Fairfield Lady Lions hand McClain first loss of season
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
GREENFIELD — The Fairfield Lady Lions achieved a feat on Saturday that seven opponents before them hadn’t been able to accomplish against the McClain Lady Tigers, and that was hand the hosts their first defeat of the season.
Fairfield used their zone defense, they used four players scoring at least 10 points apiece, and they used points in transition to earn the 64-45 victory at McClain High School against the Lady Tigers. Fairfield win improves them to 7-2 overall, and the Lady Tigers are now 7-1 on the season.
FHS head coach Chad Hamilton spoke about the win.
“We switched our lineup. We went with a different starting lineup — a little smaller, a little quicker — and I think that paid big dividends for us,” Hamilton said. “[Faith Donley] hasn’t got on the floor too much, but man, she’s a worker. She brings a lot of positive energy, and she’s quick. She can jump, she can play defense, so she’s a great athlete. To put her at the top of that 1-to-2, she really helped us a lot there.”
The first half was played very closely, as it was Fairfield who led by a 11-10 score after eight minutes of action. The Lady Lions scored first with a jumper by Ella Newkirk, though that basket was answered by a 3-pointer by Jaelyn Pitzer. Twenty seconds later, it was a basket by Bri Weller that pushed McClain’s lead to 5-2 two minutes into the game.
Newkirk finished with a team-high 17 points, as she totaled seven two-point baskets and made one 3-pointer.
Fairfield went on to score eight of the next 10 points put on the scoreboard with Braylynn Haines sinking two free throws, followed by a jumper by McClain’s Iva Easter. Fairfield answered with the next six points with two free throws by Emma Fouch and a turnaround basket by Haines, then it was Fouch again with points, this time knocking down a 3-pointer with 1:10 on the clock for a lead of 11-7 in favor of the Lady Lions.
Fouch totaled 14 points, and teammate Haines also had 14 points for the Lady Lions. Haines finished with a double-double, as she also collected 13 rebounds. Also in double-figure scoring for FHS was Bronner with 10 points.
“Our normal starting five, we feel like any one of those girls honestly can get 15 to 20 a night. Sometimes that’s difficult, trying to distribute shots when you’ve got five pretty good players, and try to go with what the numbers tell you,” Hamilton said. “Tonight, I tell you what, I think Ella Newkirk played the smartest game I’ve ever seen her play. I told her that she was by far the MVP tonight, just making good decisions. She knew when to drive, when to penetrate, and she finished. She played a great, great game.”
McClain ended the first frame with a three-point play by Pryor, to make it a one-point difference on the scoreboard at 11-10.
“We had some missed defensive assignments, not knowing who we’re guarding. They had a couple fast break layups with no help side,” McClain head coach Jarrod Haines said. “Those are things we can clean up. That’s the best part of this. There’s things we can get better at.
“We can control what we can control. Some things didn’t go our way out there, and it’s nothing we can control. We’ve just got to keep fighting through it and being strong.”
The second frame saw McClain hold the lead when halftime arrived at 23-22, and it was Pitzer who got the second-quarter scoring going with a three-point play for the Lady Tigers less than two minutes into the second frame.
Bronner answered with an under-handed toss to the hoop for two points, and Haines scored two points in the paint as well for an FHS lead of 15-13. McClain tied the score at 15 points each with Weller scoring a bucket, only to see Fouch sink a free throw to put Fairfield back in front by a point with 3:37 left in the second quarter.
McClain had an answer, and her name was Josie Crabtree. She scored a 3-pointer from the corner of the court, making the score more favorable for the Lady Tigers at 18-16 with 3:05 remaining in the first half.
Fairfield’s Newkirk equaled the feat of Crabtree with a 3-pointer, but as the quarter continued, there was a 3-pointer by Kyla Burchett of MHS, plus a layup by Evelyn Vanzant, for a 23-19 advantage for MHS.
Fairfield scored the final three points of the second with a put-back by Haines and then later a converted free throw for a one-point differential, this time with McClain leading at 23-22 at the end of the quarter.
“I thought in the first half we had some guards come in and get the ball to the corner, and we had some clutch threes. Kyla’s was one of those, Pitzer, Crabtree. We hit some big shots. I just thought we looked like a totally different team in the second half,” Haines said. “I don’t know if that’s you lose a spark like Iva (she was injured in the first quarter) and we don’t have that to go to? I think that hurt us more than what we think.
“The kids didn’t quit. They kept playing hard and going at it, which we expect that from our kids.”
From the time halftime began to the whistle sounding to start the third frame, the Lady Lions became a whole new team so to speak, as they went from trailing by a point to leading by 12 points for a 35-23 advantage with 5:15 left in the quarter. FHS outscored McClain, 27-12 in the quarter.
“I said [at halftime] hey, I don’t want to keep you in here long. You guys know what you did wrong. They got away from us in the corners, and they probably hit four threes from the corner,” Hamilton said. “You know what you’ve got to fix. I said our execution was a little sloppy there in the second quarter. They’re bringing that pressure out, so hey, bear down, handle it, execute and fix your problems on D, and we’ll be OK.”
What became a 13-0 run to start the third involved not only the offense of the Lady Lions, but their defense as well, as the physically played game saw Fairfield speed up the pace of the game with points in transition, plus take advantage of some second-chance opportunities.
Haines opened the third with a put-back basket, and the scoring run continued with a layup by Newkirk, then a steal and basket by Faith Donley at the 7:08 mark of the third for a 28-23 Fairfield lead, forcing McClain to call a timeout.
Right after the timeout was complete, the Lady Lions forced a turnover, and though no points were scored, later in the third Fairfield added to their lead with a steal and layup by Newkirk, then a jumper by Newkirk as well made the Fairfield lead improve to 32-23 with the scoreboard reading 5:29.
Fairfield scored their final points of the 13-point run with a three-point play by Peyton Magee as she grabbed the rebound, went on a fast break and sank the shot while being fouled.
McClain’s Pryor put an end to the scoring run of Fairfield, as MHS scored six of the next nine points in the quarter. Following Pryor’s points, Fouch sank a 3-pointer at the 3:55 mark of the frame, then it was two points by Emma Stegbauer and a layup by Weller than made it a nine-point differential for the Lady Tigers at 38-29.
McClain and Fairfield each made one more 3-pointer in the third with Burchett and Haines each sinking the trey, but eventually another steal and layup by Newkirk, and other points in the frame, left the Lady Lions ahead of their Highland County counterpart at 49-35 after three frames.
Fairfield never trailed in the final frame, as they outscored the Lady Tigers 15-10 en route to the 19-point win.
In the fourth quarter for FHS, the scoring came from Newkirk, Fouch, Magee, Donley and Bronner. McClain’s fourth-quarter scoring was by Weller, Pryor and Stegbauer.
Weller led MHS with 11 points, and next in the scoring column were Pryor (10 rebounds) and Burchett with eight points each. Pitzer totaled six points, while the remainder of the MHS scoring included Stegbauer with four points, Crabtree with three points and with two points each were Vanzant and Easter (who was injured during the game in the first quarter). Rounding out the MHS scoring was Madi Sykes with one point.
More final total scoring for Fairfield included five points by Magee and four points from Donley.
“(McClain) always does a great job. Jarrod’s a great coach and they take care of the ball, so to get 19 turnovers out of them, and more importantly than that, we capitalized on them, a lot of them in transition, so I was really happy with our girls tonight,” Hamilton said.
At the free-throw line MHS was 5-of-10, while Fairfield finished 8-of-12.
Next for Fairfield is a nonconference game against Washington Monday, Jan. 4 at FHS.
The Lady Tigers will play again on Wednesday, Jan. 6 at McClain, as they host Chillicothe.
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Fairfield used their zone defense, they used four players scoring at least 10 points apiece, and they used points in transition to earn the 64-45 victory at McClain High School against the Lady Tigers. Fairfield win improves them to 7-2 overall, and the Lady Tigers are now 7-1 on the season.
FHS head coach Chad Hamilton spoke about the win.
“We switched our lineup. We went with a different starting lineup — a little smaller, a little quicker — and I think that paid big dividends for us,” Hamilton said. “[Faith Donley] hasn’t got on the floor too much, but man, she’s a worker. She brings a lot of positive energy, and she’s quick. She can jump, she can play defense, so she’s a great athlete. To put her at the top of that 1-to-2, she really helped us a lot there.”
The first half was played very closely, as it was Fairfield who led by a 11-10 score after eight minutes of action. The Lady Lions scored first with a jumper by Ella Newkirk, though that basket was answered by a 3-pointer by Jaelyn Pitzer. Twenty seconds later, it was a basket by Bri Weller that pushed McClain’s lead to 5-2 two minutes into the game.
Newkirk finished with a team-high 17 points, as she totaled seven two-point baskets and made one 3-pointer.
Fairfield went on to score eight of the next 10 points put on the scoreboard with Braylynn Haines sinking two free throws, followed by a jumper by McClain’s Iva Easter. Fairfield answered with the next six points with two free throws by Emma Fouch and a turnaround basket by Haines, then it was Fouch again with points, this time knocking down a 3-pointer with 1:10 on the clock for a lead of 11-7 in favor of the Lady Lions.
Fouch totaled 14 points, and teammate Haines also had 14 points for the Lady Lions. Haines finished with a double-double, as she also collected 13 rebounds. Also in double-figure scoring for FHS was Bronner with 10 points.
“Our normal starting five, we feel like any one of those girls honestly can get 15 to 20 a night. Sometimes that’s difficult, trying to distribute shots when you’ve got five pretty good players, and try to go with what the numbers tell you,” Hamilton said. “Tonight, I tell you what, I think Ella Newkirk played the smartest game I’ve ever seen her play. I told her that she was by far the MVP tonight, just making good decisions. She knew when to drive, when to penetrate, and she finished. She played a great, great game.”
McClain ended the first frame with a three-point play by Pryor, to make it a one-point difference on the scoreboard at 11-10.
“We had some missed defensive assignments, not knowing who we’re guarding. They had a couple fast break layups with no help side,” McClain head coach Jarrod Haines said. “Those are things we can clean up. That’s the best part of this. There’s things we can get better at.
“We can control what we can control. Some things didn’t go our way out there, and it’s nothing we can control. We’ve just got to keep fighting through it and being strong.”
The second frame saw McClain hold the lead when halftime arrived at 23-22, and it was Pitzer who got the second-quarter scoring going with a three-point play for the Lady Tigers less than two minutes into the second frame.
Bronner answered with an under-handed toss to the hoop for two points, and Haines scored two points in the paint as well for an FHS lead of 15-13. McClain tied the score at 15 points each with Weller scoring a bucket, only to see Fouch sink a free throw to put Fairfield back in front by a point with 3:37 left in the second quarter.
McClain had an answer, and her name was Josie Crabtree. She scored a 3-pointer from the corner of the court, making the score more favorable for the Lady Tigers at 18-16 with 3:05 remaining in the first half.
Fairfield’s Newkirk equaled the feat of Crabtree with a 3-pointer, but as the quarter continued, there was a 3-pointer by Kyla Burchett of MHS, plus a layup by Evelyn Vanzant, for a 23-19 advantage for MHS.
Fairfield scored the final three points of the second with a put-back by Haines and then later a converted free throw for a one-point differential, this time with McClain leading at 23-22 at the end of the quarter.
“I thought in the first half we had some guards come in and get the ball to the corner, and we had some clutch threes. Kyla’s was one of those, Pitzer, Crabtree. We hit some big shots. I just thought we looked like a totally different team in the second half,” Haines said. “I don’t know if that’s you lose a spark like Iva (she was injured in the first quarter) and we don’t have that to go to? I think that hurt us more than what we think.
“The kids didn’t quit. They kept playing hard and going at it, which we expect that from our kids.”
From the time halftime began to the whistle sounding to start the third frame, the Lady Lions became a whole new team so to speak, as they went from trailing by a point to leading by 12 points for a 35-23 advantage with 5:15 left in the quarter. FHS outscored McClain, 27-12 in the quarter.
“I said [at halftime] hey, I don’t want to keep you in here long. You guys know what you did wrong. They got away from us in the corners, and they probably hit four threes from the corner,” Hamilton said. “You know what you’ve got to fix. I said our execution was a little sloppy there in the second quarter. They’re bringing that pressure out, so hey, bear down, handle it, execute and fix your problems on D, and we’ll be OK.”
What became a 13-0 run to start the third involved not only the offense of the Lady Lions, but their defense as well, as the physically played game saw Fairfield speed up the pace of the game with points in transition, plus take advantage of some second-chance opportunities.
Haines opened the third with a put-back basket, and the scoring run continued with a layup by Newkirk, then a steal and basket by Faith Donley at the 7:08 mark of the third for a 28-23 Fairfield lead, forcing McClain to call a timeout.
Right after the timeout was complete, the Lady Lions forced a turnover, and though no points were scored, later in the third Fairfield added to their lead with a steal and layup by Newkirk, then a jumper by Newkirk as well made the Fairfield lead improve to 32-23 with the scoreboard reading 5:29.
Fairfield scored their final points of the 13-point run with a three-point play by Peyton Magee as she grabbed the rebound, went on a fast break and sank the shot while being fouled.
McClain’s Pryor put an end to the scoring run of Fairfield, as MHS scored six of the next nine points in the quarter. Following Pryor’s points, Fouch sank a 3-pointer at the 3:55 mark of the frame, then it was two points by Emma Stegbauer and a layup by Weller than made it a nine-point differential for the Lady Tigers at 38-29.
McClain and Fairfield each made one more 3-pointer in the third with Burchett and Haines each sinking the trey, but eventually another steal and layup by Newkirk, and other points in the frame, left the Lady Lions ahead of their Highland County counterpart at 49-35 after three frames.
Fairfield never trailed in the final frame, as they outscored the Lady Tigers 15-10 en route to the 19-point win.
In the fourth quarter for FHS, the scoring came from Newkirk, Fouch, Magee, Donley and Bronner. McClain’s fourth-quarter scoring was by Weller, Pryor and Stegbauer.
Weller led MHS with 11 points, and next in the scoring column were Pryor (10 rebounds) and Burchett with eight points each. Pitzer totaled six points, while the remainder of the MHS scoring included Stegbauer with four points, Crabtree with three points and with two points each were Vanzant and Easter (who was injured during the game in the first quarter). Rounding out the MHS scoring was Madi Sykes with one point.
More final total scoring for Fairfield included five points by Magee and four points from Donley.
“(McClain) always does a great job. Jarrod’s a great coach and they take care of the ball, so to get 19 turnovers out of them, and more importantly than that, we capitalized on them, a lot of them in transition, so I was really happy with our girls tonight,” Hamilton said.
At the free-throw line MHS was 5-of-10, while Fairfield finished 8-of-12.
Next for Fairfield is a nonconference game against Washington Monday, Jan. 4 at FHS.
The Lady Tigers will play again on Wednesday, Jan. 6 at McClain, as they host Chillicothe.
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