Lady Lions rally not enough for win vs. Ripley
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
LEESBURG — Trailing by 10 points on more than one occasion in the fourth quarter, the Fairfield Lady Lions rallied and pushed their opponent, the Ripley Lady Blue Jays, to the brink but were unable to defend their home court once the final buzzer sounded.
In fact, the aforementioned rally by the Lady Lions in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference matchup saw them outscore RHS, 20-13 in the fourth, and they had the final opportunity to tie the game with a 3-pointer in what was a 49-46 loss Monday at Grandle Gymnasium.
The loss sends the Lady Lions to 6-12 overall and 3-8 in the SHAC. RHS moves to 4-6 in the SHAC and 7-12 on the year.
Entering the fourth trailing 36-26, the Lady Lions did all they could to battle back, beginning with two free throws by Grace Shope. Shope had a game-high 20 points in the win, scoring 12 of her 20 points in the fourth frame.
Shope's two free throws were followed by two points from Kacy Gilkerson. Those points were answered with a layup by Fairfield senior Justice Hattan to make it a 38-30 deficit, only to see Gilkerson come back with 6:56 left in regulation to make it a 10-point game once again.
Hattan, who totaled five points in the loss, came back around the 5:00 mark, making a free throw, but with 4:25 on the scoreboard, the Lady 'Jays had two points through the hoop from Haley Payne to move the lead to nine points.
After the bucket by RHS, it was Fairfield who gained all the momentum, scoring 10 straight points from Hattan, Kaitlin Evans (who finished with 15 points) and Shope.
Shope converted a three-point play with 2:04 left in the SHAC game to get to within one point of RHS.
RHS eventually built a three-point lead, but a jumper by Carly Arnold just shy of a 3-pointer brought FHS to within a single point of the lead with 37 seconds remaining.
Again, RHS built another three-point lead with shots from the free-throw line, but Shope was there to keep the score close with a 3-pointer with 4.5 seconds left in the SHAC game.
After being fouled, RHS made two free throws to make it a three-point game again. FHS had one shot left, but it was short from half court as the final buzzer sounded.
[[In-content Ad]]"We dug ourselves too big of a hole by sleepwalking through most of the game," FHS head coach Chad Hodson said. "We finally started making some shots down the stretch to close the gap, but it was too little too late. Turnovers continue to be a big problem for us."
FHS, unofficially, had 15 turnovers.
The first frame was the closest quarter played of all four, with RHS leading 10-9 after eight minutes. The first saw FHS lead for the only time in the game, taking the lead with a jumper by Shope, making the score 7-5 with 1:49 on the clock.
FHS was outscored in the next two frames, with RHS leading the second at 14-11 for a 24-20 halftime lead. In the third. the Lady 'Jays took the quarter, 12-6.
Also scoring points in the FHS loss was Olivia Bobb with four points, all in the third.
For RHS, their leading scorer was Alayna Blackburn with 14 points, and Payne finished with 11 points.
In fact, the aforementioned rally by the Lady Lions in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference matchup saw them outscore RHS, 20-13 in the fourth, and they had the final opportunity to tie the game with a 3-pointer in what was a 49-46 loss Monday at Grandle Gymnasium.
The loss sends the Lady Lions to 6-12 overall and 3-8 in the SHAC. RHS moves to 4-6 in the SHAC and 7-12 on the year.
Entering the fourth trailing 36-26, the Lady Lions did all they could to battle back, beginning with two free throws by Grace Shope. Shope had a game-high 20 points in the win, scoring 12 of her 20 points in the fourth frame.
Shope's two free throws were followed by two points from Kacy Gilkerson. Those points were answered with a layup by Fairfield senior Justice Hattan to make it a 38-30 deficit, only to see Gilkerson come back with 6:56 left in regulation to make it a 10-point game once again.
Hattan, who totaled five points in the loss, came back around the 5:00 mark, making a free throw, but with 4:25 on the scoreboard, the Lady 'Jays had two points through the hoop from Haley Payne to move the lead to nine points.
After the bucket by RHS, it was Fairfield who gained all the momentum, scoring 10 straight points from Hattan, Kaitlin Evans (who finished with 15 points) and Shope.
Shope converted a three-point play with 2:04 left in the SHAC game to get to within one point of RHS.
RHS eventually built a three-point lead, but a jumper by Carly Arnold just shy of a 3-pointer brought FHS to within a single point of the lead with 37 seconds remaining.
Again, RHS built another three-point lead with shots from the free-throw line, but Shope was there to keep the score close with a 3-pointer with 4.5 seconds left in the SHAC game.
After being fouled, RHS made two free throws to make it a three-point game again. FHS had one shot left, but it was short from half court as the final buzzer sounded.
[[In-content Ad]]"We dug ourselves too big of a hole by sleepwalking through most of the game," FHS head coach Chad Hodson said. "We finally started making some shots down the stretch to close the gap, but it was too little too late. Turnovers continue to be a big problem for us."
FHS, unofficially, had 15 turnovers.
The first frame was the closest quarter played of all four, with RHS leading 10-9 after eight minutes. The first saw FHS lead for the only time in the game, taking the lead with a jumper by Shope, making the score 7-5 with 1:49 on the clock.
FHS was outscored in the next two frames, with RHS leading the second at 14-11 for a 24-20 halftime lead. In the third. the Lady 'Jays took the quarter, 12-6.
Also scoring points in the FHS loss was Olivia Bobb with four points, all in the third.
For RHS, their leading scorer was Alayna Blackburn with 14 points, and Payne finished with 11 points.