By Phil Keren

Correspondent

The Field girls basketball team battled through a tough, physical contest to edge Norton, 33-31, on Friday night.

It was a special victory because the Falcons hadn’t defeated the Panthers on the hardwood in nearly a decade.

“We didn’t play our best game, but to come out here and win feels amazing, especially for it to be with my senior class,” said Field senior Delilah Rahe, who led the team in scoring with 13 points.

Field head coach John Misenko Jr. said he was proud of his team’s effort as they fought a relentless full-court press from Norton and played several minutes without Rahe, who picked up her fourth foul late in the third quarter.

“I thought it was a hell of a win,” Misenko said. “The girls played their butts off … I can’t even explain how great it feels to beat (Norton). It was a team effort.”

The game went down to the wire.

With Field leading 30-28 in the fourth quarter, Norton guard Dakota Graham passed to senior wing Kenzie Tatka for a layup to tie the game with 1:18 to play. Field broke through the full-court press and senior guard Mckayla Miller fed the ball to senior guard Abby Harlin, who netted a baseline jumper to give Field a 32-30 advantage.

After Graham made 1-of-2 foul shots, Miller was intentionally fouled and went to the free-throw line. Miller made her first shot, but missed the second. Abby Harlin pulled down the offensive rebound, but her pass was intercepted by Norton freshman guard Brooke Bowman.

Trailing 33-31, the Panthers called timeout with 20 seconds left to draw up a play to potentially  tie or win the game.

Out of the timeout, Norton rotated the ball from one side of the court to the other and looked for an opening in the Field defense. A Norton player drove to the basket but lost the ball out of bounds when she got double-teamed.

Now, with just five seconds left, and working against another full-court press, Field successfully inbounded the ball to Abby Harlin, who was fouled with 2.5 seconds left. Harlin missed both free throws, but Rahe secured the rebound and dribbled out the remaining time.

“I think Delilah plays great all the time,” Misenko said. “I think she’s a hard matchup for people, because she is so athletic and so physical that it’s a hard matchup for everybody, but she’s composed, she can kind of slow things down a little bit.”

The teams finished the first quarter tied at 8. In the second period, Field went on a 5-0 run courtesy of a putback by Rahe, a free throw from senior forward Carlee Fafrak and another layup from Rahe on an assist from Abby Harlin. The Falcons went to the locker room with a 15-12 lead.

Field started the second half with six unanswered points as Miller made a baseline runner and a layup, and Rahe knocked down a short bank shot. When Rahe found freshman guard Audrey Richmond for a 3-pointer, Field led 24-14 with about four minutes to go in the third quarter.

With about two minutes to play in the third period, Rahe was whistled for her fourth foul and was forced to the bench.

Rahe said she did her best to provide leadership and guidance from the sideline.

“When I know I can’t go out there, I’m going to help them out and tell them where to look, like where the cutter is going, just to help them out on the court,” said Rahe.

Norton, however, took advantage of Rahe’s absence and closed out the third quarter on a 7-0 run to cut Field’s lead to 24-21. Highlights of this run were a traditional three-point play from Bowman and a layup by sophomore guard Haley Sanderson after she stole the ball.

Since they had built a 10-point lead, Field was able to endure playing several minutes without Rahe.

“We kind of just got lucky that we were able to dodge that bullet,” Misenko observed.

In the fourth period, Field made some key baskets after breaking Norton’s press.

One time, it was Miller threading the needle to senior forward Tia Ulrich for a layup. Once she returned to the floor, Rahe took the inbounds pass, dribbled up court with two defenders shadowing her, set up in the post and made another bank shot.

Rahe talked about how she was able to remain composed despite tenacious defensive pressure from Norton.

“I played when I was in third grade,” said Rahe. “That was the first year I started and I fell in love with the game. I’ve played AAU. Playing on the court with people I know, people I’ve played with for a long time, it kind of takes the pressure off your shoulders, even when somebody’s in front of you, because you know you have an outlet, you have somebody there that can help you.”

Rahe’s leader said he was happy with the way his team handled the Panthers’ full-court press.

“I thought we handled the pressure OK,” Misenko said. “When we broke it, we got layups.

There were times we got layups when we broke it the right way.”

On the defensive side, Field started the game playing man-to-man, but switched to zone and ended up playing in that set for most of the game.

“We’ve been working on our zone,” Misenko said. “Any good team, you like to switch things upas often as you can so they don’t settle in and then pick you apart.”

Misenko said he thought Norton made some good adjustments at halftime and improved their offensive attack in the second half.

“Fortunately, for us, they just never got hot,” Misenko said. “I told the girls at halftime, when you play a zone, teams are going to make shots and you have to understand people are going to make shots. It’s basketball — you’re hoping that they don’t make enough of them.”

The zone was switched to man-to-man defense at the end when Norton tried for the game- winning shot.

Misenko said players such as Maddie Jacobs, Richmond, Fafrak and Sarah Balzer gave the Falcons valuable minutes off the bench.

Victories come in all shapes and sizes, and Field’s leader noted it was important for his squad to learn to win a scrappy game like this one.

“We have to learn how to close games against good teams and that’s what we did tonight. It was an ugly game,” Misenko said. “Low-scoring game. That’s another game we need to learn how to win. (Lots of) fouls, physical, those are games we have to learn how to win and today we were able to do that.”

Other top scorers for Field were Richmond with 7 points and Miller with 5. Norton was led by Bowman, who had 8 points.