Fouls Nearly Cook Central’s Goose

Photos and stories by Robert Thomas

A win is a win is a win.

But for the Central Cyclones senior girls basketball team an asterisk should go next to the W they earned on Tuesday evening.

They were saved by the clock as one key player fouled out and two more were on the verge of doing the same thing.

Despite the foul problems there was no goose cooking on Tuesday evening the only fowl they’ll enjoy is Turkey on December 25th.

Until then they will have a W to enjoy as the Central Cyclones defeated the Peacock Toilers 64 - 59.

The score after the First Quarter was Cyclones 14 and the Toilers 7.

The score at Half Time was Cyclones 34 and Toilers 21.

The score at the end of the Third Quarter was Cyclones 51 and the Toilers 50.

In the Fourth Quarter Central initially increased its lead but with about five minutes left in the game Addison Simpson, a key Cyclones player, took her fifth personal foul and fouled out of the game.

The loss of Simpson and a second key player with four fouls opened the door for the Toilers to roar back from a 19 point deficit.

The Toilers came five points short though as time ran out with the Cyclones winning 64 - 59.

“Fouls, fouls, fouls. Yeah we got into foul troubles. They clawed their way back on some foul shots and we just kind of (did it to ourselves),” Cyclones head coach Tanya McLean said.

She said the team needs to improve given in the first, second and third quarters the Cyclones were in major foul territory with team fouls all in bonus territory.

“We need to be more focused,” McLean said taking her time to carefully chose her words.

“It’s discipline and focus. All of that.”

Asked if the fouls were because the Toilers were getting at the Cyclones McLean said it was a loss of focus.

“I think the effort was there the problem was just the focus. To keep the focus there the whole game. The first quarter like you said was great. We need to focus on the things we are doing well,” she said.

Defensively McLean said the Cyclones did not play well which showed up in the number of fouls.

Asked about the Cyclones effort she said it was there.

“I don’t ever doubt their effort for sure. It’s always great to beat Peacock. I’m super happy with the win but maybe not so much the score,” she said.

She said she couldn’t say why the Cyclones played the way they did. It may have been nervousness of playing Peacock, youth but in the end she was unsure.

“I don’t know.”

“We held it long enough to get the win but yeah we got some things to work on.”

“We’re lucky we squeaked that one out with the fouls for sure,” she said.

Asked about the rest of the season McLean said “ we’re always looking for improvement. We can string together a better game than we have so far for sure.”

Although there is a break right now in the season, she said the team will be practising whenever they can.

The practice makes perfect model fit into the plans of the Peacock Toilers their head coach Brendan Fedoski.

Despite the Peacock gym floor being resurfaced, the team is going to find someplace to practice.

He said the game took the route of their games this season.

“We started out slow out of the gates it’s been the theme of the season. I thought once the first quarter was over we kind of got our head back into the game,” he said.

Fedoski complimented Central on their win.

“Kudos to Central they came out with a really good game plan. They played strong right from the get go but it was good to see our girls respond and they battled back within five points when we’re down 17 points.”

He said a major factor in the loss was “Central was beating us on those front cuts. It’s something we’ve got to work on.”

Fedoski said the game was marked by inexperience but during the game the Toilers improved .

“I think it’s inexperience. We are fairly evenly matched. As I said all season long, this is a process where we keep getting better. In this game we kept getting better right towards the end so it’s good.”

With the season about one-third done Fedoski said the long season is beneficial as it allows more time for improvement in his young team.

Asked about how the team was feeling heading into the Christmas break, he said “ I think we’re feeling good as I said this is a long season.”