Lady Lions advance to sectional semifinal
Lead Summary
By
The Highland County Press-
MCDERMITT — In their 21st game of the season, the first of the postseason, the Fairfield Lady Lions perhaps played their best game of the year. Scoring at least 11 points in each quarter, the Lady Lions advanced to the sectional semifinals with a 52-36 win Monday against Franklin Furnace-Green.
The wins put FHS in a game on Thursday, Feb. 16 at 6:15 p.m. as they will face the the No. 2-seeded Portsmouth Clay Lady Panthers at Northwest High School.
FHS has won three of the past four games, with wins over Whiteoak, Manchester and now Green.
As for Monday, the Lady Lions (5-16) were on a roll at the start, outscoring Green 13-3, followed by a second quarter of 15-9 for a halftime lead of 28-12.
In the third, the Lady Lions outscored GHS 13-9. In the fourth, as the Lady Lions played every player, they were outscored 15-11.
"Monday's game was about how our defense played," FHS head coach Matt Hodson said. "We pressured full-court from the start, since they only had seven players total. I told the girls every time we got a rebound or a steal, we were going to sprint to the other end.
"I really can't single one player out on defense because it was a total team effort on that end of the floor."
Leading the Lady Lions was sophomore Heather Cox with a double-double, scoring 10 points and grabbing 15 rebounds.
Sophomore Shelby Smithson also added a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Kaitlin Evans, a sophomore, led all scorers with 16 points, along with tallying seven rebounds, two assists and four steals.
[[In-content Ad]]FHS had a season-low 15 turnovers, while their defense forced Green to commit 38 turnovers, while out-rebounding GHS, 54-26. Of their 54 rebounds, 26 were offensive.
From the free-throw line, FHS was 8-of-21 (38 percent). From the floor, the Lady Lions shot 29 percent, shooting the ball 77 times. Green shot the ball just 35 times.
"We will have to shoot the ball better to have any shot at beating Clay on Thursday," Hodson said. "We had girls diving for loose balls, playing very good man-to-man defense. Maybe not getting a steal, but having a hand in the passing lane, causing Green to make difficult passes and creating turnovers for them.
"This was a big win for us. I can now say something I haven't said since the '10 season … we have a winning streak. I'm excited for the girls, they have worked so hard all year, and it is paying off here at the end of the season. I can't say enough about how much these girls have improved since the beginning of the season."
BOX SCORE
SCORE BY QUARTERS
GHS 03 09 09 15 — 36
FHS 13 15 13 11 — 52
INDIVIDUAL STATS
FHS (52)
K.Evans 7 2 16
L.Sowders 1 0 2
H.Bobb 2 1 5
J.Hattan 1 0 2
H.Cox 3 4 10
C.Sova-Davy 2 0 4
S.Smithson 6 1 13
TOTALS: 22 8 52
The wins put FHS in a game on Thursday, Feb. 16 at 6:15 p.m. as they will face the the No. 2-seeded Portsmouth Clay Lady Panthers at Northwest High School.
FHS has won three of the past four games, with wins over Whiteoak, Manchester and now Green.
As for Monday, the Lady Lions (5-16) were on a roll at the start, outscoring Green 13-3, followed by a second quarter of 15-9 for a halftime lead of 28-12.
In the third, the Lady Lions outscored GHS 13-9. In the fourth, as the Lady Lions played every player, they were outscored 15-11.
"Monday's game was about how our defense played," FHS head coach Matt Hodson said. "We pressured full-court from the start, since they only had seven players total. I told the girls every time we got a rebound or a steal, we were going to sprint to the other end.
"I really can't single one player out on defense because it was a total team effort on that end of the floor."
Leading the Lady Lions was sophomore Heather Cox with a double-double, scoring 10 points and grabbing 15 rebounds.
Sophomore Shelby Smithson also added a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Kaitlin Evans, a sophomore, led all scorers with 16 points, along with tallying seven rebounds, two assists and four steals.
[[In-content Ad]]FHS had a season-low 15 turnovers, while their defense forced Green to commit 38 turnovers, while out-rebounding GHS, 54-26. Of their 54 rebounds, 26 were offensive.
From the free-throw line, FHS was 8-of-21 (38 percent). From the floor, the Lady Lions shot 29 percent, shooting the ball 77 times. Green shot the ball just 35 times.
"We will have to shoot the ball better to have any shot at beating Clay on Thursday," Hodson said. "We had girls diving for loose balls, playing very good man-to-man defense. Maybe not getting a steal, but having a hand in the passing lane, causing Green to make difficult passes and creating turnovers for them.
"This was a big win for us. I can now say something I haven't said since the '10 season … we have a winning streak. I'm excited for the girls, they have worked so hard all year, and it is paying off here at the end of the season. I can't say enough about how much these girls have improved since the beginning of the season."
BOX SCORE
SCORE BY QUARTERS
GHS 03 09 09 15 — 36
FHS 13 15 13 11 — 52
INDIVIDUAL STATS
FHS (52)
K.Evans 7 2 16
L.Sowders 1 0 2
H.Bobb 2 1 5
J.Hattan 1 0 2
H.Cox 3 4 10
C.Sova-Davy 2 0 4
S.Smithson 6 1 13
TOTALS: 22 8 52