DARLINGTON — Saturday, Jan. 7 saw a doubleheader home matchup for the Darlington varsity girls (6-6, 3-2) and boys (11-1, 4-0) basketball squads against Highland (girls 4-7, boys 4-6) for the Aaron Lancaster Memorial Games. The Redbirds prevailed in both games — the girls by a score of 54-36, and the boys with a score of 77-46.

The Darlington girls wasted no time asserting their dominance as they opened with a quick 14-1 lead from which they never looked back.

A significant factor in their win was the pressure they put on the Cardinals, forcing a whopping 28 turnovers throughout the matchup.

“The kids played really hard and we had a lot of different kids step up,” said Redbird girls head coach Brad Solberg.

The stepping up Solberg referred to came in the form of all but three Darlington players scoring throughout the game, including three separate performances of 10 or more points — Kyle Butler led the squad with 12 points, while Cayla Golackson and Aubrey McCarthy totaled 10 points on the day.

Having multiple scoring leaders helped push the Redbirds through the half to a 30-17 lead at the break.

Opening the second half, Darlington was concerned with one thing — a repeat performance. 

Heavy pressure was a theme again, as Jaylyn Schwartz kicked off scoring for the Redbirds with a jumper in the paint coming off a steal. 

The next couple minutes saw Darlington go on an 11-2 tear, a period where the only points Highland scored were from a pair of free throws by Bronwyn Halverson. 

Golackson hit a two-pointer at 16:40 following good passing that opened up a wide-open window for her.

Maddie Gratz pushed things further along with a three only a minute later, and by the time 14:40 showed on the clock, Butler drained a pair of threes that pushed the score to 43-19 and Highland was forced to slow the game down with a timeout.

It would take an additional 1:32 before Highland saw its first field goal of the second half from a layup by Ella Cody, followed quickly by a two-point jumper by Halverson.

Darlington answered 45 seconds later with two points by Zoie Zuberbuhler, her only score of the game.

An Addison Bedward score for the Cardinals put the game at a 45-25 mark in favor of the Redbirds, before a Butler steal set up Jaidyn Evenstad for an and-one opportunity that she drained.

Highland responded with a Halverson basket while Harper Drury hit two free throws, just as the clock hit the eight-minute-mark. 

Golackson capped off her 10-point performance from a layup off a pass from Aubrey McCarthy at the 6:53 mark, while a McCarthy layup was the Redbirds’ final field goal of the game 30 seconds later.

While Highland had some life left, it wasn’t anywhere near enough — Harlee Fredericks floated in a wide open three, while Cody hit a fast-break layup off a steal at the 3:55 mark.

Including a pair of individual free throws made by both squads to close out the game, Darlington easily walked away with the game, 54-36.

Even with the solid win under his team’s belt, Solberg still wanted to see improvements from his squad.

“We need to do a better job taking care of the basketball as we hit the stretch,” said Solberg.

Even though they went to the locker room halfway through the second half of the girls match, the Redbird boys were keen on keeping the energy the girls squad had going through their game as well. 

Broker Buschor opened the game hot, scoring three of the first four Darlington scores — his first was a two 10 seconds into the matchup, followed up with a three only 45 seconds later. 

Carver Fitzsimons hit his first score in what turned out to be his best game of the season scoring-wise a couple minutes later, followed by Buschor’s third score of the game — a three at 14:25 to open up the game with a 10-0 tilt for Darlington. 

Fitzsimons hit one of two free throws only a moment later before Highland saw their first score of the night at 13:31 off a Wesley Kraisinger field goal. 

Not only was scoring going well for the Redbirds, the full-court pressure they opened the game with was getting to Highland too, and Darlington head coach Tom Uppena even noticed. 

“Once again our defense got the job done,” said Uppena. “Our defensive pressure was great and we used that pressure to fuel our offense.”

A few scores by Darlington — one field goal by Carter Murray, the other a pair of free throws made by Fitzsimons — saw them extend their lead to 15-2 as the game neared 12 minutes to go in the first half.

The Cardinals started playing a more physical defense that gave themselves opportunities to score and come back into the game. 

Ethan Lee scored one of two free throws, followed by a three from Michael Esser for Highland bringing the score to 15-6.

After a free throw by Fitzsimons was matched with a free throw made by Cardinal Landis Newberry, Brady Long drained his first points of the game with a two-pointer.

Highland responded only 10 seconds later with an Esser two, and following yet another Fitzsimons free throw, the Cardinals drained a pair of buckets from Kraisinger, bringing the match to a 19-13 lead at 4:50 for the Redbirds and the closest the game was all afternoon. 

The final 4:35 saw Darlington score an additional 15 points, and only allowing two. They started with a Long three, followed by a layup by Fitzsimons. 

Not more than 30 seconds later, Fitzsimons tallied another jumper off a Long miss, followed by another two points off a rebound with 3:30 in the half. 

It took Highland another 1:15 to drain its final basket of the half off an Esser layup, bringing the score to 28-15.

The final 1:55 of the half saw Fitzsimons make two free throws, followed by a Buschor two. Fitzsimons saw his last scoring opportunity of the half with an and-one that he made at the 31.2-second mark, and Buschor got the opportunity to extend their lead with a buzzer-beater two, however, it fell just short.

While Fitzsimons was the undisputed leader of the squad, tallying 26 points and 14 rebounds en route to his third straight double-double, Buschor totaled 13 points, and Levi Carter, a senior who didn’t see any scoring in the first half, tallied 11 points on the night. 

The Redbirds also saw a significant portion of their squad score throughout the second half, which pleased Uppena.

“Carver had a monster game and really everyone else played pretty well,” said Uppena. “We got great contributions from the bench as well.”

Darlington came out of the locker room to a second half that saw them extend their lead by another 11 points as they won, 77-46.

Earlier in the week, Darlington girls defeated Southwestern 81-49, while the boys prevailed over Iowa-Grant 60-37.