The Washington Demons continued their recent dominance against conference foe Fairfield, with two double-digit wins. The girls won their seventh straight over the Trojans 53-29, and the boys won their fifth straight 57-39.
The Demon girls, fresh off a loss against state-ranked Mediapolis, were heavy favorites against Fairfield, who were 1-4 coming into the game with several double-digit losses, and their lone win coming against winless Knoxville. Fortunately for Washington, they played like the favorites, opening a lead from the jump and never looking back. Senior Adalyn Long, who was not quite at 100% for the game against Mediapolis, looked to be a lot closer to full strength on Friday. Long scored 21 points in the first half alone, hitting five 3-pointers in the process. The rest of the Demons were also up to the task. Sophomore Reagan Miller added a couple of triples herself, and fellow sophomore Vivienne Kroll had a decent day picking up rebounds. Washington led at the half, 34-14.
Washington took its foot off the gas a little bit in the second half, with the starters coming out for extended periods of time and Coach Colin Mulford going deeper into his bench. Players like Long and senior Leighton Messinger didn’t appear much in the fourth quarter, but depth players such as sophomore Jaslyn Villa, juniors Sarah Berdo and Emma Horak, and senior Iris Dahl kept up the scoring pace. Washington eventually claimed themselves a solid 53-29 victory.
Mulford said getting some of the depth players in is always something to get excited about, especially as it gets them ready for the future. “I mean, it’s awesome, especially for those younger girls who will be playing varsity in a year or two. But just especially when they put in all this practice time, and not all the girls get the same amount of playing time. So, when you get that chance to play everyone, it feels really good.”
Long, despite not playing much in the second half, still led all scorers with those 21 first half points. Berdo and Reagan Miller each had 8. Fairfield was led by senior center Elyse Setterstrom, who had 11. Washington improves to 3-2, while Fairfield falls to 1-5.
The Washington boys then took to the floor, looking to make it two wins in a row after defeating the Bulldogs on Tuesday. The Demons took an early 9-2 lead, but the Trojans soon matched that to tie things up at 9. Two back-to-back 3-pointers from sophomore Tate Greiner, however, gave Washington an edge heading into the second quarter, 15-9. Fairfield again crept back into contention through the first few minutes of the second, getting back to within 2 at 17-15, but another barrage of outside scoring from Drew Conrad, Nic Stone, and Rajan Roth pushed the lead back out to 29-17 by halftime.
With the lead built, Washington just had to maintain it, but the Demons seemed to want to go further. Stone himself made several highlight reel plays, including a one-handed catch and lay-in, and a behind the back overhead pass to Roth for an assist. Washington built its lead up to 17 by the end of the third, and the benches came out in the fourth to finish off a 57-39 win for the Demons.
Outside shooting is something the Demons have sought to develop early in the season. Through their first three games, Washington shot under 20% from beyond. In the game against Fairfield, it’s finally seemed to click. Head coach Collin Stark says that the outside shot is something that he knows his boys can do, even if the stat lines haven’t shown it yet. “They’re able to, you know, that’s the part, what we see in practice. And yes, there’s a little bit where guys are struggling a little bit with their shots, but there’s others that hasn’t been translating to the game. That have been shooting extremely well at practice. And, we’ll keep getting shots up.”
Conrad led the Demons with 19 points, and did most of his damage attacking the rim. Stone had 17 to also finish in double-digits. Fairfield’s Ethan Bisgard had 14 to lead the way for the Trojans.
After a weekend off, the Demons travel to Grinnell on Monday. They’ll wrap up 2025 on Friday, with a home contest against conference foe and rival Mount Pleasant.