{"id":33120,"date":"2026-02-04T08:49:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T13:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/?p=33120"},"modified":"2026-02-04T20:54:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T01:54:07","slug":"starfires-season-comes-to-close-with-tough-loss-to-luers-in-sectional-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/starfires-season-comes-to-close-with-tough-loss-to-luers-in-sectional-opener\/","title":{"rendered":"Starfires&#8217; season comes to close with tough loss to Luers in sectional opener"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>&#8220;She&#8217;s been an amazing leader, teammate, player, and person. She&#8217;s the kind of girl that everyone would love their little ones looking up to.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/03febSectWrap.mp3\"><\/audio><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>The Z Team wraps up the sectional opener at Woodlan for 2A.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s how South Adams coach Brett Freeman summed up his senior Laney Trausch after the Starfires bowed out of the IHSAA tournament with a 55-32 loss to the Bishop Luers Knights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/heartlandauctionrealty.com\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"201\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Heartland-Auction-Realty-1.png?resize=640%2C201&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-30980\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Heartland-Auction-Realty-1.png?w=770&amp;ssl=1 770w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Heartland-Auction-Realty-1.png?resize=300%2C94&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Heartland-Auction-Realty-1.png?resize=768%2C241&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Already underdogs in the game to begin, the Stars hurt themselves in the second half with turnovers and a poor shooting performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first half, however, belonged to South Adams. They led 21-15 at the break. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Defensively the girls were playing really well,&#8221; noted Freeman. &#8220;Battling every possession. That was a big reason for our success in that first half.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/saunderstheaterproperties.com\/van-wert-cinema\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"233\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Jan31st2026.jpg?resize=640%2C233&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-32841\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Jan31st2026.jpg?resize=1024%2C373&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Jan31st2026.jpg?resize=300%2C109&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Jan31st2026.jpg?resize=768%2C280&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Jan31st2026.jpg?w=1099&amp;ssl=1 1099w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It was, alas, a much different story in the second half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We struggled on the offensive end against their pressure,&#8221; admitted the South Adams coach. His team allowed 24 points in the third quarter. &#8220;That allowed them to get out in transition and get some easy buckets.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once the Stars fell behind and struggled with their transition defense, the Knights began to find penetration on the dribble, which opened up shots on the perimeter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/03febSectStats.mp3\"><\/audio><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Mike Macke and Lou Koning run through the stats for Tuesday&#8217;s game. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"829\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Priority-Roofing-1.jpg?resize=640%2C829&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-32806\" style=\"width:398px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Priority-Roofing-1-scaled.jpg?resize=791%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 791w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Priority-Roofing-1-scaled.jpg?resize=232%2C300&amp;ssl=1 232w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Priority-Roofing-1-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C994&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Priority-Roofing-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1187%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 1187w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Priority-Roofing-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1583%2C2048&amp;ssl=1 1583w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Priority-Roofing-1-scaled.jpg?w=1978&amp;ssl=1 1978w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Priority-Roofing-1-scaled.jpg?w=1280&amp;ssl=1 1280w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Priority-Roofing-1-scaled.jpg?w=1920&amp;ssl=1 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Campbell Glenn knocked down three three-point shots and Harvest Green led the Knights with 15 points. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Stars relied heavily on Ana Lehman, who matched Green&#8217;s 15-point total. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We just struggled to get the ball to drop in a lot of the night,&#8221; said Freeman. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The young Starfires finished the season 6-16 and they expect to be much improved in 2026-27. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I am super proud of this group. I wouldn&#8217;t want to be coaching anyone else. We&#8217;ll get there.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nearly the entire roster (other than Trausch) was a tenth grader this season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Luers will take on Adams Central in the sectional semifinal Friday. That game can be heard live on 92.7 FM. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;She&#8217;s been an amazing leader, teammate, player, and person. She&#8217;s the kind of girl that everyone would love<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32224,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[41,15,28,26],"class_list":["post-33120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-basketball","tag-featured","tag-southadams","tag-sports"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_9783-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1234&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33120"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33124,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33120\/revisions\/33124"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}