2023-24 Fairfield Lady Lions Basketball Preview

Fairfield hired a head coach this offseason, that being Jennifer Blue, and there is a lot to look forward to for the upcoming 2023-24 season as the new-look Lady Lions want to gain valuable experience this season with their new head coach.

From 2011-18, Blue was the head coach at Westfall, then she followed Westfall with a stop at Eastern Brown as an assistant coach from 2019-21. The past two seasons, Blue was the head coach at Logan Elm. She replaces Josh Stackhouse after one season as the Lady Lions’ head coach.

“I have followed the [Southern Hills Athletic Conference] closely since being an assistant at Eastern Brown. The SHAC has a wonderful basketball past, and the Lady Lions are a big part of it,” Blue said in a comment from June when she was hired as the Lady Lions’ head coach. “After falling in the district finals last season on a heartbreaker, I am looking forward to helping the girls achieve their goals. I like the community feel, and I want to implement a sense of family within the organization.”

Last season, the Lady Lions were district runners-up in Division III with an overall record of 19-6, and they were second place in Division I of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference with an 11-2 record in conference play.

Looking to the 2023-24 season, Fairfield has just one senior, that being Faith Donley, and she’s coming off a season where she was a part of a team that reached the district finals, and a season where she averaged 12 points per game with 3.5 rebounds per game, 3.7 assists per game and 3.3 steals per game.

Donley also shot 39.5 percent from the field, 61.2 from the free-throw line and 21.9 percent on three-point attempts last season. In 25 games, Donley totaled 300 points as a junior, made 14 3-pointers and collected 87 rebounds, plus she had 92 assists, 83 steals and seven blocks. As a junior, she was All-SHAC, honorable mention Coaches All-District, second-team OPSWA All-District and honorable mention All-Ohio.

“We will look to Faith to have a good year for us. She had a wonderful season on the soccer field, and we look for her leadership to come into the basketball court as well,” Blue said. “She is quick on the defensive end and long.”

Juniors this season are Kassi Miller, Kelsey Clark and McKinley Cox.

“We also look to Kassi Miller to be a huge leader for us,” Blue said. “She has worked hard this offseason on her shot release and ball handling. We also are looking to the return of junior Kelsey Clark. She is returning from ACL surgery last season and is looking to have a breakout year this season.”

Miller is the second of the returning starters from last season, as she’s coming off a sophomore season which included 25 games played, 3.9 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 1.4 steals per game and one apg. She also shot 36.7 percent from the field, 42.1 percent from the free-throw line and 3.5 percent from three-point range.

Clark was injured all last season, and Cox will be playing her first year on the varsity roster.

The sophomore class consists of Sophie Humphrey, Jaeden Drury and Rilee Quickle. In the ’22-23 season Quickle averaged 2.6 ppg in 11 games played, as she shot 50 percent from the free-throw line and 33.3 percent in 3-point attempts.

New to the team as freshmen are Remi Moon, Isabelle Hale, Vivian Henninger, Alyssa Bales, Kinsley Drury and Meri Jackson.

Gone from last season’s team due to graduation is Peyton Magee, who averaged 18.7 ppg as she scored 467 points last season, including her 1,000th career point. She finished her career with over 500 rebounds and set school records for steals, assists and most 3-pointers in a season. As a senior, Magee was named All-SHAC, first-team Coaches All-District, first-team OPSWA All-District and second-team All-Ohio.

Also graduated is Hailey Tolle, who averaged 17.6 ppg in 23 games. Hannah Hamilton is also gone from last season’s roster, as she averaged 6.1 ppg and was third-team OPSWA All-District. Fairfield enters this season losing three of their top five scorers from a year ago.

Fairfield has worked this offseason in preparation for the 2023-24 season, and remember, the Lady Lions will be back in Division II of the SHAC, after playing the past couple years in Division I of the conference.

“We had a good June for our offseason, and the girls worked hard in September and October. Things look much different with the season starting than they did in the offseason,” Blue said. “The girls are adjusting to new roles and responsibilities within the team.

“It's nice to finally get all the girls in the gym. Due to the amazing run from the soccer team, we are a little behind. I love how the girls come in and work hard every day. They are grasping what we are implementing and asking questions when they don’t understand something. They all have a will to learn the game and concepts.”

With the positives come aspects of the game where Fairfield wants to improve as well.

“We want to learn to trust each other and become one on the court. They are learning how to work together to accomplish similar goals. We need to work on our offensive effectiveness,” Blue said. “My expectations for the team is to become one unit and grow every day and every game as young ladies on and off the court.”

Preparing for the season, Blue says her team has little varsity experience, but they are working hard to gain improvement.

“We have very little varsity experience entering the season. The girls are practicing hard and learning the way we want things to be done. I love how they look to come in and compete every day. They are learning to work together and become one,” Blue said.

Playing in the SHAC is never easy for any team in the conference, and for this year’s Lady Lions they are back in Division II, meaning they will be facing Highland County rival Whiteoak twice once again, and fellow Highland County counterpart, Lynchburg-Clay, once, with LCHS staying in Division I of the SHAC.

Blue gave her thoughts about the SHAC, as she’s coached in the conference as a former assistant coach with the Eastern Lady Warriors.

“The SHAC will be very challenging again this year. Whiteoak returns its core of players and looks to have a strong run. Fayetteville has a tremendous set of freshmen that will look to make a huge impact this season,” Blue said. “North Adams — well, they are North Adams — so you know they will be strong, and Lynchburg-Clay is coming off a strong soccer season and return their core group as well and look to make a run.”

Fairfield’s non-conference schedule includes: vs. Adena, at Miami Trace, at East Clinton, at McClain, vs. Wilmington (Chad Hodson Classic), vs. Jackson (at Eastern), at Hillsboro, vs. Paint Valley and vs. Wheelersburg.

“Our non-conference schedule is very tough this year,” Blue said. “The girls are going to be battle tested, and we will know what we are about this season.”

Fairfield starts the 2023-24 season Wednesday, Nov. 22 at home (Grandle Gymnasium), as they’ll host the Adena Warriors.