A big comeback in the second quarter and clutch free throws down the stretch helped the Fairfield Lady Lions basketball team pull out a 45-43 victory over West Union on Thurday night to bring their season record to 10-6.
The Lady Lions had a sluggish start to the game, getting outscored 13-5 in the first quarter. In the second frame, however, the Lady Lions clamped down on the defense and kick started their offense roaring back and taking a 24-17 lead as the game went into halftime.
“Defesively, that second quarter is what got us back into the ball game,” said Lady Lions coach Chad Hamilton after the win. [Alexa] Pennington is a load inside so we had to do a better job of fronting her, putting someone in the front and someone in the back, and it worked.”
The Lady Lions continued their streak of points to start the second half, scoring the first three points before West Union finally scored at the 6:56 mark, their first points since a layup with 4:52 to go in the first. That basket finally stopped a 13-0 run for Fairfield.
The Lady Lions continued to outscore the Lady Dragons as the third quarter went on and took a four-point, 36-32 lead into the fourth.
In the fourth quarter, free throws were key as Fairfield shot 70% from the line, and even being outscored in the quarter, they were able to hold on and win the game.
“It wasn’t but in the end we came out with a win so I’m very happy with that,” said Hamilton. “I thought our girls battled. [West Union] plays that zone of theirs and the way they set it up, it’s tough to get past that front line, especially when you don’t have a lot of size. We got out and ran the floor well in the first half, didn’t do that so well in the second half, but down the stretch we made free throws and that was the difference in the game.
“We have a couple post defenders that don’t have a lot of height but we have some quickness. We did a good job of taking a step back in the post to keep from getting sealed and deflect some passes in the paint.”
Box:
FHS – 5 19 12 9 – 45
WUHS – 13 4 15 11 – 43
Fairfield: Shope 6 4/8 – 16; Pauley 1 4/6 – 6; L. Arnold (1) 3/4 – 6; Newkirk 2 1/1 – 5; Barnes 4/6 – 4; Huff 1 2/3 – 4; C. Arnold 1 – 2; Tate 2/2 – 2. Totals: 11(1) 20/30 – 45.
West Union: Pennington 5(1) 1/2 – 14; Akers 2(2) 1/2 – 11; Baldwin 1(2) 1/4 – 9; Runyon 1(1) – 5; Grooms 2/2 – 2; Gallowitz 1 – 2; Kirker 0/1 – 0. Totals: 10(6) 5/10 – 43.
Reach Robert Stegbauer at 937-393-3456 ext. 1679 or on Twitter @RStegbauer.
