Junior Claire Baguley’s standout game led the Lady Rangers to their 47-42 victory over Cedar Springs last night.

“Claire took care of the ball,” Coach Chelseah Meador said. “She was comfortable with it and she attacked the basket, as well as looking for her open players. She stepped up.”

With 20 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals, Claire dominated across the board in last night’s matchup.

“Claire’s awesome; she can do it all,” senior Emma Yoder said about her three-year teammate. “For her to be able to step into that assisting role more while also putting up 20 points is just huge. She’s an amazing player and teammate and I just love playing with her.”

The Red Hawks were able to score first but FHC came back to lead 11-4 at the end of the eight minutes. A foul on a three pointer at the buzzer sent a Cedar Springs player to the line with no time left, where she made 1 to put the score at 11-5 after the first. Claire stepped into the distributing role early, as she had 3 assists in the quarter to Emma, who scored 7.

“I’ve had to step into roles I’m not really used to playing in, but I think recently I’ve had a lot more assists than I did previously,” Claire said. “Sometimes when they shut me down and my shot isn’t open, that frees up other people, like Emma tonight.”

In the second quarter, the Red Hawks kept the game close and even went on a 10 point scoring run to take a 15-13 lead with five minutes remaining in the quarter. Claire then became much more aggressive to put the Rangers up 24-20 at the half.

“Having an attacking mentality really helped me tonight,” Claire said. “Sometimes I’m a bit timid to attack, but I knew that either my drive would be open or a pass to Emma or the opposite guard would always be there tonight.”

This game was very physical but the Lady Rangers maintained composure throughout.

“Usually when teams pressure us we seem to get frazzled and things get chaotic,” Meador said. “But I thought tonight we really controlled the ball and took care of it. We played at our level of play rather than playing to our opponent’s level like we usually do.”

Great team defense, in addition to Claire’s 20 points and Emma’s 15, helped compensate for the absence of usual high-scorer senior Madi Winter who is out with an injury. Emma knew her team needed big points from her going into tonight’s game.

“I knew we needed someone to step up a little into a scoring role,” Emma said, “so it’s just nice to go out and be able to help contribute to the team.”

FHC continued to dominate in the final two quarters, leading 36-27 after three and ultimately securing the 47-42 victory. While the Red Hawks kept the game close, the Rangers only trailed their opponent twice all game and overall was the more dominate team throughout.

“All around, it was a great team win,” Emma said. “The energy was there, the team defense was there, and I feel like tonight we just played as a unit which is what we’ve been trying to focus on.”

The coaching staff is also pleased with how this season is shaping out, as the Lady Rangers are now 11-6 overall and sit in second place in the OK White Conference with a 7-2 league record.

“As long as the team works hard and gives 100 percent in practice and in games, we can only go up from here,” Meador said.

FHC will face Lowell next this Friday on the Red Arrows’ home court. Lowell is undefeated in the conference and sits at first place. The last matchup between these two rivals was an off game for the Rangers and Lowell was convincingly victorious. The Rangers look to redeem themselves and come out with a big upset win.

“I’m glad we got the win against Cedar Springs going into Lowell on Friday,” Claire said. “A win against Lowell would mean big things for us and we’re looking forward to that game. It’s going to be a high-stakes, intense, and aggressive game.”