The Faith Middle School girls and boys basketball team each opened their seasons with blow-out wins at home over St. Anne-Pacelli Catholic School Wednesday night. The girls won their game 23-9 while the boys cruised to a 43-10 win.
The Lady Warrior Bears used rebounding and second-chance points to jump out to a 10-4 lead in the first quarter. Head coach Mikki Raines said she was surprised at her team’s rebounding efforts.
“We dominated (rebounding), even though they had more height than we did,” Raines said. “When the other team took a shot, they kind of knew where they were going to stand. They got position and that helped us a lot.”
St. Anne-Pacelli cut the lead to 12-9 at halftime, but Faith held the Lady Vikings scoreless in the second half with aggressive defense that forced turnovers and got Faith shooters to the foul line.
“You’ve got to make your points from the free throw line,” Raines said. “As long as they can drive and get to the free throw line, I’ll take it.”
Chyna Thomas led Faith with eight points while Anissa Carpenter scored seven points.
The Faith boys also got out to a quick start against St. Anne-Pacelli, opening with a 12-0 run in the first quarter. Karl Ivey Jr. had 10 points while four other players each scored eight, giving Faith a balanced offensive attack St. Anne-Pacelli had no answer for.
“We got out and ran on the transitions,” head coach Karl Ivey said. “The guards played well for us today and they weren’t afraid to shoot the open shot.”
Karl Ivey Jr. made two 3-pointers in the second quarter and Bryun Burden added two more 3-pointers in the third quarter to give Faith a 30-point lead.
Faith showed a lot of different looks on defense, changing between zone and press coverages, creating turnovers and second-chance points.
“I believe if we play hard on the defensive end, our offense will come,” coach Ivey said.
Coaches for the boys and girls teams said Wednesday’s games will give their teams confidence as Faith heads into their regular schedule, in which for the first time in the school’s history they will play Muscogee County schools. In past seasons, Faith played against private schools only.
“I think (this game) gave us a look at the pace we want to be on and what we would like to do during the game,” coach Ivey said.
