LEESBURG – On Wednesday the Lady Lions of Fairfield welcomed the Washington Lady Blue Lions to Grandle Gymnasium and the visitors took advantage of the hospitality as they romped to a 68-23 win.
The Lady Blue Lions applied constant pressure to the Fairfield ball handlers and forced multiple turnovers in the first quarter as they held the home team to just one point.
Samara Cannon scored the lone point of the first quarter for the Lady Lions of Fairfield when she hit one of two free throws with 3:09 left in the frame.
Hannah Haithcock hit a three pointer, two free throws and finished a fastbreak layup as she led Washington with 10 points in the first quarter.
Shawna Conger chipped in with a three of her own and hit one free throw for four points in the frame and Rayana Burns also had four point to help the Lady Blue Lions lead 20-1 after the first.
Fairfield recorded their first field goal of the game when Cannon hit on a layup early in the second quarter. She followed up with a three and a layup to give the Lady Lions eight points on the night.
The Washington girls continued to execute offensively in the second quarter and were able to match the exploits of Fairfield’s Cannon with a balanced attack that saw four different girls record a basket over the first four minutes of the period.
Conger hit a three pointer to open the quarter, Bre Taylor followed with two free throws, Haithcock converted around the basket and Burns hit two free throws to cap off the team effort for Washington.
Following a timeout by Lady Blue Lions head coach Samantha Leach at 3:42 in the second Washington finished the quarter with a 8-4 run to lead 37-14 at halftime.
Washington continued to dominate in the third quarter as they recorded 25 points in the frame and held the Highland County Lady Lions to just seven to hold a 62-21 lead after three quarters of play.
Washington added six in the fourth and Fairfield added two to provide the final 68-23 result.
“I was impressed with how we started. I felt like we were fired up ready to go from the get go,” said Leach. “We were able to put a lot of pressure on them and just create turnovers and we were able to get a lot of easy buckets in transition.”
Score by quarters
FHS 1-13-7-2
WHS 20-17-25-6
Fairfield: Cannon 2(1)-1/2-8; Fouch (1)-3; Arnold 1-2; Huff 1-0/2-2; Thackston 2-4; Haines 1-2/2-4
Totals: 7(2)-3/6-23
Washington: Burns 3-4/4-10; Estep 2-1/2-5; Taylor 5-2/2-12; Hines 1-1/2-3; Woods 1-2; Conger 4(2)-2/3-16; Haithcock 7(1)-3/4-20
Ryan Applegate is the sports editor for The Times-Gazette. Reach Ryan Applegate at 937-402-2572, or on Twitter @RCApplegate89.
