The Washington Demons were on top of their game Thursday, with the girls and boys both earning 26-point wins over the Fairfield Trojans. The girls rode a 24-point first quarter to a 62-36 win, while the boys kept a steady pace en route to an 81-55 rout.
As mentioned, the Washington girls couldn’t seem to miss in the first quarter of Thursday’s game. The Demons hit five triples in the first eight minutes, including three from Leighton Messinger. With their signature defense holding Fairfield at bay, the Demons led 24-6 at the end of the first quarter. Unfortunately, the Demons couldn’t quite keep up that same pace, although Messinger hit two more threes in the second quarter to give her 16 at the break. A 12-9 second quarter led Washington to a 36-15 advantage into the half.
Washington struggled in the second half, but Fairfield couldn’t capitalize, leading to a back-and-forth 5-4 third quarter. Of course, that only suited the Demons, who were able to capture a little bit of that first quarter magic back in the fourth to run away with a 62-36 victory.
Messinger spoke with KCII after the game, she says the offense has turned a corner ahead of the final few games of the regular season. “Yeah, I think that defensively, we’ve been playing so good the past few games. But I think we’ve just kind of getting caught on our offense, and that was something that we’ve been practicing, and all that hard work at practicing has been paying off. And that showed today.”
Messinger finished with 19 points, hitting one final three in the fourth quarter for good measure. Adalyn Long reached 12 to again put together a double-digit night. Fairfield was led by Faith Jones’ 11. The Demons improve to 9-7 on the season, and 4-3 in the Southeast Conference. Fairfield falls to 3-12, 1-6 in conference.
The Washington boys fell behind early at 8-2, but after a quick run to put them back on top, they never looked back. Washington was aggressive in getting to the basket, with the guards simply dribbling around Trojan defenders all night. The Demons led 22-14 at the end of the first, and a 23-13 second quarter gave Washington the 45-27 edge at half.
While the Demons were on pace to break their season high of 86, that didn’t quite happen. Of course, Washington still poured in the points, with Fairfield doing their best to keep up, but the lead steadily grew, moving to 64-44 by the end of the third and finally, 81-55 by the end of the night.
With a huge lead, Washington was again able to send in some of the guys deeper on the bench. Head coach Collin Stark says those guys have been working hard to earn late-game minutes. “You know, it might not be in front of fans. But they’re putting in that time, whether it’s with the JV, with the freshman, or whether it’s just at practice, and it’s good to get that reward to them. Again, it’s just that team aspect. It definitely was a good night for us.”
Nic Stone had the hot hand for the Demons, leading all scorers with 23. Drew Conrad picked up 15, Kael Williams had 12, and Rajan Roth was right behind them with 10. Ethan Bisgard and Andrew Myers had 13 and 12 for the Trojans, respectively. Washington improves to 10-5, surpassing last season’s win total, and also improve to 4-3 in the SEC. Fairfield drops to 2-12, and 1-6 in conference.
Both Washington teams will hit the road tonight for a much-anticipated rivalry game against the Mount Pleasant Panthers. Earlier this season, both the Demon girls and boys earned wins at home, the boys winning 55-47 and the girls winning 44-22. You can listen to that doubleheader on FM106.1, the KCII1 app, or kciiradio.com, with pregame starting at 5:30 p.m.