Lady Lions clinch share of Div. II SHAC championship; Shope takes all-time scoring mark
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
RIPLEY — History was made on two occasions Monday night, as the Fairfield Lady Lions clinched no less than a share of their first conference basketball championship and senior Grace Shope became the all-time basketball leading scorer in school history.
Shope passed Nathan Van Winkle in the all-time leading scorer category in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference game at Ripley High School, netting 24 points, as she surpassed the former mark of 1,543 points with 1:41 left in the fourth quarter as she scored two points in the paint off a pass from Samara Cannon.
The senior all-time point leader Shope spoke about the feat following the game.
“I want to thank my family and most importantly my team,” Shope told The Highland County Press. “Obviously, I can’t be making that many points if it isn’t for them, and my coaches throughout all the years, especially (Coach Hamilton). He’s helped me a lot, and thank you to everybody who’s helped me with everything along the way.”
Speaking of the SHAC, the conference, which began in 1969, now belongs in part to the Lady Lions for the first time in program history, as what was a 59-36 win over Ripley secured no less than a share of the Division II conference championship. A win on Thursday by the Lady Lions vs. West Union will give the Lady Lions the outright Division II title.
“This is a very big deal,” Fairfield head coach Chad Hamilton said of the Lady Lions’ first SHAC Division II championship. “I credit (the championship) to our girls on this team who’ve put the work in, and they know what it takes. They’re an unselfish group, they get along great and I’m very happy for them, but this is a very big deal for our program. Hopefully we can keep it up going forward.
“The last three years, we’ve made improvements every year. We’re at 13-4 (this season), which is a little bit better than what I imagined. I’m really happy. The hard work is finally playing off.”
Getting to that point at Ripley wasn’t as easy as the final score may seem. In fact, the Lady Lions led by just two points at halftime at 20-18 after being outscored 13-9 in the second quarter. Even in the early stages of the third, the Lady Lions and Lady Blue Jays were tied at 20.
“The first half was really ugly. We didn’t really get into an offensive groove at all, couldn’t make an open shot and really had plenty of them,” Hamilton said. “Their defensive game plan was obviously to take Grace out of the game offensively, and they had her frustrated at times, but we’ve got to step up and make shots.
“The second half was much better. We ran a few sets and finally started getting the ball in the middle to Brianna Barnes. She was able to convert some easy ones, and that sort of opened things up for us.”
In the first half, Shope scored 13 of her 24 points, but the scoring for the Lady Lions began with an 8-0 run with the first points of the SHAC contest by Blake Adams, who finished with nine points. Those points were followed with six straight points by Shope for a lead of 8-0 with 3:09 left on the clock.
Ripley scored their first two points at the 2:57 mark of the first and eventually made the score 8-5 at the 2:20 mark. From there, the Lady Lions had a free throw by Adams and a layup by Lyndee Spargur for the 11-5 score to end the first frame.
Fairfield’s second frame was their toughest quarter of the game as they were outscored 13-9 with their lead going down to two points at the 6:17 mark of the frame, and later at the 4:14 mark, with RHS scoring five straight points for a 16-14 score.
Following a timeout by the Lady Lions, Shope scored off a steal and layup at the 3:45 mark for her 13th point of the game.
From there, the Lady Blue Jays added two free throws, only to have Adams put FHS back in front by four points with 2:41 left in the quarter. Ripley finished the first-half scoring with points in the paint by Emily King for the 20-18 halftime score.
RHS tied the score with 7:15 left in the third at 20-20 off two more inside points by King, but 14 seconds later, a jumper from the corner by Samara Cannon and later two free throw conversions also by Cannon put the Lady Lions in front at 24-20.
King finished with 10 points, and for the game, the Lady Blue Jays were led by Carlee Daulton with 11 points.
FHS built their lead to eight points with a put-back basket by Shope, two free throws by Cannon, a layup by Adams and later a put-back basket by Barnes and a 3-pointer by Cannon for a 35-26 advantage with around 1:00 left in the third. Barnes made it a 37-26 score with a put-back bucket at the buzzer. Cannon totaled 12 points in the win, and Barnes totaled 10 points for FHS.
In the fourth frame, Barnes was first to score with a layup, and following a 3-pointer by Cannon, the Lady Lions led by 16 points with 7:30 left in the game.
After two points by the host Lady Blue Jays, Barnes scored four straight points and Shope made a free throw for a 47-28 advantage for the Lady Lions. As the game continued, RHS sank a 3-pointer, only to be answered with a bucket from Kamryn Magee and eight straight points by Shope, including her aforementioned record-breaking basket for a 20-point lead at 53-33.
FHS ended their game with six more points to end the game how they began it, with two points from Adams capping off the first conference championship in program history.
“Samara hit a couple threes, and that really opened things up, because with her passing and dribbling around, she’s surveying the floor and she finds the open man,” Hamilton said. “When she makes shots and Barnes makes shots, and Grace is going to get hers every night, we’re going to be tough to beat if we’re firing on all cylinders.”
Check back to highlandcountypress.com Tuesday for a feature on Shope.
Shope passed Nathan Van Winkle in the all-time leading scorer category in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference game at Ripley High School, netting 24 points, as she surpassed the former mark of 1,543 points with 1:41 left in the fourth quarter as she scored two points in the paint off a pass from Samara Cannon.
The senior all-time point leader Shope spoke about the feat following the game.
“I want to thank my family and most importantly my team,” Shope told The Highland County Press. “Obviously, I can’t be making that many points if it isn’t for them, and my coaches throughout all the years, especially (Coach Hamilton). He’s helped me a lot, and thank you to everybody who’s helped me with everything along the way.”
Speaking of the SHAC, the conference, which began in 1969, now belongs in part to the Lady Lions for the first time in program history, as what was a 59-36 win over Ripley secured no less than a share of the Division II conference championship. A win on Thursday by the Lady Lions vs. West Union will give the Lady Lions the outright Division II title.
“This is a very big deal,” Fairfield head coach Chad Hamilton said of the Lady Lions’ first SHAC Division II championship. “I credit (the championship) to our girls on this team who’ve put the work in, and they know what it takes. They’re an unselfish group, they get along great and I’m very happy for them, but this is a very big deal for our program. Hopefully we can keep it up going forward.
“The last three years, we’ve made improvements every year. We’re at 13-4 (this season), which is a little bit better than what I imagined. I’m really happy. The hard work is finally playing off.”
Getting to that point at Ripley wasn’t as easy as the final score may seem. In fact, the Lady Lions led by just two points at halftime at 20-18 after being outscored 13-9 in the second quarter. Even in the early stages of the third, the Lady Lions and Lady Blue Jays were tied at 20.
“The first half was really ugly. We didn’t really get into an offensive groove at all, couldn’t make an open shot and really had plenty of them,” Hamilton said. “Their defensive game plan was obviously to take Grace out of the game offensively, and they had her frustrated at times, but we’ve got to step up and make shots.
“The second half was much better. We ran a few sets and finally started getting the ball in the middle to Brianna Barnes. She was able to convert some easy ones, and that sort of opened things up for us.”
In the first half, Shope scored 13 of her 24 points, but the scoring for the Lady Lions began with an 8-0 run with the first points of the SHAC contest by Blake Adams, who finished with nine points. Those points were followed with six straight points by Shope for a lead of 8-0 with 3:09 left on the clock.
Ripley scored their first two points at the 2:57 mark of the first and eventually made the score 8-5 at the 2:20 mark. From there, the Lady Lions had a free throw by Adams and a layup by Lyndee Spargur for the 11-5 score to end the first frame.
Fairfield’s second frame was their toughest quarter of the game as they were outscored 13-9 with their lead going down to two points at the 6:17 mark of the frame, and later at the 4:14 mark, with RHS scoring five straight points for a 16-14 score.
Following a timeout by the Lady Lions, Shope scored off a steal and layup at the 3:45 mark for her 13th point of the game.
From there, the Lady Blue Jays added two free throws, only to have Adams put FHS back in front by four points with 2:41 left in the quarter. Ripley finished the first-half scoring with points in the paint by Emily King for the 20-18 halftime score.
RHS tied the score with 7:15 left in the third at 20-20 off two more inside points by King, but 14 seconds later, a jumper from the corner by Samara Cannon and later two free throw conversions also by Cannon put the Lady Lions in front at 24-20.
King finished with 10 points, and for the game, the Lady Blue Jays were led by Carlee Daulton with 11 points.
FHS built their lead to eight points with a put-back basket by Shope, two free throws by Cannon, a layup by Adams and later a put-back basket by Barnes and a 3-pointer by Cannon for a 35-26 advantage with around 1:00 left in the third. Barnes made it a 37-26 score with a put-back bucket at the buzzer. Cannon totaled 12 points in the win, and Barnes totaled 10 points for FHS.
In the fourth frame, Barnes was first to score with a layup, and following a 3-pointer by Cannon, the Lady Lions led by 16 points with 7:30 left in the game.
After two points by the host Lady Blue Jays, Barnes scored four straight points and Shope made a free throw for a 47-28 advantage for the Lady Lions. As the game continued, RHS sank a 3-pointer, only to be answered with a bucket from Kamryn Magee and eight straight points by Shope, including her aforementioned record-breaking basket for a 20-point lead at 53-33.
FHS ended their game with six more points to end the game how they began it, with two points from Adams capping off the first conference championship in program history.
“Samara hit a couple threes, and that really opened things up, because with her passing and dribbling around, she’s surveying the floor and she finds the open man,” Hamilton said. “When she makes shots and Barnes makes shots, and Grace is going to get hers every night, we’re going to be tough to beat if we’re firing on all cylinders.”
Check back to highlandcountypress.com Tuesday for a feature on Shope.