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Photo by Rich Fink

Last week, the Holy Family Girls Basketball team finished their regular season against two conference opponents in New Prague and Orono.  The Fire looked to bounce back against Orono after a 71-43 loss to New Prague, the conference champion.  While unable to do so, falling in a close one by a score of 66-69, there is a silver lining for the Fire.  The Fire are prepared for what is to come in section play after squaring off against many highly-ranked teams and bigger schools, each possessing different personnel and styles of play.  This is crucial for a rather inexperienced, but talented Fire squad prior to entering high stakes play.

The Fire’s keys to success are the same as when they entered the season: staying out of foul trouble, winning the rebound battle, and limiting opponents on the offensive end.  The Fire have a shorter bench than some, with an 8 player rotation.  It is, thus, essential that the Fire stay out of foul trouble.  While the Fire can make up for it in speed, they do lack height after graduating five seniors last year.  This has proven to be difficult with regards to rebounding and the increasingly important fight to limit second chance points.  The Fire’s fast paced style of play has certainly had positive results on the offensive end.  Their firepower is on full display from game to game, with several players scoring in double digits being a common place event.  However, despite averaging 62.9 points per game in the regular season, it’s the defensive end that may determine how far the Fire are able to go in sections and possibly even state.  Ultimately, the Fire have won every game when they have held their opponents to 55 points or less.  The good news for the Fire is that these keys to success are not new to them.  They have continued to get better at avoiding foul trouble, rebounding, and defensive play all year.  Now, it is just a matter of putting the pieces together and executing when it matters most.

Overall, the Fire’s season has been plagued with inconsistency, but their potential for greatness has not gone unnoticed.  Records can be deceiving.   While they finished the regular season with a record of 11-15, their talent rivals any team in Class AA.  Computer rankings from Prep Girls Hoops have cited Holy Family as having the toughest schedule in Class AA.   In fact, the Fire are the highest ranked team in the entire state with a losing record, garnering respect from their wins against top 10-ranked Henning and Heritage Christian in Class A and section victories over Providence Academy and Annandale, among others.  The Fire’s ability to play closely with some of the states best has not gone unnoticed, even if it hasn’t always resulted in a “W” in the win column.  The Fire will look to regain their footing as they begin taking on section opponents this week.  The Fire are certainly ready for the challenge and battle-tested heading into section play.  Stay tuned for more details on their potential section opponents and how they fare on their road to state.