Lady Falcons Start Slow, Finish Strong To Open State Tournament

The Florence Lady Falcons opened up their 2019 Class B State basketball tournemrnt against the Three Forks Lady Wolves and the

Florence earned a chance at scoring first by pulling down the opening tip off, but it was Three Forks who landed the first blow on thier opening possesion. From their the Lady Wolves went on a 7-0 run in the opening minutes of the game with Florence getting on the board at the 5:13 mark when MaKenna Liles knocked down a loan free throw. Florence bounced back and went on a run off their own to tie the game up at 10 with 2:34 left in the first quarter, and then the Lady Falcons took the lead for the first time with 1:51 left in the first quarter.

With the lead yoyoing back and forth in the closing minutes of the opening quarter, the two teams started the second quarter even at 19. After Florence went on a 4-1 run in the first two minutes of the game Three Forks was forced to call a time out to slow the Lady Falcons momentum. Florence continnued to battle on the defensive boards which in turn resulted in fastbreak points to give the Lady Falcons a lead, but the Lady Wolves battled back late in the second quarter and when the half time buzzer sounded Florence was on top 27-25.

After having the half time break to make adjustments both coaches came out with a new game plan, alomst mirroring eachother by slowing the pace of the game down. Florence maintained a slight lead throughout the the third quarter until late when the Lady Falcons slowly started to step away from the Lady Wolves. By the end of the third frame the Lady Falcons had walked out to a comfortable 44-31 lead, capped off in the closing minutes of the quarter with Danielle Zahn knocking down a three pointer.

Holding on to a 13 point lead to start the final quarter Florence started to work the ball around the top of the key, playing keep away from the Three Forks defenders. Locking down the time of possesion the Lady Falcons tightended down their defense which kept the Lady Wolves from getting high percentage shots, but late in the quarter Three Forks became agressive defensively which resulted in cutting the Florence lead down to a bucket, but the Lady Falcons would hold on in the final seconds of the game to get the win over Three Forks.