Defense is a common characteristic of good teams. Even on poor shooting nights, effective defense gives these teams a chance to win. That rang true when the FHC freshman girls basketball team met Northview on Thursday night. In the first quarter, Northview was held scoreless. After three quarters, Northview was still in the single digits. After a lower scoring night, FHC’s coach knows that defense is the key to their success.

“Defense is the key to our team,” head coach Brandon Yoder said, “It’s what I want our identity to be. I loved our defensive intensity. We have a chance on most nights when we play D like that.”

On a night where FHC forced more than 15 turnovers, it was unlikely that they would fall. Offensively, they looked to their point guard, freshman Allison Ringler. She had six, half of her team’s 12.

Yoder was extremely happy with the way Allison had played in the first half. He was also extremely impressed with the patience she had showed on the offensive end.

“[Allison] did a great job of not forcing things,” Yoder said.

Maizey Szczepanek was the leading scorer of the second half, with a total of 6 points. She ended the day with 9 points and was her team’s leading scorer. Her coach praised her for her work down low and her ability to step up and score. She is not usually a scorer, but Yoder loves the versatility of his team.

“What I love about this team is that on any given night we can have someone step up and lead us in scoring,” Yoder said. “It really allows us to exploit any weak links on the defense when we are playing like that.”