Mar. 4—FAIRMONT — In her first public appearance on the hardwood since moving to town, Fairmont’s new mayor made quite the impression on her Polar Bear constituents as she led Class AAA No. 1 Fairmont Senior to a thorough 86-59 debut victory over Class 4A No. 10 Bridgeport at the FSHS Armory.
In her first game at Fairmont Senior since transferring from Grafton this summer, the Polar Bears’ Meredith Maier was simply phenomenal in her new starring role as she dropped a game-high 31 points on 13-of-20 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds to tally a double-double and start her FSHS career with a deserved vote of approval. She also dished three assists, nabbed four steals and recorded a block.
“It was a blast,” Maier said. “I definitely enjoy playing with (this team) — I think we all just play so well together. I’m really thankful for the years I’ve had at Grafton, but I’m really glad and I’m really grateful that I’m here now.”
Maier dabbled in just about everything for Fairmont Senior in her debut outing. She created her own shot, with rip through drives that she capped with silky across-the-lane floaters. She munched on putbacks on the offensive glass and finished drop-off dimes from FSHS lead star Marley Washenitz. And she scorched from beyond the arc, as she drilled 4-of-7 from deep, hitting a trio of spot-ups treys as well as a fourth off the bounce.
Then defensively, she was a menace in Fairmont Senior’s full- and half-court pressure looks, as she broke on wobbly passes and extended for deflections on others, all while raking in rebounds following Bridgeport misses.
“She most definitely added a nice element,” Fairmont Senior coach Corey Hines said.
Co-starring right alongside Maier was Fairmont Senior’s already well-established sensation in junior Marley Washenitz who tallied a double-double with 21 points and 12 assists to go with six rebounds, four steals and a pair of blocks. Washenitz, who flashed an added dose of scoring acumen with a smoother jump shot, including an off-the-bounce pull-up triple in the fourth quarter that was practically from the East side of town, was dynamite as a floor general and distributor. She repeatedly collapsed Bridgeport’s defense with double crossovers and step through moves before spraying passes to teammates for spot-up 3s or point-blank layups, and, of course, she spied her usual hit-ahead chances in transition.
Washenitz, especially showcased a mind-melded synergy with Maier, as the two hooked up multiple times in their first official high school game together.
“We’re really close. Since I transferred, we’ve grown this bond and we show that chemistry on the court,” Maier said. “Knowing her game and knowing my game from playing together and training together this offseason has really helped us, and now I’m just excited to get to show it to everybody on the court.”
“Honestly, there was no jealousy and you’ve seen that with a lot of teams — let’s be honest — where some people are concerned about how many points they score, but Meredith didn’t even care, she was just playing hard, and Marley, she didn’t even care,” Hines said. “Laynie (Beresford), she didn’t care, Reagan (Blasher), she didn’t care, Bekah (Jenkins) didn’t care, they just all wanted to win. So if we can keep that mindset, we’re going to be a hard team to beat.”
Jenkins joined Maier and Washenitz in double figures with 11 points, while Emily Starn and Beresford added another seven points each for Fairmont. Beresford, who made her presence felt with gritty crashes to the glass all night long, also tallied six rebounds and a pair of steals.
For Bridgeport, sophomore Gabby Reep unleashed her full repertoire to keep the Indians competitive for the first quarter and most of the first half. Reep finished with a team-high 27 points to go with five rebounds for the Indians, with the bulk of her scoring coming in the form of a 8-of-11 showing from the free throw line. Paige Humble added another seven points for Bridgeport to go with three rebounds, five assists and two steals.
Bridgeport took an early six-point lead at 12-6 with about three minutes left in the first quarter, but the Indians quickly lost their way when Fairmont Senior ticked off a whopping 19-0 run that turned that 12-6 deficit with 2:24 to go in the first quarter into a 25-12 lead with just over five minutes left in the second period.
“They were sticking with us in the beginning, and then I think we kind of realized that we could outplay them,” said Maier, who scored on a putback, a layup curling off a screen on a feed from Washenitz, and a pick-six steal during the 19-0 stretch. “We outran them a lot and got a lot of up and downs. Our vision was really good today.”
The Indians fired back with a 9-0 spurt to slice the margin to 25-21, but Fairmont ticked off a 5-1 run just before the half, as Blasher notched a putback, Washenitz unfurled a one-motion steal and hit-ahead assist for a Beresford layup, and Maier cashed out on a sidestep triple.
Washenitz and Maier then quickly combined to balloon the lead to 20 in the opening minutes of the third quarter with an opening 10-0 run. Washenitz first got the hoop plus the harm on a nifty and-one scoop shot, and then she followed that up with a steal and drive-and-kick assist to Beresford for a corner 3 while she was tumbling to the ground. Then Maier made it 42-22 on a soft baby hook putback that capped the 10-0 blitz in just a minute’s time.
“This is just the beginning,” Maier said. “There are a lot of things to still work out, but I think if we just keep working, we’re going to get even better and we’re going to be really good in the near future.”
Email Bradley Heltzel at or follow him on Twitter @bradheltzTWV.
