The JV girls basketball team had another success on Thursday, beating the Red Arrows of Lowell 36-13. Once again, freshmen Brittney Probst and Katie Tellier along with sophomore Alex Vaughn-Earvin worked as a trio and were able to dominate the floor.

During the first quarter of the game, FHC’s shots were not going in and the Red Arrows’ were. The Rangers were struggling to succeed in their offense for the first four minutes of the game. An exceptional pass from Brittney to Katie then created a spark, as the Rangers started to find their groove and ended the quarter ahead 9-4.

“We started off the game strong. We came out with a fast-paced defense and a good offense just none of the shots were going in,” Katie said. “The game was overall very physical, and we were all over the place just diving for the ball.”

The teams were both being as physical as they needed to be, relentlessly diving after loose balls. The Rangers knew they needed to step up their physicality to be able to end the game with a win.

“We dialed up the perimeter pressure for this game, but [we] also knew they had a size advantage, so we had to sprint back to double the post,” Coach Brandon Yoder said. “Our interior defenders did a nice job with initial defense and rebounding, and our guards were outstanding in both pressuring and doubling the post secondarily.”

FHC’s second quarter went much better. The team’s defense matched up to their offense and they were able to keep their lead heading into halftime 18-8.

Coming out of the locker room, the Ranger defense was phenomenal but the offense was lagging behind. FHC’s shots weren’t going in and the Red Arrows become more and more aggressive. The third quarter was a very low-scoring eight minutes for both teams, ending with the Rangers up 25-10. Despite slow offense, the aggressiveness of Lowell motivated Brittney, as she became more and more physical.

“I like [stealing the ball]; it creates big breakaway chances, which we were able to get a lot of points off of in the second half,” said Brittney who had a remarkable 15 steals. “It felt good to return the physicality.”

The fourth quarter was by far the best quarter the Rangers had, as the defense and offense were perfectly in sync. They were able to stop the Red Arrow offense, only letting them score 3 points. With endless passes from Alex and Brittney to Katie, FHC was able to take home the victory, 36-13.

This win puts them at 6-4 in conference play. The Rangers’ next game is on Tuesday against the West Ottawa Bengals at West Ottawa. They look to secure five consecutive wins with a victory over the Bengals.

“We played good defense and we got many open shots,” Katie said. “We got many assists that were able to get down to the post, which helped us put up a few points from down low. In the end, it came down to which team wanted it the most and that was us.”