Skip to main content

Lady ’Cats gain OT win against Lady Lions 

The Highland County Press - Staff Photo - Create Article
Whiteoak senior Lydia Carr shoots a basket while being defended by Fairfield's Kassi Miller. Carr collected her 500th career rebound in the win, as she had 12 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double. (HCP Photos/Stephen Forsha)
By
Stephen Forsha, The Highland County Press

LEESBURG – A late 3-pointer by the home team Fairfield Lady Lions pushed the game against the visiting Whiteoak Lady Wildcats into overtime on Thursday night. Though FHS was the team with the momentum going into OT, it was Whiteoak who battled and earned the Southern Hills Athletic Conference win by a 52-47 score at Grandle Gymnasium.

Going into the fourth frame, Whiteoak was holding on to a 36-33 lead, as WHS saw their nine-point halftime lead erased to just three points by the time the fourth frame arrived. 

“[Fairfield has] definitely been playing much better, so I knew it was going to be a game,” Whiteoak head coach Ron Harris said. “They struggled a little bit in the first part of the season, but so did we. They put a good game together, and their defense was pretty good. They handled our pressure, and we didn't get many turnovers on them.

“They played a really good game. We just happened to make just enough shots and just enough plays to pull it out.”

Fairfield made it a one-point deficit when Faith Donley — who totaled 10 points in the game — had the steal for a fast-break layup 29 seconds into the final quarter, for a 36-35 score. From there, Fairfield took a two-point lead off a 3-pointer by Kassi Miller, and later, with 5:55 left in the fourth, it was a free throw made by Kelsey Clark that pushed Fairfield into a three-point lead at 39-36. 

Clark led all scorers with 23 points in the win and also had 10 rebounds for a double-double. 

“We didn't actually have her in the first game [against Whiteoak], so it was nice,” Fairfield head coach Jennifer Blue said. “She's had a couple of bad games here lately, so we really worked with her on trying to get her mentally back into it. Today she had a heck of a game both offensively and defensively, and rebounding, and everything. She really picked it up for us today.”

The Lady ’Cats weren’t backing down by a long shot as they tied the game with 2:39 left in regulation with a 3-pointer by Jaylie Parr — as she led WHS with 20 points – as she connected the shot from the corner of the court.

WHS regained the lead with a 3-pointer at the 1:49 mark as Kylee Hamm sank a shot from beyond the arc for a 42-39 Whiteoak advantage. Hamm finished the game with 11 points. 

A one-handed shot from Rilee Quickle brought FHS back to within a point of WHS, but the Lady ’Cats answered with a jumper by Hamm with 54.4 for a three-point lead at 44-41. 

Clark put the game into overtime with a 3-pointer with 26 seconds on the fourth-quarter clock, tying the game at 44, and that’s where the score stood when time ran out for regulation.

“We're just trying to put four quarters together right now, instead of playing two or three,” Blue said. “That happens with an inexperienced young team, just like there in the fourth when we got the lead. 

“I’m teaching them how they’ve got to come out, and how aggressive they have to be from the start, and things like that. It's just growing pains, and we'll get there. We're just building, trying to get better.”

Again, it was Clark scoring points, as she was first to put points on the board in OT with a layup in the paint with 3:43 on the clock, only to have the feat answered by Lydia Carr with 3:22 left in OT for a 46-46 score. 

Carr totaled 12 points for WHS in the road win and had 10 rebounds for a double-double. According to Harris, Carr also collected her 500th career rebound during the game.

Fairfield regained the lead by a single point following a free throw made by Donley, but once again, Whiteoak answered with Addison Roberts making three of her next four free-throw opportunities, putting WHS in the lead at 51-47. Hamm followed by sinking one last free throw to give the Lady ’Cats a five-point lead to win the game. 

Other final scoring for WHS in the win came from Molly McMullen with five points and Roberts with four points. 

More final scoring for FHS included Quickle and Miller each with seven points. 

“I think in certain games, it's hard to come off the bench and match the intensity that was going on right there,” Harris said. “That’s not really a knock against the girls who subbed in, but when you sub in, in the second or third quarter after that game has been intense, it's hard to match it. I didn't feel like we could keep going deeper in the bench and still match the intensity that they were putting out there, so we had to rely on five or six girls to stay in the game the whole time. So for them to be able to fight that long, that's great.”

WHS held the lead at 14-9 when the first quarter closed, and at halftime WHS led 27-18 as Whiteoak outscored the Lady Lions 13-9 in the frame. 

In the first quarter for WHS, they had scoring from Parr (five), Hamm (five), McMullen (three) and Roberts (one). The WHS second frame included eight points by Carr (two 3-pointers) and five points from Parr (one 3-pointer). 

Whiteoak’s third frame saw them score nine points, with five points from Parr, and two points each scored by McMullen and Carr. 

Fairfield’s first half included a nine-point first quarter that saw Quickle sink a 3-pointer, Donley net four points and Clark sink a basket for two points. The nine points scored in the second frame by the home team Lady Lions saw seven points scored by Clark (including a 3-pointer) and two points from Quickle. 

Fairfield scored 15 points in the third (outscoring WHS 15-9) with eight points scored by Clark, four points scored by Miller and three points from Donley. 

The win by WHS improves them to 7-2 in the SHAC Division II standings and 12-5 overall. FHS moves to 3-6 in the SHAC Division II standings and 4-10 overall.