Lady Lions conclude season in district semifinals

JACKSON — Fairfield’s successful season on the court came to a close on Saturday afternoon during the Division IV District Semifinals at Jackson High School, as they were defeated by the Eastern Meigs Lady Eagles, 37-30.

Fairfield’s loss ends their season at 12-12 overall, an improvement over last season, and they also earned a sectional championship along the way during their path to the district round.

For the Lady Lions, they had their troubles shooting the basketball on Saturday, finishing 9-of-55 from the field and 6-of-32 in the paint. Even with having a tough day shooting the basketball, that can’t take away from their season of improvement.

They do lose one senior from the team in Macie Pauley. In her final game, Pauley totaled eight points.

“I can’t fault our effort,” FHS head coach Chad Hamilton said. “I feel that was our best defense we played all year. We really prepared for them and knew what they did, and it was by far the best we’ve boxed out all year.

“But at the end of the day, if you don’t make shots, you aren’t going to win in the district tournament, and that’s what we failed to do.”

At the conclusion of the first frame, the Lady Lions led by a 7-6 score, as Grace Shope was first to score a basket in the district semifinal game. Shope finished with a double-double, totaling 17 points and 15 rebounds. She was 5-of-7 from the free-throw line.

After the Lady Eagles tied the score, Fairfield added two more points from Shope at the 3:14 mark and later took the lead for the final time in the quarter with a 3-pointer by Pauley with 2:08 left in the first, as those were the final points scored by either team in the first frame for a 7-6 score.

Once the second quarter came to a close, the Lady Lions trailed by a 18-12 differential, as they were held to just five points in the second frame with those coming from Shope with a layup and put-back bucket and Briana Barnes with a basket sank from the free-throw line.

Fairfield trailed by seven points once the third frame came to a close, with Pauley scoring the first points of the third for FHS with two free throws at the 6:43 mark, cutting the Meigs lead down to six points.

Later, FHS trailed by 10 points, but that was cut down to seven points with 3:07 left in the third following a three-point play from Shope and later to six points with a free-throw conversion from Lauren Arnold at the 2:39 mark of the third.

As the quarter continued, Shope scored three consecutive points to make it a three-point game, only to see Meigs improve their lead to eight points with a layup on a full-court fast break and then a layup in the paint, then capped off with a 3-pointer with 33 seconds left in the quarter for a 29-21 advantage. FHS scored one point in the third off a free throw from Shope.

Both teams struggled in the fourth to gain scoring (neither team scored until the 4:17 mark of the quarter), with each team scoring eight points, as the Lady Lions’ points came from Shope, Trinity Huff, Barnes and a 3-pointer from Pauley with 45 seconds left in regulation to complete the FHS scoring for the game and season.

“It seemed like every time we would get close enough and need a big basket, they would hit a three,” Hamilton said. “In a game with teams scoring in the 30s, a 3-pointer is a big deal. We gave up a couple big threes, and we couldn’t counter.

“Sometimes we are a little out of control and we are hoping we are going to get bailed out, and that didn’t happen. It’s our own fault, at the end of the day, we just couldn’t score.”

Hamilton ended by speaking about the season.

“We certainly improved, and our goal was to get to the district tournament and to finish with a winning record, and we achieved one of those two,” he said. “Hopefully next year we have something to improve on.

“We are going to miss Macie Pauley. She’s our only senior and was a real blessing to us this year.”