Sports
Flyers Frustrate Kirkwood in Girls Hoops
Lindbergh improved to 3-1 by defeating Kirkwood, 59-46. It was the Flyers' defense that was the key.
The Kirkwood Pioneers girls varsity basketball team brought a perfect early season record of 3-0 to Lindbergh High School Tuesday night, but suffered a 59-46 loss as team leaders Lianna Doty and Natalie Fryrear fouled out in the second half.
The Flyers played a stifling defense throughout the game to frustrate Kirkwood.
Leading the home side on defense was senior forward Andrea Klipsch, who had several key second-half defensive rebounds to prevent the Pioneers from mounting a comeback. Offensively, the Flyers came out prepared to stand up to a taller Kirkwood squad.
"We knew they might be vulnerable to foul trouble and so we came out pretty aggressive and used a dribble-drive offense to take it to them," explained Lindbergh Head Coach Bill Thoele, who saw his team improve to 3-1 on the season.
The contest opened up with fast-breaking, end-to-end play as Lindbergh sought to press its bigger Kirkwood opponents. Turnovers were hard to come by in the first quarter and each team demonstrated strong offensive rebounding.
In an early sign of things to come, Kirkwood junior guard Natalie Fryrear picked up her second foul, necessitating a Kirkwood timeout midway through the first quarter. When play resumed, Klipsch put the Flyers up 12-10 with a 3-pointer, interrupting momentarily a dizzying offensive performance by her teammate, 5-foot-5 senior guard Keonia Blair.
The second quarter saw Kirkwood fall behind, 22-17, as it picked up its 10th team foul with six minutes remaining in the half. Blair continued to make Kirkwood pay at the foul line, but Fryrear hit a 3-pointer with just under three minutes to play in the quarter and then followed up with key free throws of her own to even the score at 30 going into halftime.
The comeback by the Pioneers as the first half closed seemed like it might be a turning point. But as the third quarter got under way and the teams exchanged field goals, it was again Blair who hit a 3-pointer, and then converted two free throw attempts after being fouled while scoring on a layup as the Flyers moved back ahead, 41-32.
Blair finished with 24 points, four 3s and four steals
The third quarter ended with the Flyers ahead, 45-40, and it appeared the game was up for grabs in the final quarter. However, Fryrear fouled out with only a minute gone in the fourth quarter, and Doty followed her shortly after that, putting the Pioneers at a distinct disadvantage without two of their key players.
With a 47-40 lead, the Flyers' defense took over with Klipsch dominating the defensive boards. Kirkwood failed to score for over three minutes in the fourth quarter, and with half the quarter gone the Flyers had built a nine-point lead. They moved the ball around protectively while burning significant time off the clock.
Kirkwood finally broke the scoring drought with a pair of field goals with three minutes left, but Klipsch continued her strong night by sinking two free throws with two minutes remaining in the game to put Lindbergh up, 51-42. Klipsch scored 15 points, had six defensive rebounds and added four steals.
Effective clock-management by the Flyers and sufficient free throw shooting in response to Kirkwood's attempts to foul late in the game gave Lindbergh the victory as the final seconds ticked away.
Klipsch was practical in assessing her performance, "I needed to step it up because they're bigger than us and when they started racking up fouls I felt we had a good chance to win."
Kirkwood Head Coach Brad Sutterer acknowledged Lindbergh's strong defense, "They are a pressing team and we needed to play better defense and get better looks at the basket."
Up next for Kirkwood will be a visit by Ursuline Academy on Friday night. The Flyers will look to build on this evening's win with a trip to Washington, Missouri on Monday, Dec. 13 to take on the Blue Jays.
