Lady Lions bounce back with victory

LEESBURG — Following two tough losses in their past two games, the Fairfield Lady Lions got back on the winning side of the equation on Wednesday night, defeating the visiting Clermont Northeastern Lady Rockets, 49-29.

From the very start of the non-conference matchup, the Lady Lions (4-2) showed they were in control and would set the pace of the game, beginning with Macie Pauley drawing a charge 14 seconds into the game, followed by Pauley scoring the first points of the non-conference contest at the 6:35 mark.

Grace Shope and Blake Adams pushed FHS ahead by a 5-0 lead with points from the free-throw line, and later the score was 5-3 after the Lady Rockets scored points from the free-throw line, though it was CNE who had six fouls called in their direction with the first-quarter clock reading 4:26.

Adams gave the Lady Lions a four-point advantage with points off a turnover as Shope stole the ball with 4:01 left in the opening frame, and as the quarter continued, Shope scored a layup with 3:37 remaining on the scoreboard. She also made a free throw with 1:17 on the clock for a 12-8 advantage.

Shope finished with a game-high 14 points, as she was 6-of-7 from the free-throw line.

Abigail Newkirk added to the Lady Lions’ advantage with two points of her own, and Alexis Tate gave FHS a 16-8 lead with 15.5 left in the opening quarter following a layup. Newkirk ended the game with nine points.

“We had a couple tough opponents in our last two games, so it was nice to get a good win (Wednesday) and get back on track,” FHS head coach Chad Hamilton said. “Our defense, we’ve made it a point to get out and pressure and try to deny the wings, and we’ve really worked on practice to push the ball up the floor.

“That’s something we can work to improve on, and we tried to work on those things (Wednesday) and hopefully we got a little bit better at them.”

Going into the second quarter with a 16-11 advantage, Newkirk extended the Fairfield advantage with another two points, and later points were added by Carly Arnold, Tate and Pauley to eventually give FHS a halftime lead of 26-15, as they outscored the visitors, 10-4 in the quarter. Pauley totaled eight points in the non-conference victory.

Fairfield ran away with the game due to their play in the third frame, outscoring CNE, 17-10, with Shope netting eight points in the quarter. Trinity Huff added four points to the Lady Lions’ side of the scoreboard, as did Pauley, and Arnold sank a free throw in the third.

The fourth frame was also in favor of FHS, winning that quarter, 6-4, with the scoring including two free throws from Newkirk, a two-point basket by Huff and two free-throw conversions by Olivia Bobb.

“Alexis Tate, her defense really put a lot of pressure on their point guard, and that’s what she can do for us and is very good at it,” Hamilton said. “As a team, we didn’t shoot the ball well from the outside, and I didn’t think we boxed out well, but hopefully those are things we get better at in the future.”

For the game, FHS went 15-of-22 from the free-throw line, and the visiting Lady Rockets were 4-of-11. CNE was led in scoring by Lexie Walker with nine points.

The Lady Lions will play again on Thursday when they travel to Manchester for a Southern Hills Athletic Conference game.