Faith Christian shuts down Morrisville, captures third in District 1-1A
MILFORD TWP. >> From the opening tip, Faith Christian wanted to make its presence known.
“We do like to come after teams right away to — not scare them — but let them know who’s here,” a smiling Karleigh Garber said after Wednesday’s clash with Morrisville. “So we definitely like to do that.”
Faith jumped out to an 18-4 lead and never lost control, earning a commanding 58-34 victory over the Bulldogs to capture third place in District 1-1A.
“We came off of a hard loss against Chester Charter so we really had to come together. This will definitely carry into states,” Garber said.
Faith also got to enjoy one more game this year at its new gym, a preview of things to come in future seasons.
Said Garber of the new digs: “I love it. It’s so nice compared to our last one. That one was so small so this is awesome, having the big bleachers and the big screen — it’s really cool.”
Garber had a big first quarter, scoring eight of her 15 points to help send the Lions on their way.
“It was exciting, a good way to start out the game,” she said.
Getting control >> Faith Christian jumped out to a big lead early.
Bianca Acevedo went baseline and layed it up and in for two, then moments later hit one from three-point range to boost the Lion lead to 10-3.
Faith was getting steals and capitalizing. And shutting down open lanes.
“We’re really big on help defense so if someone drives in, we have girls there to help them not score,” Garber said. “It’s a big team effort, not just one person.”
Izabella Forker took the ball away and got to the line, hitting one of two to push Faith further in front.
The Lion defense wasn’t allowing Morrisville many openings, and Faith got its offense into high gear, getting multiple people involved.
On came a heavy dose of Garber.
She hit two free throws, scored another bucket, then put one in off a rebound.
A basket by Tahlia Smith widened the gap to 18-4, and after a breakaway layup by Ella Quince, Faith took an 18-6 advantage into the second.
Faith tightened its grip on the contest.
Joy Hissner (16 points) scored on a rebound and Abby Bowersock stepped out and got her jumper to fall.
Hissner came free underneath and put it up and in, sending Faith into the half with a 38-20 cushion.
Closing it out >> Heller (10 points) drove to the hoop early in the third to help maintain Faith momentum.
It was a low-scoring quarter for both teams, with the Lions sporting a 43-25 lead heading into the fourth.
A Heller drive, a three by Acevedo up top, and a Heller-to-Hissner combination boosted the lead to 21 in the fourth.
“We were hoping to be in the championship game tonight and we had a tough loss on Saturday,” Lions coach David Forker said. “But we knew that Morrisville is a really good opponent and we had to refocus on what we needed to do and that this was a great opportunity to get ready for the state level.
“We get District Four’s top seed so we’ll be scouting them (Thursday). We played the District Four Champ last year and didn’t have the result we wanted so this year we’re gonna be really focused to make that happen, at least go out with everything we have.”
District 1-1A Third-Place Game
Faith Christian 58, Morrisville 34
Morrisville 6 14 5 9 – 34
Faith 18 20 5 15 – 58
Morrisville: Mahogany Hampton 1 2-2 4; Dreyanna Graham 1 1-2 3; Ella Quince 2 2-2 6; Nyasia Keys 0 2-2 2; Brielle Lindsey 8 3-4 19. Totals 12 10-12 34.
Faith: Sydney Heller 5 0-0 10; Joy Hissner 7 0-0 16; Izabella Forker 0 1-2 1; Abby Bowersock 2 0-0 4; Karleigh Garber 6 2-2 15; Bianca Acevedo 3 0-0 8; Maddee Huber 1 0-0 2; Tahlia Smith 1 0-0 2. Totals 25 3-4 58.
3-pointers: FC-Hissner 2, Garber, Acevedo 2.
