Falcons Girls Basketball Falls in Season Opener

The Faribault Falcons just couldn't find a way to defend a 6'3 Sophmore from Austin and fell 65-49 in their season opener on POWER 96 Radio in Austin Tuesday night.  The Falcons jumped out to a 4-0 lead and had a see-saw affair the first nearly ten minutes.  With 8:25 left in the first half it was Austin 17 and Faribault 16, but the Packers converted successive turnovers into points, primarily at the free throw line and led 33-19 at the half.  Faribault would get that lead whittled to single digits twice in the second half, but simply had no answer for Ruth Koang.  The 6'3 Sophmore tallied 21 points for the Packers, 18 of them in the Hoisington Painting Paint.  The other 3 came from the free throw line.  Austin was 19 of 23 from the line while the Facons were 6 of 14.  Austin finished the game with one more turnover than Faribault, but it's what you do with those turnovers that is often the difference.  The Falcons only scored off 5 of Austin's 18 turnovers while the Packers collected 10 scores off 17 Faribault turnovers.  Our Faribault State Farm players of the game were Juniors Jenna Wetzel and Ellery Akemann.  Akemann had 14 points and Wetzel 13.  In addition to Koang's 21, Austin Junior Shayley Wesel had 15 points and Senior Alex Hanson tallied 11.  The Falcons travel to Rochester Century on Friday night.