiting the Cardinals to 17 second half points as the defensive pressure from Makenna Grillone and Sophie Bardis against the Cardinals point guard Sydney Miller was smothering.

“ Stevens is a very good team, we watched film on them and they are a crary team with their size, I think our defense rose to the challenge tonight and set a good tempo, we really dug in with our intensity,” said FM head coach Matt Baird-Torney.

Stewart led all scorers with 18 points while Beareguard added 14 points for FM. The Cardinals were led by Tursky’s 0 points.

FM 54, Stevens 39

FM hit the floor running in the nightcap as the boys game was intense from the start. The Wildcats high energy level was on display from the outset as Tristan Spencer got things rolling as FM opened up an early lead and never looked back.

Both teams played a sloppy first 8 minutes as FM crashed the boards hard and ended up with multiple chances but couldn’t find the bottom the net while on the Stevens end of the court, the shots just wouldn’t drop. Clayton Wadsworth’ buzzer beater for the Cardinals cut the FM lead to 12-6 as Spencer was quietly leading the FM offense. “ This is such a big rivalry, I think both teams came out really pumped for the game, I know we did,” said Spencer.

While the Cardinals were in a 6 minute slump, FM opened up a 30-9 lead after Lucien Hagland’s offensive rebound and put in. Stevens discovered something and a 9-0 run, keyed by Owen Taylor and kept Stevens within striking distance at the break trailing 31-18.

Noah Gutierrez opened up the final half on a mission scoring the first 8 points to open up a huge FM lead that the Cardinals would not challenge and led 46-29 after three quarters. “ The intensity was there all night, we played a super defensive game and it feels great to win tonight,” said Gutierrez.

Things started to get a bit chippy especially in the paint as lots of contact from both teams kept the foul line bust for the final quarter as FM coasted to a 54-39 win the rest of the way.

The Wildcat’s Spencer’s season high 28 points led everyone tonight while O. Taylor paced the Cardinals with 10 points.

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