Falcons look to dominate with speed, defense

The Abbotsford girl’s basketball team is gearing up for another season with aspirations of improving on their playoff performance from last year. With plenty of returning talent and the addition of some fresh faces, the goals they’ve set for themselves are attainable if they can maximize their talent.

After finishing above .500 during last year’s regular season, the Falcons made it through the first round of the WIAA playoffs by defeating Nekoosa. A tough 63-61 loss to Auburndale in the second round ended their postseason run earlier than they would have liked. With several key pieces from last year’s squad coming back for the 2022-23 season, Abbotsford is setting the bar high for themselves, with a regional championship title perhaps the most ambitious of their goals.

While they will miss the services of graduates Alea Graff, who received an all-conference honorable mention award last season, and Bridgett Pogodzinski, who had the highest three-point shooting percentage for the Falcons last year, Abbotsford has their top three scorers returning this season.

Unanimous first team all-conference selection Sydney Falteisek will be a focal point for the Falcons offensively. The junior led the team with 12.2 points per game last year and shot .436 from the floor.

Honorable mention and Marawood all-defensive team selection Sommer Brodhagen is expected to continue to anchor the defense, while also showing more flashes on the offensive side of the ball earlier in this season.

Briseida Escalera, who was second on the team in points per game in 2021-22, is also coming back for the Falcons and will likely see an even more prominent role on the team.

Seniors Adriana Fuentes-Rivera and Brissa Diaz will also be contributors, with head coach Ally Meserole hoping to utilize their dribbling ability.

When looking at their potential strengths and weaknesses, the team’s overall height is likely their biggest hurdle that they will need to overcome.

“We played Cadott [during our scrimmage last Friday] and they were significantly taller than us, which became an issue right away,” Meserole said. “Our tallest girl is probably 5’7” and they played a 1-3-1 trapping zone, which we see a lot. Athens plays that, Philips plays that, and we’ve struggled scoring against it. So that’s a big focus early; finding scoring opportunities against that zone.”

One way around the lack of height and the zone defense is to score before it can be set up. Utilizing the team’s speed and athletic ability, which was a large part of their success offensively last year, will once again be a strength they will have to lean on.

“Last year, we focused on trying to be a fast team, since we can’t be a tall or big team.” Meserole continued. “That was something that we saw in the scrimmage again on Friday. We would get a rebound and we’d push the floor. We were the first ones up the court, which allowed us to get some easy points.”

Meserole also likes the way her team’s defense is shaping up, with the team’s athleticism once again coming into play.

“One of our strengths that we will be bringing from last year is our defense. I’m very confident in our man defense, as well as our 2-3 match defense. We are starting to add in a 1-3-1 zone, so it will be nice to have that third option.”

Looking ahead to the Marawood-North conference schedule, Athens and Phillips once again look to have tough teams. The Bluejays will have many of their starters returning from last year and the Loggers have held on to the top of the Marawood-North over the last several seasons. The Falcons are hoping to continue to compete for the top of half of the conference, similar to last season.

Their first challenge will come in the form of the Chequamegon Screaming Eagles, who they play on Thursday, Nov. 17. Last season, the Falcons dominated Chequamegon in their opener, defeating them by a score of 70-19. Their second matchup later in the season was slightly closer, but Abbotsford still overwhelmed the Screaming Eagles with a 57-21 victory. Abbotsford is hosting this year’s first game, which is set to start at 7:15 p.m.