FAIRFIELD — In the first half of this high school basketball season, the Fairfield girls and boys basketball teams have made noise in Class B, starting out 9-1 and 10-0, respectively. In this week's MTN Sports power rankings, the girls came in at No. 8 and the boys at No. 3.
"It's well-earned, I think. We do a good job of preparing for the team coming up," junior Natalie Harrell said Wednesday. "We have lots to work on still, but I think we do a good job game planning for who we play."
"This team this year ... we just want it more," junior Deron Lear said. "We work harder than the past few years we have, and we play together better. So it's been a lot of fun."
"We play together very well," senior Kenzie Allen said. "We have a couple main scorers, but everybody gets on the board. Everybody does what they need to do and does their job well."
"I think we've been playing really well as a team," junior Reed Von Stein said. "Everybody's buying in to what our coaches are putting out there, and I think that's really contributed to our success."
Harrell, Lear, Allen and Von Stein are key contributors for their teams.
For Harrell and Allen's girls team, they said while it's been a successful start, there is still work to be done and adjustments to be made.
"I think we still have a long ways to go, but I think we're doing great," Harrell said. "Lots to work on still."
"We have to really push ourselves against the ... not as hard games so that when we do get to those hard games, we just go at it and hit them as hard as we can," Allen said. "Even if they're not our normal competition.
"We just can't be happy with where we're at right now. We got to keep pushing."
On the other hand, Lear and Von Stein said their boys squad has relied heavily on defense in the undefeated run so far.
"Not allowing 3s, no inside touches, boxing out's been a big thing we've been focusing on, so we've been working on that a lot in practice," Lear said.
"Really working hard on defense because they say defense wins championships," Von Stein said. "If you're a good defensive team, you're going to go a long ways."
Both the girls and boys teams have fallen short of making state appearances in the recent years. Although, all four said they think that could change this March.
"I think there's nowhere to go but up," Harrell said.
"It's different here in Fairfield. Basketball's like, it's in (our) blood," Allen said. "We want to get (to state) again."
"I think we can make it to the state tournament," Lear said. "I think if we just execute the small things, play together, play for each other, I think we can make it there."
"I think we'll be more prepared going in than we have in past years," Von Stein said. "We're going to work harder than we have the past couple of seasons and, you know, hope for the best."
Fairfield hits the court at home Thursday, Jan. 23 against Conrad with the boys game starting at 6 p.m. and the girls to follow.
