The Lady Lions kept their heads up and never gave up Monday night as they hosted Southern Hills Athletic Conference opponent Whiteoak. The last two times these teams met, the Lady ‘Cats of Whiteoak came out on top to the tune of 54-49. Monday night looked to be the same story all the way until the fourth quarter, where the Lady Lions came roaring back to win the game by a margin of ten, 56-46.
As the game started, it looked as if the Lady ‘Cats were picking up right where they led off in the previous game with Fairfield, jumping out to a 15-6 lead after the first eight minutes.
The Lady Lions outscored the Whiteoak girls in the second quarter, but the Lady ‘Cats managed to hold on to the lead going into the half up 25-21. A big part of their first half success was Whiteoak’s ability to hold high scorer Grace Shope of Fairfield to just seven points in the first half.
In the third quarter, the Lady ‘Cats inched further ahead, scoring 13 points to Fairfield’s 11 to take a six-point, 38-32 lead into the final frame.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t a big enough lead. The Lady Lions caught fire in the fourth quarter, finding holes in the Whiteoak defense and outrebounding them by a large margin. The Fairfield crowd had something to get on their feet for in a big way as the Lady Lions outscored Whiteoak 24-8 in the final eight minutes of play to take a 56-46 victory.
“I think our defense was much better this time around,” said Lady Lions head coach Chad Hamilton after the game. “The first half, we got down early. It wasn’t because we weren’t getting the shots we wanted, we were, they just weren’t going in. I’m not going to say we put four quarters together tonight, because that first quarter wasn’t good, but the second half, we stepped up defensively and really took away what they wanted to do and I’m really proud of the girls effort tonight.”
Box:
FHS – 6 15 11 24 – 56
WHS – 15 10 13 6 – 46
Fairfield: Shope 8 4/9 – 20; Huff 5 3/4 – 13; Adams 5 1/4 – 11; Barnes 2 2/2 – 6; C. Arnold 1 1/2 – 3; Newkirk 2/2 – 2; Pauley 1/2 – 1. Totals: 21 14/25 – 56.
Whiteoak: Carr 4 5/7 – 13; Harless 6 0/1 – 12; Jones 4 0/1 – 8; Wardlow 2 2/2 – 6; Parr 1 3/3 – 5; Luman 1 – 2. Totals: 18 10/14 – 46.
Reach Robert Stegbauer at 937-393-3456 ext. 1679 or on Twitter @RStegbauer.
