Fairfield falls to North Adams in SHAC showdown
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
LEESBURG — The first half for the Fairfield Lady Lions was very strong as they entered the halftime break with the lead. However, for the second half that wasn’t the case with the visiting North Adams Lady Green Devils taking more control of the game, forcing turnovers and capitalizing on them for a 67-54 victory over the host Lady Lions.
The Southern Hills Athletic Conference loss by the Lady Lions moves them to 6-3 overall and 3-2 within Division II of the conference. NAHS improves to 6-1 in Div. I in the SHAC and 9-2 overall.
The first half most things went right for the Lady Lions as they led 18-14 after the first frame was completed and 31-26 when halftime arrived.
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Following the 10-minute halftime break, the Lady Green Devils dominated the third quarter by forcing turnovers, but then capitalizing on them with points in transition, resulting in a 20-8 third frame and the Lady Lions trailing by a 46-39 score after three frames. That was followed with a 21-15 fourth frame in favor of the visitors as well.
Fairfield head coach Chad Hamilton spoke about the differences of the second half.
“North Adams backed up their zone press a little bit. Every year for some reason, we have much more than in the quarter court than we seem to about the half court,” Hamilton said. “I think the biggest difference from the first half to the second half is in the second half, every possession we got one shot, and we didn’t offensive rebound at all. They have more size than us. They were very effective at boxing us out.
“The first half, we shot well, and we got more than one shot per possession. The second half, they took that away. They went inside a little more in the second half.”
As for the first two quarters, the Lady Lions were first to score points with Brianna Barnes netting the first two points against North Adams, and following two points by Lakyn Hupp of North Adams, the Lady Lions responded with a basket by Samara Cannon. Barnes led FHS with 17 points, while Cannon totaled 12 points.
Hupp led all scorers with 30 points.
“Lakyn Hupp just destroyed us,” Hamilton said. “When you give up 30 to a girl that you know can play, you’re not going to have very good success.”
After North Adams regained the lead off a 3-pointer from Taylor Hesler, Fairfield took care of the first frame and snatched back the lead with a put-back basket from Barnes, which was the start of a 10-0 run from the 6:37 mark to the 5:10 mark of the first frame for a 15-5 advantage.
Following the basket by Barnes, she added two more points with the assist from Blake Adams. From there, Grace Shope — who totaled 14 points — scored a layup on a fast break, and Lauren Arnold scored two points off a steal and layup while being fouled. Arnold then made it a three-point play with the free-throw conversion, The run was capped off with a layup by Cannon, forcing the Lady Green Devils to call a timeout with 5:09 left in the first frame.
North Adams broke the scoring run of Fairfield with a 3-pointer from Hupp and put-back basket by Avery Harper for a five-point deficit. Blake Adams came back with a free throw for FHS, and North Adams had two points for their side of the scoreboard late in the quarter to make it a four-point differential.
Both teams exchanged two-point scores to end the first, with two free throws from Barnes, and for the Lady Green Devils, a put-back basket by Brooklyn Stout, left it the aforementioned 18-14 score in favor of FHS after the first frame.
In the 13-12 second quarter in favor of the Lady Lions, they jumped out to a 10-point lead with six straight points to open the frame with Shope and Barnes scoring points in the paint and Adams sinking a jumper from the corner for a 24-14 advantage with 6:28 left in the first half.
Later for the Lady Lions, Cannon swished a 3-pointer through the hoop, with the assist from Kami Magee at the 5:56 mark and a 27-15 lead. North Adams answered with eight straight points only to have that broken up by Barnes. NAHS answered with a three-point play by Harper (who totaled 11 points) with 1:19 left in the second, but FHS had two final points in the first half with Shope making two free throws, moving the Lady Lions’ lead to five points at halftime.
“When we came out in the first half, I was very pleased, especially in the first three minutes, to put points up on the board like that,” Hamilton said. “Then it just seemed like we ran into a wall offensively. We were still able to have the lead at halftime, which I’ll take that every day of the week, but we have to do a better job of being smarter with our possessions in the second half, and our offensive rebounding effort has to be there for four quarters.”
Then came the second half where North Adams not only outscored the Lady Lions 20-8 in the third, but regained the lead with 3:32 left in the frame when Madee Shipley sank a 3-pointer, which was a part of a 12-point run from the 3:34 mark to the 2:19 mark of the quarter. That 3-pointer left NAHS in front at 37-35, and when the run of scoring was complete, they led 44-35.
Fairfield stopped the run with a layup by Barnes and ended the frame with two points by Shope, eventually leaving FHS trailing by seven points. North Adams never relinquished the lead in the final eight minutes, with FHS having points in the final quarter by Barnes, Shope, Cannon, Arnold and Lyndee Spargur. In the fourth, Cannon and Arnold each made 3-pointers.
FHS finished 7-of-11 from the free-throw line, while North Adams was 19-of-22. Also in double-figure scoring for the Lady Green Devils was Grace McDowell with 10 points.
In JV play, North Adams won by a 38-20 score. FHS scoring included eight points from both Molly Thackston and Ashley Sanderson and four points from Jaden Smith.
The Southern Hills Athletic Conference loss by the Lady Lions moves them to 6-3 overall and 3-2 within Division II of the conference. NAHS improves to 6-1 in Div. I in the SHAC and 9-2 overall.
The first half most things went right for the Lady Lions as they led 18-14 after the first frame was completed and 31-26 when halftime arrived.
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Following the 10-minute halftime break, the Lady Green Devils dominated the third quarter by forcing turnovers, but then capitalizing on them with points in transition, resulting in a 20-8 third frame and the Lady Lions trailing by a 46-39 score after three frames. That was followed with a 21-15 fourth frame in favor of the visitors as well.
Fairfield head coach Chad Hamilton spoke about the differences of the second half.
“North Adams backed up their zone press a little bit. Every year for some reason, we have much more than in the quarter court than we seem to about the half court,” Hamilton said. “I think the biggest difference from the first half to the second half is in the second half, every possession we got one shot, and we didn’t offensive rebound at all. They have more size than us. They were very effective at boxing us out.
“The first half, we shot well, and we got more than one shot per possession. The second half, they took that away. They went inside a little more in the second half.”
As for the first two quarters, the Lady Lions were first to score points with Brianna Barnes netting the first two points against North Adams, and following two points by Lakyn Hupp of North Adams, the Lady Lions responded with a basket by Samara Cannon. Barnes led FHS with 17 points, while Cannon totaled 12 points.
Hupp led all scorers with 30 points.
“Lakyn Hupp just destroyed us,” Hamilton said. “When you give up 30 to a girl that you know can play, you’re not going to have very good success.”
After North Adams regained the lead off a 3-pointer from Taylor Hesler, Fairfield took care of the first frame and snatched back the lead with a put-back basket from Barnes, which was the start of a 10-0 run from the 6:37 mark to the 5:10 mark of the first frame for a 15-5 advantage.
Following the basket by Barnes, she added two more points with the assist from Blake Adams. From there, Grace Shope — who totaled 14 points — scored a layup on a fast break, and Lauren Arnold scored two points off a steal and layup while being fouled. Arnold then made it a three-point play with the free-throw conversion, The run was capped off with a layup by Cannon, forcing the Lady Green Devils to call a timeout with 5:09 left in the first frame.
North Adams broke the scoring run of Fairfield with a 3-pointer from Hupp and put-back basket by Avery Harper for a five-point deficit. Blake Adams came back with a free throw for FHS, and North Adams had two points for their side of the scoreboard late in the quarter to make it a four-point differential.
Both teams exchanged two-point scores to end the first, with two free throws from Barnes, and for the Lady Green Devils, a put-back basket by Brooklyn Stout, left it the aforementioned 18-14 score in favor of FHS after the first frame.
In the 13-12 second quarter in favor of the Lady Lions, they jumped out to a 10-point lead with six straight points to open the frame with Shope and Barnes scoring points in the paint and Adams sinking a jumper from the corner for a 24-14 advantage with 6:28 left in the first half.
Later for the Lady Lions, Cannon swished a 3-pointer through the hoop, with the assist from Kami Magee at the 5:56 mark and a 27-15 lead. North Adams answered with eight straight points only to have that broken up by Barnes. NAHS answered with a three-point play by Harper (who totaled 11 points) with 1:19 left in the second, but FHS had two final points in the first half with Shope making two free throws, moving the Lady Lions’ lead to five points at halftime.
“When we came out in the first half, I was very pleased, especially in the first three minutes, to put points up on the board like that,” Hamilton said. “Then it just seemed like we ran into a wall offensively. We were still able to have the lead at halftime, which I’ll take that every day of the week, but we have to do a better job of being smarter with our possessions in the second half, and our offensive rebounding effort has to be there for four quarters.”
Then came the second half where North Adams not only outscored the Lady Lions 20-8 in the third, but regained the lead with 3:32 left in the frame when Madee Shipley sank a 3-pointer, which was a part of a 12-point run from the 3:34 mark to the 2:19 mark of the quarter. That 3-pointer left NAHS in front at 37-35, and when the run of scoring was complete, they led 44-35.
Fairfield stopped the run with a layup by Barnes and ended the frame with two points by Shope, eventually leaving FHS trailing by seven points. North Adams never relinquished the lead in the final eight minutes, with FHS having points in the final quarter by Barnes, Shope, Cannon, Arnold and Lyndee Spargur. In the fourth, Cannon and Arnold each made 3-pointers.
FHS finished 7-of-11 from the free-throw line, while North Adams was 19-of-22. Also in double-figure scoring for the Lady Green Devils was Grace McDowell with 10 points.
In JV play, North Adams won by a 38-20 score. FHS scoring included eight points from both Molly Thackston and Ashley Sanderson and four points from Jaden Smith.