In the first home game of her career, freshman Alexandria Vaughn-Earvin looked to be in midseason form. Alexandria led the way for the Lady Rangers with 9 points en route to a 24-19 victory that was close throughout. The girls freshman team improved to 1-1 on the season.

Head coach Brandon Yoder was pleased with the play of his starting point guard.

“Alex played fantastic,” Yoder said. “She’s a floor general out there. She really controlled the pace for us, and she kept her turnovers down. She did a great job.”

FHC jumped out to a good start thanks to 6 quick points from Alexandria. The Lady Rangers fought hard the rest of the first to lead 10-6. In the 2nd quarter, it was freshman Allison Ringler’s turn to carry the team in scoring. She had 4 points early in the quarter, and the Rangers went into halftime up 16-9.

Alexandria was really happy with how her teammate Allison was able to impact the game.

“[Allison] did really well,” Alexandria said. “I like playing with Allison on the floor, because I know I can trust her.”

The chemistry between the two is evident. They fed off of each other and led the girls team to a victory.

“Alex always pushes me, and you always want to do good for your team,” Allison said. “I knew I wasn’t doing the best, so I had to step it up.”

The third quarter saw both teams trading baskets early on. EK scored quickly, but it was followed by a FHC steal and score by Alex.  EK was  then able to string a 5-0 run to pull within 4 of the Rangers. The Falcons hit some free throws and had some nice jump shots to make it 20-16 with one quarter to go. What came next was perhaps the biggest play of the game. Needing to stop the EK run, Allison drove to the basket and converted an old fashioned three point play for FHC. The Rangers would hold the lead thanks to solid zone defense and rebounding.

While the offense struggled at times, the defense, for the most part, stayed strong. They only allowed 19 points the entire game.

“Against that team, we thought that they were going to get out and run against us,” Yoder said. “Protecting the paint against a team like that was critical for us. We just wanted to get back and protect the paint. That was our key. Luckily, [East Kentwood’s] shots didn’t fall for them tonight.”

It will go down as a solid win for the Rangers. They will now look to repeat the success in their upcoming games.

“We’re looking forward to cutting down on our turnovers,” Yoder said. “We need to run our offense a little more crisply. One of the things we did good was rebounding. We kind of lost that in the second half, so we need to rebound a little better as well.”