DARLINGTON — Darlington’s Tuesday home game against Fennimore resulted in a 62-50 win for the Redbirds, but that wasn’t the only reason for celebration — it was also senior night.
The Golden Eagles started the night on the right side of the scoreboard, maintaining a lead or tie through the opening five minutes of the game.
What Fennimore (14-8, 7-5) didn’t account for, was a three-headed attack from Aubrey McCarthy (15 pts, 8 reb), Maddie Gratz (14 pts, 8 reb), and Sadie Goebel (14 pts, 3 reb). The trio accounted for 11 of Darlington’s first 12 points, including a wide-open three from Goebel at 13:00 that swapped the lead in favor of the Redbirds for the second — and final — time, 12-10.
Darlington (14-7, 8-4 SWAL) spent the next 13 minutes of the half maintaining the lead and fending off surges from the Golden Eagles.
The trio continued to wreak havoc against Fennimore, putting down two-thirds of the Redbirds’ points en route to a 36-29 advantage at the break.
Darlington’s other eight points came from a combination of Lylah Norgard (8 pts), Jaidyn Evenstad (7 pts, 7 ast), and Zoie Zuberbuhler (2 pts).
The start of the second half featured a Redbirds squad eager to keep their lead.
Evenstad pinned Gratz with the ball, who was driving to the hoop for a layup for the opening score of the half eight seconds in.
Fennimore erased the gained distance 30 seconds after, as Rose French (13 pts, 9 reb) drained a pair of free throws.
Scoring for both squads then went on a hiatus. Besides a single free throw favoring the Golden Eagles, both teams combined for nine missed shots until just beyond the 15-minute mark.
The score that got both teams out of the slump came out of Fennimore’s court, as Izzy Bender made her only field goal of the night. Bender’s points were followed by a French 2-pointer, trimming Darlington’s advantage to three points after a single free throw made from McCarthy.
Charity-stripe shots allowed the Redbirds to maintain their lead.
A Braycee Nelson (21 pts, 7 reb) 2-point shot for Fennimore was erased, as McCarthy made 2 of 3 free throws surrounding Nelson’s shot.
A few minutes later at the 10-minute mark, Alyza Johnson earned her only points of the night going 2-for-2 on a bonus attempt at the line. The pair of points pushed the lead back to four points for Darlington.
Norgard and Evenstad both drained a shot under the hoop by 7:45 to increase the gap to 50-40.
The Golden Eagles drew within eight points of the Redbirds by 4:52, 55-47, but Darlington didn’t relent until the final buzzer. The Redbirds outscored Fennimore, 7-3 to close the game.
The win gives Darlington sole possession of third in the SWAL behind Cuba City (17-4, 12-0) and Mineral Point (17-3, 11-2). The Redbirds will need to win one of their two remaining conference games to ensure at least a share of the top 3.
