Forced turnovers by Fayetteville result in Fairfield loss
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
LEESBURG — Thirty-three turnovers won’t do the team committing them any favors, and that was the case for the Fairfield Lady Lions Thursday night. The Lady Lions had no less than six turnovers in each quarter played — while battling foul trouble — against the Fayetteville Lady Rockets, leading to a 64-60 loss in Southern Hills Athletic Conference play.
Even with all of the foul issues, as two starters had four fouls midway through the third frame, it was Fairfield who held a 21-17 lead at the completion of the first quarter as the Lady Lions saw Brianna Barnes score the first four points of the SHAC game. The Lady Lions eventually built a 6-2 lead following two points from Madison Bronner less than two minutes into the quarter.
Fayetteville answered with two points by Cecilia Murphy, but less than 20 seconds later, Fairfield’s Samara Cannon pushed the FHS lead to 8-4. Cannon played in limited time due to foul trouble and still led the Lady Lions with 17 points, including scoring seven points in the opening frame. Murphy led all scorers with 21 points, along with 11 steals and six assists.
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The Lady Rockets made it a one-point game with points from Murphy and Kelbee Coffman. The game continued to see each team answer each other nearly basket-for-basket, until FHS had the final points of the first with a bucket by Braylynn Haines for the 21-17 lead. Haines finished the game with five points.
As for that first frame, Fairfield also had four points from Trinity Huff, and Barnes collected eight points in the quarter. Fayetteville had six points from Murphy in the first, along with eight points by Olivia Crawford, two points by Hannah Wiederhold and the free throw by Coffman. Barnes finished with 12 points in the game, while Crawford totaled 20 points.
Both teams were no stranger to the scoreboard in the second frame, though this time Fairfield saw their lead evaporate to a 33-33 tied score at halftime.
“It was a good win. It’s one of the best wins we’ve had, especially a league game like that, and Fairfield already beat us at home,” Fayetteville head coach Toby Sheets said. “Coming here at Grandle Gymnasium, we haven’t fared well here the past few years, so the kids were jacked up for this one. They were all fired up. The bench was really supportive.
“They just had this drive tonight that I liked and want to keep seeing. We pushed the ball. We like fast basketball, but we got down early. It just seemed like shots started going for us, and then we couldn’t ice it with a free throw. We missed a lot of free throws. I thought we could have gotten a nicer lead, but we never gave up. The defense played really well. We played good defense and got them in foul trouble, which helped a bunch. We moved the ball well on offense.”
At one point early in the second frame, Fairfield increased their lead to 25-19 following a 3-pointer by Emma Fouch at the 6:54 mark. From there, though, Fayetteville got back to within three points of the lead, which included a put-back bucket by Coffman with 4:54 left in the first half. Fouch totaled eight points in the game, while Coffman finished with 13 points in the game.
Later in the quarter, the score was 28-26 in favor of the Lady Lions as Fayetteville scored four straight points. Those points were answered with a 3-pointer by Ella Newkirk, who sank the shot from the corner of the court for a 31-26 lead with 1:26 left in the frame. Newkirk totaled five points.
There were two free throws made by Huff — who finished with nine points — to extend the lead to seven points. That wasn’t the end of the scoring, though, as the Lady Rockets scored the final seven points of the quarter with a basket off a steal from Paige Lockwood. That was followed by another steal and layup, this time by Murphy, and for good measure Murphy equaled the feat with two points at the buzzer for the 33-33 score at halftime.
In the second half, Fayetteville took the lead with a 3-pointer by Coffman 19 seconds into the frame. From that point forward, the Lady Rockets never trailed for the remainder of the game, outscoring the Lady Lions, 18-7 in the third for a 51-40 lead.
“We didn’t change anything, but we moved some people around,” Sheets said. “We ran the same offense, we just moved some people in different locations. We moved Coffman to the perimeter. She hadn’t played there in the first half, and she hit some big buckets that gave us a little bit of a lead there. I was happy with the way the kids played with a lead. We have a tendency to get a little lead, then have a lull in scoring, but I thought we maintained the scoring throughout.
“Cecilia Murphy is playing well. She had a heck of a ball game. She was playing with an edge tonight.”
Fayetteville’s scoring in the third consisted of six points each from Murphy and Crawford, while Coffman made two treys in the quarter. Fairfield, in their seven-point third, had three points from Lauren Arnold and two points each by Fouch and Newkirk.
“We were shorthanded tonight with 13 players total for both games, so we had to try and manage our minutes, and getting in foul trouble certainly didn’t help,” Fairfield head coach Chad Hamilton said. “The first half, I was happy with how we played, other than the last couple minutes of the second where we had four or five turnovers in a row. We had about an eight-point lead with about a minute left in the first half.
“In the first half of the third quarter recently, we’ve had a real problem of digging ourselves a hole and trouble getting back. We hit a few shots at the end, but overall we had too many turnovers and let them have too many offensive rebounds and dug ourselves a hole we couldn’t get out of.”
The Lady Lions made the score closer in the fourth frame, making it a six-point game with 3:37 on the clock following a free throw by Fouch, and later with 1:36 left in regulation, Cannon sank a 3-pointer for a 60-52 deficit. At the 1:02 mark, Cannon again sank a trifecta to make it a five-point game at 60-55. Cannon scored the final points of the game with a 3-pointer.
Hamilton spoke about some players who stood out in the loss.
“Braylynn Haines did a really good job, and Emma Fouch took the ball to the basket and finished,” Hamilton said. “Trinity Huff came off the bench and played well for us, but overall we have to be smarter with the ball, take care of the ball better and do a much better job of boxing out in the future.”
Next for the Lady Lions is a road game at Northwest (Cincinnati) on Saturday, Jan. 19.
Even with all of the foul issues, as two starters had four fouls midway through the third frame, it was Fairfield who held a 21-17 lead at the completion of the first quarter as the Lady Lions saw Brianna Barnes score the first four points of the SHAC game. The Lady Lions eventually built a 6-2 lead following two points from Madison Bronner less than two minutes into the quarter.
Fayetteville answered with two points by Cecilia Murphy, but less than 20 seconds later, Fairfield’s Samara Cannon pushed the FHS lead to 8-4. Cannon played in limited time due to foul trouble and still led the Lady Lions with 17 points, including scoring seven points in the opening frame. Murphy led all scorers with 21 points, along with 11 steals and six assists.
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The Lady Rockets made it a one-point game with points from Murphy and Kelbee Coffman. The game continued to see each team answer each other nearly basket-for-basket, until FHS had the final points of the first with a bucket by Braylynn Haines for the 21-17 lead. Haines finished the game with five points.
As for that first frame, Fairfield also had four points from Trinity Huff, and Barnes collected eight points in the quarter. Fayetteville had six points from Murphy in the first, along with eight points by Olivia Crawford, two points by Hannah Wiederhold and the free throw by Coffman. Barnes finished with 12 points in the game, while Crawford totaled 20 points.
Both teams were no stranger to the scoreboard in the second frame, though this time Fairfield saw their lead evaporate to a 33-33 tied score at halftime.
“It was a good win. It’s one of the best wins we’ve had, especially a league game like that, and Fairfield already beat us at home,” Fayetteville head coach Toby Sheets said. “Coming here at Grandle Gymnasium, we haven’t fared well here the past few years, so the kids were jacked up for this one. They were all fired up. The bench was really supportive.
“They just had this drive tonight that I liked and want to keep seeing. We pushed the ball. We like fast basketball, but we got down early. It just seemed like shots started going for us, and then we couldn’t ice it with a free throw. We missed a lot of free throws. I thought we could have gotten a nicer lead, but we never gave up. The defense played really well. We played good defense and got them in foul trouble, which helped a bunch. We moved the ball well on offense.”
At one point early in the second frame, Fairfield increased their lead to 25-19 following a 3-pointer by Emma Fouch at the 6:54 mark. From there, though, Fayetteville got back to within three points of the lead, which included a put-back bucket by Coffman with 4:54 left in the first half. Fouch totaled eight points in the game, while Coffman finished with 13 points in the game.
Later in the quarter, the score was 28-26 in favor of the Lady Lions as Fayetteville scored four straight points. Those points were answered with a 3-pointer by Ella Newkirk, who sank the shot from the corner of the court for a 31-26 lead with 1:26 left in the frame. Newkirk totaled five points.
There were two free throws made by Huff — who finished with nine points — to extend the lead to seven points. That wasn’t the end of the scoring, though, as the Lady Rockets scored the final seven points of the quarter with a basket off a steal from Paige Lockwood. That was followed by another steal and layup, this time by Murphy, and for good measure Murphy equaled the feat with two points at the buzzer for the 33-33 score at halftime.
In the second half, Fayetteville took the lead with a 3-pointer by Coffman 19 seconds into the frame. From that point forward, the Lady Rockets never trailed for the remainder of the game, outscoring the Lady Lions, 18-7 in the third for a 51-40 lead.
“We didn’t change anything, but we moved some people around,” Sheets said. “We ran the same offense, we just moved some people in different locations. We moved Coffman to the perimeter. She hadn’t played there in the first half, and she hit some big buckets that gave us a little bit of a lead there. I was happy with the way the kids played with a lead. We have a tendency to get a little lead, then have a lull in scoring, but I thought we maintained the scoring throughout.
“Cecilia Murphy is playing well. She had a heck of a ball game. She was playing with an edge tonight.”
Fayetteville’s scoring in the third consisted of six points each from Murphy and Crawford, while Coffman made two treys in the quarter. Fairfield, in their seven-point third, had three points from Lauren Arnold and two points each by Fouch and Newkirk.
“We were shorthanded tonight with 13 players total for both games, so we had to try and manage our minutes, and getting in foul trouble certainly didn’t help,” Fairfield head coach Chad Hamilton said. “The first half, I was happy with how we played, other than the last couple minutes of the second where we had four or five turnovers in a row. We had about an eight-point lead with about a minute left in the first half.
“In the first half of the third quarter recently, we’ve had a real problem of digging ourselves a hole and trouble getting back. We hit a few shots at the end, but overall we had too many turnovers and let them have too many offensive rebounds and dug ourselves a hole we couldn’t get out of.”
The Lady Lions made the score closer in the fourth frame, making it a six-point game with 3:37 on the clock following a free throw by Fouch, and later with 1:36 left in regulation, Cannon sank a 3-pointer for a 60-52 deficit. At the 1:02 mark, Cannon again sank a trifecta to make it a five-point game at 60-55. Cannon scored the final points of the game with a 3-pointer.
Hamilton spoke about some players who stood out in the loss.
“Braylynn Haines did a really good job, and Emma Fouch took the ball to the basket and finished,” Hamilton said. “Trinity Huff came off the bench and played well for us, but overall we have to be smarter with the ball, take care of the ball better and do a much better job of boxing out in the future.”
Next for the Lady Lions is a road game at Northwest (Cincinnati) on Saturday, Jan. 19.