FCHS vs. Hiawatha, KS

Falls City - 43, Hiawatha - 21

In a make up game on Thursday January 14, the Falls City Girls' Basketball team defeated Hiawatha, 43 - 21.

Great defense helped a slow start shooting coming off of a two week break with no games due to weather. The whole first half the Lady Tiger defense gave Hiawatha absolutely no good looks, so they could not get anything going. Justina Strecker kept Maddie Lindstrom(18.8 ppg) away from the basket, and in the second half Lisa Kopf and held her to 4 points. Kelsie Kean worked kept the ball from 6' Taylor Klover and held her to only 2 points. The FCHS guards had to play solid and not gamble. Julianne Kopf followed that game plan well and wouldn't let Hiawatha run any offensive plays.

Eventually, the girls starting shooting the way they had at the end of December. Lisa Kopf's 5 for 8 behind the three-point line was huge in creating some distance between the two opponents. The Lady Tigers had some nice steals leading to layups and finished strong around the basket.

"The only disappointment of the night was an injury to senior starter Amy Dunn, who hurt her knee two minutes into the game," said Coach Jason Vitosh. Her status is questionable at best for now. Junior Skylar Olberding, the Tigers 6th 'starter,' played almost the whole game then, stepped up with some big rebounds, and helped handle the ball offensively. Coach Vitosh said, "With any injury, your rotation is different. Some kids didn't get a break at all and others saw more time and grew up a lot. Ashley Sickel came in often to help down low with their six footer and worked real hard. We needed everyone tonight to make this a great win for us."

The FCHS record is now 5-5. They travel to Maryville, MO on January 5 to play the 7-2 Spoofhounds who beat the Lady Tigers by 14 at the Holiday Tournament in December.

St. Joseph Bishop LeBlond Post-Holiday Tournament - Fifth Place

First Round – Falls City - 31, Maryville, MO - 44

Maryville returned a lot of players from last year's strong, deep team. Last year's loss was 70 to 30, so the Lady Tigers showed a marked improvement defensively. They had a let down handling the ball in the front court in the second quarter which led to some layups. This got Maryville's offense rolling; they started hitting from outside after that. The girls showed a lot of guts coming back in the second half to make it interesting.

Consolation Semi-Final (Second Round) – Falls City - 36, East Buchanan, MO - 32

The FCHS girls' basketball team avenged a loss from last year's tournament to the Bulldogs. Lisa Kopf jump started the offense, shooting unconscious from behind the arc, making her first four 3 point shots. The girls followed the game plan well, holding the opponent's leading scorer and team leader to 8 points. The Tigers played good team defense and forced their role players to step up and try to keep them in the game. They made a late run at us, but the girls got control back and sealed the win at the line.

Justina Strecker played sick all week and had a game high 14 rebounds and 3 assists.

Consolation Final – Falls City - 62, Tarko, MO - 39

"It was our best team effort and most complete game of the season," said Coach Jason Vitosh. "Everyone played tough and focused the entire game." Tarkio had averaged 60 points a game in the first two rounds, and the Lady Tigers really limited their scorers. They used a 3-2 zone match up that the opponents must not see much, so they really had no where to go.

Kelsie Kean took over inside. She was really unstoppable rebounding, posting up, put backs, even several contested breakaway layups. She didn’t miss a free throw. Kelsie had 13 rebounds and 6 steals to lead the team in just about everything. Her 30 points fell one short of the school scoring record.

Peru State Pre-Holiday Tournament - First Place

First Round – Falls City - 48, Parkview Christian - 10

The Lady Tigers got their first win of the season on December 21. It was a solid defensive effort by everyone. The girls shot the ball really well, too. Coach Jason Vitosh said, "I was proud of the girls for sticking to the game plan and getting good shots within our offense. We made some good decisions and passes, by being patient and making the defense move."

Coach Vitosh added, "We’ve played some very good basketball at times this season and have seen marked improvement in the last week going in to the holidays."

Championship Game – Falls City - 35, Auburn - 26

The Tigers trailed at the end of the first quarter, but quickly took the lead for good on dominant post play from senior Justina Strecker and junior Kelsie Kean. The inside duo both scored in double figures for the first time this season and challenged for every rebound and shot on both ends of the floor.
"Last night with Parkview our guards were hot shooting outside, but cooled off tonight and we really needed an inside presence to take control of the game for us," said Coach Jason Vitosh. "I am proud of how tough they both played, they looked strong and focused tonight."

The game plan was solid defense–nothing forced, no gambles and it paid off. Auburn just didn’t shoot well with the Lady Tigers between them and the basket. Earlier this season FCHS tried to make too much happen on defense and got beat for open shots. In the championship game, the girls let the game come to them more. Also, in the first game, the Tigers had chances to win at the free throw line and missed 17 out of 28. Their freethrow percentage has been climbing with each game and tonight the girls were ready. When Auburn started putting them at the line the Lady Tigers shot 15 of 23, easily their best of the year.

Falls City girls resume play after the Christmas break on Monday, December 28 at the Bishop LeBlond Tournament in St. Joseph. They face Maryville, MO at 10:30 A.M.

FCHS vs. Plattsmouth

Falls City - 40, Plattsmouth - 46

"Be in a position to win every ball game. That is a team goal for the season that isn’t always possible," commented Head Coach Jason Vitosh after the Saturday, December 19, game against the Plattsmouth Blue Devils. Yet, the Lady Tigers found themselves with a one-point lead with under 2 minutes to play Saturday. Falls City kept pace with a very good (4-2) Plattsmouth team the entire game. "Last year's score was a runaway 40 point loss, so the girls have improved by leaps and bounds," said Coach Vitosh. "We had a great week of practice heading into a stretch of 6 games over the holidays."

Coach Vitosh said that he knew Plattsmouth would score eventually and was really pleased to hold them to 16 at the half. He added that the girls did a great job of defending inside. Plattsmouth's six footer had two points early and didn’t even shoot the second half; she scored 18 last year. The FCHS team also did a good job of getting back on defense and not allowing them any easy layups.

The Lady Tigers finally shot well from the freethrow line, 5/8 or 67.5%, but they didn’t get to the line enough. The difference was 24 turnovers, some unforced and at inopportune times, late in the game. That’s 24 times the girls didn’t get a shot up. The girls were shooting well, so that really hurt. Lisa Kopf stepped up big offensively in the second half with all 13 of her team high points. She also had 4 steals to keep it close, and Justina Strecker had 6 of her 7 points in the fourth quarter.

Plattsmouth’s senior guard went off for 22 points in the second half, three three’s and some driving layups. The Lady Tigers just couldn’t keep a girl on her. She went lights out for a while and won the game for them.

FCHS vs. Wymore Southern

Falls City - 24, Southern - 25

For the third straight game, the Tigers fell for want of a couple freethrows. Seven missed shots at the line in the fourth quarter kept the game too close, and allowed the Raiders the chance to take the lead.

Up five at half time and poised to take control, the game got more physical in the second half. Foul trouble sat Lisa Kopf for several minutes in both the second and fourth quarters. Late in the fourth, Southern took the lead by one; but the Tigers quickly regained the lead and rebounded a missed shot with 19 seconds left to take possession. After two more missed free throws, Southern went the length of the court and managed a lay up as time was running out.

“It was very heartbreaking to lose so suddenly after thinking we’d finally hung on to a win,” said Coach Jason Vitosh. “Three loses by less than 10 points total is tough to swallow; but if we could just shoot 50% from the freethrow line, we would be 3-0 right now.” He added, “Of course, a made layup here or one less turnover there and a couple of defensive stops or rebounds throughout the game would keep it from mattering at the end. Our games haven’t been lost at the end; they were lost on several plays earlier in the game. It's just the end where you can win the game that you remember.”

Falls City hosts Plattsmouth on Saturday, December 19.

Falls City also plays in the Peru State Holiday Tournament at 5:00 P.M. on Monday, December 21, vs. Parkview Christian. The second round game will follow on Tuesday night.

FCHS vs. Auburn

Falls City - 48, Auburn -51

The Lady Tigers got off to a slower start then they'd wanted, not helped by three snow days. The Auburn girls came out shooting well and never cooled off, doubling the Tigers field goal percentage at 46% to only 23% for Falls City.

"Our defense just gave them too many good looks at the basket," said Coach Jason Vitosh. "We can’t give up over 40 points like that. I was very disappointed we could not limit their offense more than we did. All of the other phases of the game were even."

12 of Julianne Kopf's game-high 13 points came in the second half to keep the Tigers within striking distance. Back-to-back threes by Amy Dunn even let the team take the lead for a moment late in the fourth quarter.

Falls City hosts Plattsmouth on Saturday, December 19.

FCHS vs. Syracuse

Falls City - 24, Syracuse -29

The Lady Tigers opened the 2009-10 season at Syracuse on Friday, December 4. Up 10 to 5 at halftime after an incredible defensive performance, it looked like the Lady Tigers were about to turn a corner. The girls actually missed several close shots in the first half that could have blown it out early. In the third quarter, two offensive turnovers on back-to-back plays led to Syracuse layups, and those quick points got their offense going. Third quarter foul trouble also led to some defensive rotation problems. Even when the game was back and forth, the Lady Tigers got to the free throw line by going inside and could have pulled away at the line; but the girls went cold, missing 12 freethrows in a row. Coach Jason Vitosh said, “I’ve never seen anything like it. We played hard enough to deserve a win, but you’re never going to beat someone making 7 of 25.”

The varsity and JV both play Tuesday, December 9, at Hiawatha starting at 5:00 P.M. Then they play the home opener with Auburn on Friday, December 11.