FREDERICKTOWN — When the Riverdale Falcons and the Fredericktown Freddies step onto the court this afternoon at Lexington High School, they both will be playing in the regional finals for the first time. Riverdale, however, is no stranger to regional competition.
The Falcons are playing in their third regional tournament this decade, including their second in a row. Fredericktown, meanwhile, is making its first-ever appearance.
“They’ve been here, and we’ve not. They probably have a little bit of an advantage from the experience standpoint,” said Fredericktown coach Dave Logan. “There is a lot on the line. The atmosphere is going to be great. We can’t wait to see what happens.”
Riverdale advanced to the Division III Regional Final by beating Castalia Margareta, 58-41, on Wednesday night. Fredericktown beat Defiance Tinora, 38-36, in overtime. Riverdale, which has just two losses on the year, won their third-straight North Central Conference crown this season. The Falcons extended their conference win streak to 46 games in the process.
“They are very experienced, and they have a lot of confidence from winning in their conference, which is pretty good,” said Logan. “They play well together. They’ve got a set of twins, and that’s a big advantage. They are not real big, but they are not little either. They don’t have a lot of size in the post, but they don’t have to. Their main emphasis is the five starters. They are very quick, very up-tempo. They really try to pressure you in a variety of different ways so that you’ll turn the ball over. It will definitely be a contrast of styles.”
The Falcons are led by 5-foot-7 junior Kayla Brown. Brown is the sparkplug of the offense, which she creates with her defensive pressure. Against Margaretta, Brown had 23 points, eight rebounds and five steals.
“We’re not going to be able to take her out because she is a good athlete,” Logan said, acknowledging Brown’s above-average skills. “We’re going to have to do the things that we do best to slow the pace down, and try to set the tempo. We can’t let them set the tempo. We have to force her to guard people and not let her do whatever she wants. We have to take care of the ball. We can’t throw the ball over the top of her because she is a terrific athlete.”
The Freddies do things at a slow, deliberate pace. That’s the way Logan likes his team to attack, and it is what they must do to win.
“We are a half-court team, but we can run the ball fairly well off of rebounds and off of makes. We don’t do it very much in terms of extending the defense,” said Logan. “We are going to have to find a way to set the tempo and keep the pace. If we let them run up and down the court, we are going to be in for a long game.”
One thing the Freddies have had much success at this season is defense. Even in the regional semifinal, Fredericktown’s defense was up to the challenge. Logan is hoping that continues for another game.
“We’ve played a lot of close games down the stretch, and we’ve played some tough games in the tournament. We’ve played some good teams in the tournament. We’ve had to fight our way out. We’ve been able to make some things happen with all of our different people. No one person has carried us. We’ve had different leading scorers through the tournament.
“They are pretty confident. They know what they are supposed do. We just have to keep them moving and direct them in the right direction.”
Senior Whitney Levering leads the Fredericktown attack on offense, averaging over 15 points a game. Fellow senior Allyn Blakely also averages double figures, scoring nearly 11 a contest. But the Freddies play a team game, meaning any could lead the way.
“We’ve talked with all of them about what they need to do if they have a chance. They have to make it happen,” said Logan. “From an offensive perspective, we have to take what they will give us. We’ve talked with Whitney and Allyn because their scorers, and we’ve talked to Marki (Overholt) about distributing the ball. We’ve talked with Emily (Ruggles) and Mackenzie (Logan) about rebounding. We want them to do what they do best. We’ve talked with each one about different things, but our focus is to do what we do. We hope to put them in a position to do what they do best, and have a good night.”
Riverdale will test the Freddies’ defense and their resolve. If Fredericktown can stick to its game plan, Logan likes his team’s chances.
“We’re going to have to not give up a bunch of easy baskets out of their press,” said Logan. “We’re going to have to defend their shooters because they can make 3s. They’ve been shooting the ball a lot better from the perimeter in the second half of the year. We’re going to have to not give up easy baskets in transition and we’re going to have to find their shooters. If we can do those things, we’ll keep the score low and give ourselves a chance.”
One problem area Fredericktown will have to improve on is turnovers. Against Tinora, the Freddies turned the ball over 16 times, allowing the Rams many more looks at the basket.
“We always work on the fundamental aspects of our game,” Logan said. “A lot of our turnovers the other night were walking the ball. That comes from the other team defending you hard, and not focusing a little bit. We’ve continued to work on it, but they are still kids. They are going to make some of those mistakes, but if you make them in an aggressive way, you can’t be too upset.”
No matter the outcome of today’s game, this season will surely standout. It will also be a great building block for the future.
“This is a great accomplishment because we’ve never done this before,” said Logan. “We’ve got girls in second grade through eighth grade that are really on fire about playing basketball. When you have this kind of success, it hopefully helps younger players strive to be the best. I think our girls now did that when they were younger. This is great for our school, our community and our program. It doesn’t mean we will ever do it again, but hopefully it helps excite the kids.”
Tip-off for today’s game is set for 1:30 p.m. Tickets are available at the door.