Heather Cox nets 1,000th career point in Lady Lions' win at Eastern
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
SARDINIA — Going into their game at Eastern Brown Thursday, the Fairfield Lady Lions had two goals in mind, one of which was to win the game, as they put together a sturdy second half for a 53-41 victory over the Lady Warriors.
Before the Lady Lions saw the game end, they achieved another goal that began four seasons ago, with senior post player Heather Cox scoring her 1,000th career point with 5:12 left in the second quarter.
The 1,000th point basket was scored when Cox leaped to the hoop while being defended by Eastern's Kyndall Sowders, releasing the ball toward the backboard and through the hoop for two points and exactly 1,000 points for her career, becoming the second Lady Lion player to achieve the feat.
"I'm very happy for Heather," FHS head coach Chad Hamilton said. "She's put the work in the offseason to get to be the player she is and deserves everything that she achieves."
Cox finished the game with 29 points and 13 rebounds, as she joined Kay Cummings (1982) as just the second FHS girls basketball player in the exclusive club. Cox is the fourth FHS basketball player (boys/girls) to score 1,000 points.
The senior has one more honor in sight … the girls all-time scoring mark, held by Cummings with 1,054 points. For her career, Cox has 1,018 points. Cox also has 828 career rebounds.
In her freshman season, Cox scored 45 points, followed with a sophomore year of 256 points and a junior season of 440 points. This season, Cox has totaled 277 points in 16 games.
Once Cox was presented with the game ball and her teammates congratulated her on the court, FHS trailed the host Lady Warriors by a 17-15 score, and by the time the second frame closed, the Lady Lions went into the half trailing 23-22.
Fairfield's final two quarters were a lot different than the first two, with the visitors outscoring EB, 31-18 in the final 16 minutes of play.
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"We got off to our normal slow start, but thankfully our defense picked up a little bit in the second half, and we finally started running the floor," Hamilton said. "Running and looking up the floor paid big dividends (Thursday).
"Our defense was sketchy at times. We are still giving up too many open shots, but once we got it into our heads we could pressure them by moving the ball up and down the floor, that's when things began to fall in place for us."
FHS opened the third with four consecutive points, including a jumper from Carly Arnold with 6:46 left in the third to put FHS ahead, 26-23. Arnold finished with five points.
Eastern responded with a jumper from Regan Inlow and 3-pointer by Lauren Towne to regain the lead with 5:11 left in the third. Towne led Eastern with 16 points.
That lead didn't last long with Cox and Kaitlin Evans scoring four consecutive points to move FHS back in front at 30-28, but the score was eventually tied two more times at 30 and 32, with Shelby Smithson tying the score at 32 for the Lady Lions.
Evans finished the game with 14 points, seven assists and five rebounds, while Smithson totaled five points.
Those two points by Smithson with under two minutes on the clock jump-started a 12-0 run by FHS, allowing the Lady Lions to build a 43-32 lead with 7:15 left in the third.
FHS never relinquished the lead, scoring 12 points in the fourth, while holding Eastern to nine points in the same quarter.
"At halftime, we just tried to emphasize to push the ball up the floor," Hamilton said. "The officials let us play (Thursday), which I really like a game being called like that, so we got to play a little more physical."
Also for the Lady Lions, Justice Hattan had five rebounds.
The Lady Lions will play again on Monday when they travel to Whiteoak.
Before the Lady Lions saw the game end, they achieved another goal that began four seasons ago, with senior post player Heather Cox scoring her 1,000th career point with 5:12 left in the second quarter.
The 1,000th point basket was scored when Cox leaped to the hoop while being defended by Eastern's Kyndall Sowders, releasing the ball toward the backboard and through the hoop for two points and exactly 1,000 points for her career, becoming the second Lady Lion player to achieve the feat.
"I'm very happy for Heather," FHS head coach Chad Hamilton said. "She's put the work in the offseason to get to be the player she is and deserves everything that she achieves."
Cox finished the game with 29 points and 13 rebounds, as she joined Kay Cummings (1982) as just the second FHS girls basketball player in the exclusive club. Cox is the fourth FHS basketball player (boys/girls) to score 1,000 points.
The senior has one more honor in sight … the girls all-time scoring mark, held by Cummings with 1,054 points. For her career, Cox has 1,018 points. Cox also has 828 career rebounds.
In her freshman season, Cox scored 45 points, followed with a sophomore year of 256 points and a junior season of 440 points. This season, Cox has totaled 277 points in 16 games.
Once Cox was presented with the game ball and her teammates congratulated her on the court, FHS trailed the host Lady Warriors by a 17-15 score, and by the time the second frame closed, the Lady Lions went into the half trailing 23-22.
Fairfield's final two quarters were a lot different than the first two, with the visitors outscoring EB, 31-18 in the final 16 minutes of play.
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"We got off to our normal slow start, but thankfully our defense picked up a little bit in the second half, and we finally started running the floor," Hamilton said. "Running and looking up the floor paid big dividends (Thursday).
"Our defense was sketchy at times. We are still giving up too many open shots, but once we got it into our heads we could pressure them by moving the ball up and down the floor, that's when things began to fall in place for us."
FHS opened the third with four consecutive points, including a jumper from Carly Arnold with 6:46 left in the third to put FHS ahead, 26-23. Arnold finished with five points.
Eastern responded with a jumper from Regan Inlow and 3-pointer by Lauren Towne to regain the lead with 5:11 left in the third. Towne led Eastern with 16 points.
That lead didn't last long with Cox and Kaitlin Evans scoring four consecutive points to move FHS back in front at 30-28, but the score was eventually tied two more times at 30 and 32, with Shelby Smithson tying the score at 32 for the Lady Lions.
Evans finished the game with 14 points, seven assists and five rebounds, while Smithson totaled five points.
Those two points by Smithson with under two minutes on the clock jump-started a 12-0 run by FHS, allowing the Lady Lions to build a 43-32 lead with 7:15 left in the third.
FHS never relinquished the lead, scoring 12 points in the fourth, while holding Eastern to nine points in the same quarter.
"At halftime, we just tried to emphasize to push the ball up the floor," Hamilton said. "The officials let us play (Thursday), which I really like a game being called like that, so we got to play a little more physical."
Also for the Lady Lions, Justice Hattan had five rebounds.
The Lady Lions will play again on Monday when they travel to Whiteoak.