Staff photo / Preston Byers Austintown Fitch’s Kylie Folkwein, left, drives to the basket against Warren G. Harding’s Cailyn Turner during Wednesday’s game in Warren.

WARREN — After 27 and 28-point losses in its last two games, Austintown Fitch certainly could have used a competitive, positive finish to the regular season Wednesday. And the Falcons got it, albeit with a major caveat.

On the road against All-American Athletic Conference (AAC) rival Warren G. Harding, Fitch could do little but watch as the deficit grew amid a massive Harding run that effectively put the game out of reach in the first half. However, a strong showing followed in the second half, giving the Falcons something to feel good about in the 55-45 loss.

“Tale of two halves, right?” Fitch head coach Dan Horacek said. “Got outworked the first half. Credit to Harding, they came out on fire in the second quarter. … We didn’t have any energy to match that at that time. Tried to give a little uplifting speech at halftime, and we did better in the second half. Proud of my kids for fighting back.

“Our energy [in the second half] was fantastic. If we would have had that for four quarters, I don’t know if the end result would have been different, but it would have been a lot closer game.”

The Falcons surprised the Raiders, who played as the Panthers for their regular-season finale, with a strong start. After surrendering the first basket, Fitch scored eight straight points, six from a pair of Amiya Harris triples, to take an 8-2 lead in the first three minutes.

The Raiders, though, took over from there.

Threes by Cayden Reed and Akeelha Barnes tied the game at eight apiece and simultaneously sparked the most consequential run of the evening. The Raiders finished the period by scoring 12 of the final 15 points, and they only got more dominant in the second quarter.

Following a made Fitch free throw 13 seconds into the period, Harding rattled off 19 unanswered points as part of the 31-4 run it had began in the first quarter. The one-sided scoring, a result of multiple Falcon turnovers, effective Harding transition offense and even better shooting, allowed the Raiders’ lead to swell to 21 before Harris made a three and ended the Fitch drought. Harding ultimately took a 39-17 lead into halftime.

“Kaelyn Bower went out with that knee injury for a little bit,” Horacek said of the run. “She’s our heart on defense, and when she goes out, sometimes our defense suffers from that.”

The Falcons, seemingly on their way to the most lopsided loss of the season, desperately needed big changes to come in the second half.

Kaliana Ray began the third quarter with a three-point play, and Fitch’s press defense kept the Raiders scoreless as the Falcons’ offense tried to find a groove. Although Harding earned its first points of the quarter more than halfway through the period, Fitch limited the Raiders to just five in the entire period, at the end of which the Falcons had cut their deficit from 22 to 14.

“Every time we play them, they always do a really great job with their press,” Harding head coach Frank Caputo said. “It affected us a lot down the stretch there.”

With back-to-back baskets to begin the fourth, Fitch momentarily got within eight of Harding. But a pair of free throws for Sanaa Pitts not only put Harding back ahead by 10, but also began a two-way procession to the foul line.

In the fourth, as the physicality and frustration grew on both sides, 25 combined free throws were attempted, compared to five combined made field goals, two of which came in the final 40 seconds of the game.

Fitch, which took the minority of the foul shots, still outscored Harding 15-11 in the quarter, but much more had to be done to take the Raiders down Wednesday.

“Seeding’s over right now, we’re already in a tournament game, league’s already decided. Looking at this game, it’s more important how my kids react after halftime than what they did before it,” Horacek said.

Barnes scored a game-high 24 points, and her teammate, Ja’Leah Provitt, added 11 of her own. Bower and Harris each scored in double figures for Fitch, finishing with 15 and 11, respectively.

Harding (14-6, 5-3 AAC) finished the regular season having won 13 of its final 16 games after a 1-3 start to the year. The Raiders are set to host Massillon Perry next Wednesday in their playoff opener.

Conversely, Fitch (8-14, 3-5 AAC) enters its postseason home matchup vs. North Royalton having lost its last three games by double digits.

“This is definitely something you can build on. We can build on this in our next four or five practices while getting ready for North Royalton, who’s a really good, upcoming team. They play a lot like Harding does, so this was a very good test for us tonight.”