Lady Lions defeat Highland County rival Whiteoak

LEESBURG — The Fairfield Lady Lions and Whiteoak Lady Wildcats struggled to make shots fall in the first half Thursday evening, but the second half proved to be better in the scoring column for both teams, as ultimately the host Lady Lions defeated the visiting Lady Wildcats, 42-33 at Grandle Gymnasium. 

The game was also senior night for the Lady Lions, as seniors Rilee Quickle and Jaeden Drury were honored before the game. 

Once the game began, the Lady Lions and Lady ’Cats battled to a one-point differential at 7-6 once the first frame ended, with the score being tied three times at 2-2, 4-4 and 6-6. Whiteoak forced the tied score twice at 2-2 following a basket by Jillian Lucas and later at 4-4 off a drive and layup by Libby Webster. 

Fairfield tied the score at six points each when Landyn Hodson sank a jumper with 1:35 left in the quarter. WHS took the one-point lead with 21.0 on the clock following a free throw made by Webster. 

WHS scored four points in the second frame, and Fairfield added three points for an 11-9 score at halftime. Whiteoak had a free throw made by Ella Howard, and she followed that with a 3-pointer with 3:29 on the clock for an 11-6 Whiteoak lead. Fairfield’s second-quarter points were a basket made by Vivian Henninger at the 3:14 mark and a free throw made by Paisley Stahlhut with 48.4 left in the quarter. 

The action improved in the third frame as Fairfield built a 30-19 lead when the quarter came to a close, winning the frame at 21-8. 

“It was rough from the get-go for us,” FHS head coach Jennifer Blue said. “This was our third game in four days, so the girls were starting to feel it in their legs and things like that. You could tell by our shots, and we weren’t hitting anything tonight. We couldn’t hit inside or outside. The girls kept powering through, and we were just lucky to get the win at the end. 

“We weren’t even allowed to practice last week because of no school, no practice, so it was a lot. The girls lost some conditioning, and they really had to bring that up this week.”

WHS struck first with a bucket by Howard, but the Lady Lions came alive with a 15-0 run from the 6:02 mark until the clock read 2:09 for a 25-13 lead. That run of points started with a put-back basket by Meri Jackson, then Quickle sank a 3-pointer. With FHS now in the lead, Jackson converted a free-throw attempt into a point, and Isabelle Hale drilled a 3-pointer at the 3:36 mark. 

Then came a jumper from Brya Fauber, followed by free throws from Quickle and a 3-pointer by Fauber, as the Lady Lions’ lead went to 12 points. 

Whiteoak answered with a 3-pointer from Aveah Captain with 1:46 left in the quarter, but FHS eventually ended the frame with a 5-4 scoring differential with Fairfield leading by 11 points at 30-19. FHS ended the third with a basket by Hodson, and the Lady Lions had a free throw made by Corinne Tolle. WHS scored the final points of the third with two free throws made by Taelyn Shriver.

The game ended up being a nine-point win by the Lady Lions as WHS outscored Fairfield, 14-12 in the fourth frame, getting to within one point of tying the score with 2:19 left in regulation. 

Fairfield increased their lead to 13 points to start the fourth with a steal and basket by Quickle, but WHS came back with nine consecutive points from the 5:00 mark to the 3:02 mark for a 32-28 FHS lead. 

Whiteoak in that run of points had consecutive baskets from Webster, followed by a free throw from Howard and two free throws made by Captain. Webster then scored two points for the four-point deficit. 

Jackson put Fairfield ahead by six points with a basket in the paint, but Lucas answered for Whiteoak with a 3-pointer, and teammate Miley Walker made two free throws for the 34-33 score, bringing WHS to within a point of tying the score. 

Fairfield came back with a 3-pointer by Quickle, giving the momentum back to Fairfield, and from there it was Jackson and Quickle each making a free throw for a six-point lead with 44.8 left in the game. 

FHS increased their final lead to nine points with a free throw made by Hale and two made by 
Hodson for the nine-point win. 

“We struggled scoring, and I knew that coming in,” Whiteoak head coach Tirrell Cumberland said. “We lost a lot of our scoring in the second half of the season (four players have to sit due to transfer rules), so I knew we would struggle scoring a little bit, but we finally got shots to go, and it was all because we started picking up and playing defense, actually boxing out. I think we gave up eight offensive rebounds in the first quarter alone and 16 for the first half, which is a problem. It is hard to score when you have teams having second and third chances.

“It is good to see the girls compete, but it is frustrating because I don’t like losing. It is really hard to lose, but that is part of our process right now that we start three freshmen, a sophomore and a junior, so we are going to take our licks and that’s OK, because I know going into next year we are going to have a ton of varsity experience and that helps us in the long run. For the short term, it is frustrating.” 

Fairfield was led in scoring by Quickle with 11 points, finishing the game with two 3-pointers, one two-pointer and she was 3-of-4 from the free-throw line. Hale finished with six points, while teammates Hodson, Jackson and Henninger also had six-point games. Fauber totaled five points for FHS, while scoring one point each were Stahlhut and Tolle. 

Whiteoak’s leading scorer was Webster with 13 points, as she totaled six two-point baskets and made one free throw (1-of-4). Howard followed with six points, and with five points each were Lucas and Captain. Walker and Shriver each totaled two points. 

WHS is now 5-6 in the SHAC Div. II standings and 7-10 overall. Fairfield improves to 5-6 in the SHAC DIv. II standings and 10-9 overall. 

BOX SCORE
WHS    07 04 08 14 — 33
FHS     06 03 21 12 — 42

FAIRFIELD (42) — P.Stahlhut 0 (0) 1-2 1, I.Hale 1 (1) 1-2 6, R.Quickle 1 (2) 3-4 11, L.Hodson 2 (0) 2-2 6, B.Fauber 1 (1) 0-0 5, V.Henninger 3 (0) 0-6 6, C.Tolle 0 (0) 1-2 1, M.Jackson 2 (0) 2-4 6. TOTALS: 10 (4) 10-22 42. 

WHITEOAK (33) — M.Walker 0 (0) 2-2 2, J.Lucas 1 (1) 0-0 5, J.Combs 0 (0) 0-2 0, T.Shriver 0 (0) 2-2 2, A.Captain 0 (1) 2-2 5, E.Howard 0 (1) 3-8 6, L.Webster 6 (0) 1-4 13. TOTALS: 7 (3) 10-20 33. 

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Whiteoak falls to Southeastern 

The Whiteoak Lady Wildcats lost on the road in a non-conference game to the Southeastern Lady Panthers, 62-27 Feb. 4 at SEHS.

WHS scored eight points in the first quarter, followed by quarter scoring of six, six and seven points from the second through fourth frames. 

SEHS had quarter scoring of 22, 16, 14 and 10 points. Southeastern led 38-14 at halftime. 

Whiteoak was led by Jillian Lucas and Ella Howard with nine points each, as Lucas made one two-point basket, one 3-pointer, and she was 4-of-6 from the free-throw line. Howard finished with one two-pointer, two 3-pointers and she went 1-of-4 in her free-throw attempts. 

Libby Webster totaled seven points with three two-point baskets and a 1-of-2 performance from the free-throw line. 

Whiteoak also had two points scored by Taelyn Shriver as she was 2-of-2 from the free-throw line. 

For the game, the Lady ’Cats totaled five two-point baskets, three 3-pointers (Howard 2, Lucas 1), and they were 8-of-14 from the free-throw line. 

SEHS was led by Grace Brown with 28 points (seven 3-pointers) and Reese Ruckel with 11 points. 

The Lady Panthers totaled 15 two-point baskets, eight 3-pointers and they were 8-of-13 from the free-throw line. 

BOX SCORE
WHS      08 06 06 07 — 27
SEHS    22 16 14 10 — 62