Fairfield Lady Lions fall in sectional finals to North Adams
MCDERMOTT — The first quarter saw the Fairfield Lady Lions give the North Adams Lady Green Devils a scare in their Division IV SE District Sectional Final matchup on Sunday afternoon.
In that opening frame played at Northwest High School, the Lady Lions trailed by just two points after eight minutes, including a tied score in the final minutes of the quarter.
That closeness in the score didn't last for the remainder of the game, as the No. 1 seeded Lady Green Devils (21-2) defeated the No. 8 seeded Lady Lions (8-16), 64-42, ending the season for FHS.
"This was the toughest we played them in our three games against them this year," FHS head coach Chad Hamilton said. "We had some problems with their press and committed too many turnovers. Against a good team like North Adams, it's very tough to hang with them if you continue to make the same mistakes.
"They pulled away in the fourth quarter, but the game felt closer than a 22-point margin. Our girls battled for 32 minutes, and this was our best showing in the three games versus them this season."
In the opening eight minutes, the Lady Lions were able to pressure the "home team" Lady Green Devils, even though it was North Adams who opened the game with a 7-0 run. Those points were from Rylee Copas and Karly Boerger, including a 3-pointer by Copas with 5:27 on the clock to complete the seven-point run.
Copas led NA with 16 points, followed by Staci Dinsmore with 14 points.
Fairfield ended the run by NA with a corner jumper by Grace Shope, who led FHS with 16 points, at the 4:59 mark of the quarter. The Lady Green Devils were able to build a 10-2 advantage, until Shope, again, scored on a layup, along with being fouled in the process.
After Shope converted a three-point play (and two more points by NA), later in the frame FHS had consecutive 3-pointers from Haley Bobb, including one at the 1:15 mark to tie the score at 11.
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NA took the lead for what ended up being for good with a layup from Lakyn Hupp, ending the first with a 13-11 lead over the Lady Lions. Hupp and teammate Avery Harper each finished with nine points.
The second frame didn't fare so well for Fairfield, trailing 27-16 after eight minutes were complete, leaving the Lady Lions down by 11 points against the reigning Southern Hills Athletic Conference Division II champs, a team which defeated them twice during the regular season.
The Lady Lions began the second by giving up 10 straight points, with Shope breaking up this scoring with four consecutive points, followed by a free throw by Lydia Sowders to get FHS within seven points of the leading North Adams squad at 23-16.
NA managed to add four more points before the half for an 11-point lead.
In the second half, after two points from NA to start the third, Kaitlin Evans (the Lady Lions' regular-season leading scorer) scored her first points of the game with a free throw. Evans ended the game with nine points.
After that shot, Sowders scored two points, and Shope made a layup with 6:26 left in the quarter, cutting the NA lead down to single digits.
From there, NA went on to finish the quarter with a 45-31 lead. In the third, also scoring for FHS were Olivia Bobb and Blake Adams.
In the fourth, FHS was outscored, 19-11 to have their season come to a close. Adams, Shope and Evans all scored points in the fourth.
This game was the final game for six FHS seniors. Those seniors were: Haley Bobb, Kaitlin Evans, Justice Hattan, Katie Runyon, Lydia Sowders and Emily Teeters.
"This was the last game for our six seniors. Nearly all of them have been in the program for four years, and they have come a long way," Hamilton said. "Things won't be the same without them, and they will be missed."