Abby girls fall in regional semi to Eagles

Falcons finish with winning record in ‘21-22

The Abbotsford Falcons girls basketball team knew what they were up against on Friday. They knew they were the underdog, knew they were on the road and playing a talented and physical Eagles squad.

Abby had faced this team once before, and it had not been pretty, with the Falcons losing 61-32 in a Dec. 3 road meeting. However, the playoffs are a different type of game, and in a winner-take-all format, anything can happen.

And there were times in the Falcons game with the Eagles when Abbotsford almost had the upset in hand.

But a 28 point performance from the Eagles star player Annamarie Aue, who did most of the damage from the charity stripe, sinking 22 free throws, allowed the Eagles to sneak over the finish line for a 63-61 victory over a young and up and coming Falcons program.

“I knew we had potential, and we set goals early in the season that we hoped to accomplish,” sophomore guard Sydney Falteisek said. “We definitely met some of them. Early in the year we lost to Auburndale by 29 points, and in the final game of our season it was only by two.”

It’s a tremendous improvement over the course of just a few months, and it highlights the growth of this team. The Falcons weathered the ups and downs, and so when they found themselves trailing 37-30 at the break, they knew they could come back.

“It would’ve been nice to pull out a win, but seeing our improvement playing them was eye opening,” Falteisek replied. “We had a decent first half, but we knew we needed to close the gap. At half time we had a talk that really pushed us to go out strong.”

The Falcons went from the hunted to the hunter in the second half and began to play more aggressive on defense and offense. Sydney Falteisek, Alea Graff and Sommer Brodhagen led the attack, with all three Falcons finishing in double digits.

Falteisek led Abbotsford with 15 points in the regional semifinal, followed by Brodhagen with 12 points and Graff added ten points in her final game as a Falcon.

While the Eagles were content to ride Aue, and guard Gracie Kringe, who added another 13 points to Auburndale’s cause, the Falcons moved the ball around and shared the wealth.

Eight Falcons ended with their name in the scorers book, and that balanced and poised offense got Abby back in the game.

Also scoring for the Falcons was Briseida Escalera with eight points, Calley Ruesch and Bridgett Pogodzinski with five points apiece, Adriana Fuentes with four points and Brissa Diaz with two more points.

The game went down to the wire, and it all came down to the final possessions.

After trailing for much of the game, the Falcons outscored the Eagles in the second half, but in sports, one bad bounce, one lucky break, can prove the difference, and despite outscoring the Eagles 31-26, Auburndale did just enough to squeak out the victory.

“It felt really good to almost knock off the number two seed,” Falteisek said afterwards. “It would’ve been even better if we did!”

Despite the loss, Abbotsford still finishes with a 13-12 record, a magnificent bounce back from last year’s four win season. The bulk of next year’s team returns, and after a season of tremendous growth, the potential for even more goals is there.