Abbotsford turns to new faces on the court
By Nathaniel Underwood
The Abbotsford Falcons are two games into their 2024-25 season, taking a pair of road losses in Athens and Colby over the last week.
With the entire 2023-24 starting lineup having graduated, the Falcons have a completely new look this year. Last year’s first team all-conference selection Sydney Falteisek, second team all-conference winner Sommer Brodhagen, and honorable mentions Calley Ruesch and McKinley Klabon, as well as starter and fourth leading scorer Briseida Escalera were all seniors last season, with many of them holding prominent spots in the varsity lineup the last few years.
While the starting lineup will look different, many of those who will be filling in those spots will still be bringing varsity experience to the table. Seniors Nevaeh Treankler and Azul Diaz put in significant minutes off the bench last year and will be taking over as the starting guards for the Falcons this season. Treankler averaged 4.3 points per game and 2.0 steals per game, fifth and third respectively. Diaz was fifth on the team with 2.8 rebounds per game and averaged 2.4 points and 1.2 steals.
Seniors Jacquelyn Soto and Azalea Atkinson will also take on larger roles this season, providing more post play for the Falcons. Juniors Celia Schindler and Asia Atkinson will also likely see more time on the court after coming in off the bench last season.
Sophomores Marilyn Hammock, Riley Podevels and Campbell Brodhagen, as well as freshman Lauryn Harris, will all look to contribute to a squad with a deep bench.
New head coach Larry Lecheler takes over the team, and while it will be his first season back as the girls’ varsity coach, he will bring a number of years of basketball coaching experience to the table, including coaching the varsity squad between 2007 and 2011.
“We’ve got seniors here that are really good leaders,” Lecheler said. “And then we have a lot of underclassmen who will have to fill in roles and help out that group of seniors; they show some promise.”
While there is some varsity experience among the group, tackling the relative inexperience the team has at that level will be key for the Falcons early.
“Because they’re so young, we have to look at ‘okay, what can we do to work on the fundamentals?’” Lecheler said. “I’m an X’s and O’s guy, but I’m more of a fundamentalist type of guy. I really stress that, especially ball handling. I told them, ‘if you want to be on the court at crunch time, work on your ball handling.’ There’s so many of those fundamentals, but you’ve got to try and focus on them one at a time, and repeat it over and over again.”
It can be a difficult task to lock down as teams try to navigate the early portions of the basketball season. The Falcons were already seeing the court after just a week and a half of practice, starting right away with a conference game against the Athens Bluejays.
Athens has proved a tough conference opponent over the past few seasons and Thursday night was no different. Abbotsford found it difficult to produce much on offense all evening, scoring seven field goals and shooting 15.6 percent from the field. While the Falcons were able to force 25 turnovers and made 12 steals on the defensive end, they only produced six points off of those turnovers. Meanwhile, the zone press employed by the Bluejays allowed them to get to 26 points off of turnovers.
Azaela Atkinson gave the Falcons a 1-0 lead by sinking one of her two free throws on Abbotsford’s second possession, but that was the only lead that the Falcons held all evening. The home team took over a few plays later and never relinquished their advantage the rest of the way.
Despite that, Abbotsford was able to keep the game close for the first eight minutes of the game. Atkinson picked up three more points for the Falcons before Treankler added a free throw and Diaz made a layup to make the score 10-7.
The Bluejays answered immediately, getting a basket on their next time down the court to pull back out to a two possession lead. The shooting dried up for the Falcons for the final nine minutes of the first half, allowing Athens to go on a 19-2 run.
The 29-9 halftime lead for the home team only grew as the scoring drought continued into the second half for the Falcons. Abbotsford was held without points for the first nine-and-a-half minutes of the second period, allowing the Bluejays to score 16 unanswered points. A free throw by Schindler finally got the visitors back in the scoring column, but now in a 35point deficit, a rally seemed unlikely.
Abbotsford outscored Athens 13-9 in the final eight and a half minutes. Schindler continued to give the Falcons a boost by scoring four consecutive points to get them back on track. She ended the game as Abbotsford’s top scorer, finishing with five points and six rebounds.
Atkinson, Treankler and Hammock all had four points each, and Atkinson and Soto both had seven rebounds. Diaz led the team with three steals and 10 deflections and Hammock, Schindler and Soto all had two steals each.
“The girls played hard and the coaching staff saw some positive things for a first game,” Lecheler said. “We shared the ball well offensively, and on defense applied the ball pressure we felt was needed as a way to be more aggressive to counter our overall limited varsity experience.”
Colby, 47-27
The Falcons also took on the Colby Hornets on Monday evening, falling 47-27 to their neighbors to the south. While a mid game push by Abbotsford made things interesting, the Hornets were able to pull away late to deal the Falcons their second loss.
Finding any sort of offensive flow was difficult for the Falcons in the early going. Azalea Atkinson finally got Abbotsford on the board nearly eight minutes into the
See ABBY BASKETBALL/ Page 12
2024-25 ABBOTSFORD GIRLS BASKETBALL TEAM - This year’s 2024-25 Abbotsford girls basketball team is, in the back row, left to right, coach Larry Lecheler, managers, Yulissa Aguilar and Ana Tzintzun Carino, Nevaeh Treankler, Jackie Soto, Celia Schindler, Lauryn Harris, Campbell Brodhagen, Hazel Flink, Azalea Atkinson, Paola Tzintzun and assistant coaches Brissa Diaz and Bella Aguilera. In the front row, left to right, Emily Gonzalez, Asia Atkinson, Azul Diaz, Ximena Aguilera, and Jennifer Monroy. Missing from the picture are Marilyn Hammock, Riley Podevels, Daryana Rodriguez, and Eliana Burns STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD
BATTLE IN COLBY - Nevaeh Treankler tries to get around her defender, Alexis Vanderhoof during the Falcons second game of the season.
STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD Abby basketball
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contest with a layup and Asia Atkinson was able to double that total with a basket of her own a few possessions later. While points for the Falcons were hard to come by, their defense kept them in the game, only allowing Colby eight points in the first nine minutes of the contest.
Scoring picked up for both teams in the last four minutes of the period, and a basket from Schindler cut a Hornet lead that had once been double-digits back down to four at 20-16. While Colby managed a last second field goal to end the half, the Falcons were still within striking distance after one period of play.
Shots from Soto and Schindler in the first few possessions of the second half narrowed the gap further, putting the Falcons down by only two points. That would be all the closer Abbotsford would get, however, as their offense was held silent over the next seven minutes of game time. The Hornets went on an 11-0 run in the meantime, pulling out to a 33-20 advantage.
A three from Azalea Atkinson broke the scoreless streak and cut the Colby lead back down to 10, but momentum was already firmly on the side of the Hornets. The Falcons were held to four points over the final nine minutes of the contest and they ultimately fell 47-27.
Azalea Atkinson led the team with seven points, Schindler had six points, Treankler and Soto finished with five points each and Asia Atkinson ended the game with four points.
“As a coaching staff, we believe we made improvement since our first game, especially with our overall movement on both offense and defense,” Lecheler said following the game. “We still need to find ways to better break down the defense and get to the middle, but that will come with improved ball skills. Our girls off the bench contributed well by playing hard to the point that we did not lose any intensity on the court while we were resting our starters.”
“As a team, we hung with Colby well into the second half, but their three-point shooting, combined with their overall aggressiveness and advantage in varsity experience, eventually wore us down in the home stretch,” he added.
