By JONATHAN SAXON
jsaxon@dcherald.com

Ali Welp

FERDINAND — The Forest Park girls basketball team suffered their first loss of the season as they fell against Class 1A No. 2 Loogootee Lions, 48-42, on Saturday night.

Rangers (2-1) coach Tony Hasenour said the Lions' (2-0) tenacious and aggressive style of defense was effective in throwing Forest Park out of rhythm early, but he was proud of how the girls fought back to make it a two-possession game late in the fourth quarter. He hopes that the Rangers use this taste of high-intensity defense as a learning experience and an early preview of what to expect later in the season. 

"We told the girls this a championship-level game," said Hasenour. "It's good for us to go up against teams like this, face the physicality and get used to it, so when it counts in February we're ready to handle it." 

Junior forward Makenzie VanHoy had a game-high 15 points, while sophomore guard Ali Welp had nine to lead the Rangers.

Forest Park will take to the road to face the Gibson Southern Titans (1-0) on Tuesday. A full story will be available in Monday's edition of The Herald.