The Lady Rangers secured their first conference win over Cedar Springs Friday night to improve to 6-2 (1-1) on the season. FHC will travel into rival country Tuesday night for a fierce matchup with the 1-6 (0-2) Red Arrows of Lowell.

While their record is unimpressive so far this season, Lowell cannot be counted out in this one, as they are a very talented and scrappy group. Last season, the Red Arrows went 16-5 (11-1) on the year and claimed the top spot in the OK White; however, FHC was the team to hand them their sole conference loss.

Lowell was dominant the first time these two met last year, as they handily defeated the Rangers 50-32 after leading the whole game. The second matchup was a completely different story. FHC played nearly a perfect game to shatter Lowell’s undefeated conference record and win 45-38. Every player for the Rangers last year seemed to be on in the matchup, and free throws ended up being the key to the victory. The last 7 points—the difference in the game—came off of free throws.

The Red Arrows’ two conference losses this year came to Forest Hills Northern by 2 points on a buzzer-beater Friday night and to Northview by 9 earlier this season. The Rangers also fell to Northview by 9 points, showing that Lowell and FHC are rather evenly matched this season, despite the differences in record.

The main threat that FHC will have to contain from Lowell is senior guard Regan Coxon. She is a talented shooter and can pound her way to the rim, as well as play solid defense. Regan scored 23 points in last week’s matchup with Northern, and she has consistently been the Red Arrows’ leading scorer. Disrupting Regan’s play can unravel the whole squad, so the Rangers will certainly look to shut down Lowell’s best player.

The key to this game for FHC, in addition to containing Regan, will be avoiding the cursed third quarter. In Friday night’s win over Cedar Springs, the Rangers led by 21 at the half and ultimately only won by 9. A bad habit the past two seasons for the Rangers has been starting off hot then allowing teams to come back and make games close in the end.

FHC will also look to carry over the offense it played in the first half of Friday’s game, when the Rangers ran nearly every offensive play to perfection. When the FHC offense can get going behind top-scorers senior Claire Baguley and freshman Theryn Hallock, this team is very hard to beat.

While Lowell is having a small rebuilding year after last season’s success, FHC will have to play an entire game of basketball to full potential and not allow this scrappy Red Arrows team to come back. If the Rangers can put Lowell away early and maintain a high level of play, look for FHC to take this rivalry game and move to 2-1 in the OK White.