On a night where pediatric cancer was the focus for all, defense for the Rangers was the focus in particular. The FHC freshman girls basketball team defeated rival FHN in dominant fashion. The Rangers walked out of the Huskie’s gym with a 26-4 win under their belt.

Defense was the name of the game Thursday night as a stout Ranger defense only conceded four points all night. The Rangers never allowed the Huskies to get going on offense, and the scoreboard reflected their performance.

“We came in knowing that it was going to be a hard fought game,” freshman Ella Byam said. “They’re one of our tougher opponents so we had to come in with the right mindset. We played hard, and it payed off.”

FHC jumped out to a quick lead in the first quarter due to a big play from the duo down low of Bryn Yoder and Kate Willemin. FHC was having their way with the Huskies on the boards, and would continue to dominate down low all night. Ally Ringler took control up top, and facilitated all night long. As the end of the first quarter came to a close, Allison Schellenberg went down hard with a head injury.

“We were down in numbers even more once Allison had to leave the game,” head coach Brandon Yoder said. “She had some concussion symptoms, so we’ll check it out and hopefully she’ll be back soon.”

Regardless of the teams depleted numbers, FHC continued to dominate in the first half. FHN would not score their first points until midway through the third quarter. FHC led big at the half, due to its tenacious defense.

“Defense was definitely a focus coming into tonight’s game,” Bryn said. “We knew they were good offensively, so playing with a lot of energy was key.”

Coming out in the second half, the Rangers kept with the high intensity. Ally continued to control the pace, as she was carrying the majority of the load as point guard.

“We did a good job of slowing things down once we got our big lead,” Yoder said. “We didn’t have many subs, so controlling the pace and conserving our energy was really important in the second half.”

FHC continued to dominate on both sides of the ball in the fourth. The scoring margin grew and FHC was able to eat up a lot of clock with long possessions in the closing minutes. FHC had claimed another victory. They had taken down the Huskies on the road 26-4.

“We played really well tonight,” Ella said. “We played our game, and everything worked out as we had planned. They were a good team, so we’ll see if we can keep our momentum going into our next game.”

FHC looks to continue their success next week, as they enter the home stretch.

“We’ve played pretty well all season,” Bryn said. “We’re getting to the end of it, but I think we’ve all enjoyed it. Getting a win against our rivals was one of our goals, so it’s nice to have accomplished something we set out to do.”