Fairfield dominates Glenwood, moves to sectional final
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
MCDERMOTT — In the second contest Monday night at Northwest High School, the Fairfield Lady Lions left no doubt they were going to move on to their sectional final as they easily defeated the Glenwood Lady Tigers, 54-24 in the Division IV SE District SE semifinals.
From the very start of the first frame, the Lady Lions flexed their muscles, as they not only gained their fourth win of the season (4-15) but led the first frame, 15-8 and 30-12 at the half-time break, as they outscored the visitor on the scoreboard, 15-4 in the second period.
From there, it was smooth sailing for the Lady Lions, as they've been battling through some bumps and bruises as of late.
"We got a lot of kids in the game (Monday), and my main concern was getting out of here healthy," Fairfield head coach Matt Hodson said. "We got banged up against Whiteoak last week, and I was hoping if we could get a bit of a lead, we could rest some kids.
"I was able to sub in players, and the kids I brought in stepped up. We had a lot of bench points, and that was a great improvement to have."
As for the first half, the trio of Kaitlin Evans, Haley Bobb and Heather Cox combined for 15 points in the first quarter as FHS never trailed in the sectional contest.
Evans was first to score, and following the only tied score of 2-2, Cox added the next five points, including a three-point play. Cox ended the game with a double-double as she led with 22 points and 14 rebounds. She also tallied five steals.
In the second quarter, the Lady Lions had a run of 15 straight points from the 5:35 mark until there were 12 seconds remaining on the scoreboard.
The 15-0 run was sandwiched with the four points by Glenwood (1-19). In the consecutive 15 points of scoring, Evans, Shaylee Carson, Bobb, Justice Hattan, Cox and Mikayla Coleman all contributed to the scoring, with Bobb sinking a 3-pointer with 3:59 left in the second.
Evans finished with 12 points and four assists, while Carson totaled seven points. Bobb added five points for the game with seven assists, while Lydia Sowders finished with four points, and both Hattan (nine rebounds) and Coleman each scored two.[[In-content Ad]]
FHS toned down their play in the third, as they began the second half with a 18-point advantage.
"We got up around 15 points," Hodson said. "We wanted to get out early and press them, get ahead, and after that, we wanted to get back and play a little bit of zone.
"We wanted to see how that worked out for us. We could have ran a lot more and got some more baskets, but we wanted to slow it down and do some different things."
In the third, the Lady Lions totaled nine points, and in the fourth, they added 15 points to outscore the Lady Tigers, 24-12 as Glenwood totaled six points in each of the final two quarters.
Cox added six points in the third, while Evans and Hattan scored the remaining points in the third from the charity stripe.
In the fourth, Evans, Sowders, Carson and Cox all scored points, as Carson led with five points in the fourth, including a 3-pointer.
Glenwood had three players score points in the game, with Eden Howard leading the way with 14 points, including a 3-pointer in the first quarter. Eight of her 14 points came in the first quarter.
Also scoring for GHS were Kiersten McGraw with nine points and Ciji Thompson with one point.
The Lady Lions will play again Saturday, Feb. 16 as they will take on No. 2 Ironton St. Joseph at 2:45 p.m. at McDermott High School in a sectional final game. Ironton St. Joseph is 16-3 overall.
"Ironton St. Joe's is a good team," Hodson said. "They have a couple good shooters, a good point guard. We're going to watch some film on them and see what we can do. We have to defend the perimeter because of their shooters, which is something you don't see every day. We'll have to adjust to that, and we'll have to have some good practices this week.
"I feel like we are up to the challenge, and I feel we can play with about anyone down here in the Southeast district in this sectional, so I'm pretty excited about Saturday."
From the very start of the first frame, the Lady Lions flexed their muscles, as they not only gained their fourth win of the season (4-15) but led the first frame, 15-8 and 30-12 at the half-time break, as they outscored the visitor on the scoreboard, 15-4 in the second period.
From there, it was smooth sailing for the Lady Lions, as they've been battling through some bumps and bruises as of late.
"We got a lot of kids in the game (Monday), and my main concern was getting out of here healthy," Fairfield head coach Matt Hodson said. "We got banged up against Whiteoak last week, and I was hoping if we could get a bit of a lead, we could rest some kids.
"I was able to sub in players, and the kids I brought in stepped up. We had a lot of bench points, and that was a great improvement to have."
As for the first half, the trio of Kaitlin Evans, Haley Bobb and Heather Cox combined for 15 points in the first quarter as FHS never trailed in the sectional contest.
Evans was first to score, and following the only tied score of 2-2, Cox added the next five points, including a three-point play. Cox ended the game with a double-double as she led with 22 points and 14 rebounds. She also tallied five steals.
In the second quarter, the Lady Lions had a run of 15 straight points from the 5:35 mark until there were 12 seconds remaining on the scoreboard.
The 15-0 run was sandwiched with the four points by Glenwood (1-19). In the consecutive 15 points of scoring, Evans, Shaylee Carson, Bobb, Justice Hattan, Cox and Mikayla Coleman all contributed to the scoring, with Bobb sinking a 3-pointer with 3:59 left in the second.
Evans finished with 12 points and four assists, while Carson totaled seven points. Bobb added five points for the game with seven assists, while Lydia Sowders finished with four points, and both Hattan (nine rebounds) and Coleman each scored two.[[In-content Ad]]
FHS toned down their play in the third, as they began the second half with a 18-point advantage.
"We got up around 15 points," Hodson said. "We wanted to get out early and press them, get ahead, and after that, we wanted to get back and play a little bit of zone.
"We wanted to see how that worked out for us. We could have ran a lot more and got some more baskets, but we wanted to slow it down and do some different things."
In the third, the Lady Lions totaled nine points, and in the fourth, they added 15 points to outscore the Lady Tigers, 24-12 as Glenwood totaled six points in each of the final two quarters.
Cox added six points in the third, while Evans and Hattan scored the remaining points in the third from the charity stripe.
In the fourth, Evans, Sowders, Carson and Cox all scored points, as Carson led with five points in the fourth, including a 3-pointer.
Glenwood had three players score points in the game, with Eden Howard leading the way with 14 points, including a 3-pointer in the first quarter. Eight of her 14 points came in the first quarter.
Also scoring for GHS were Kiersten McGraw with nine points and Ciji Thompson with one point.
The Lady Lions will play again Saturday, Feb. 16 as they will take on No. 2 Ironton St. Joseph at 2:45 p.m. at McDermott High School in a sectional final game. Ironton St. Joseph is 16-3 overall.
"Ironton St. Joe's is a good team," Hodson said. "They have a couple good shooters, a good point guard. We're going to watch some film on them and see what we can do. We have to defend the perimeter because of their shooters, which is something you don't see every day. We'll have to adjust to that, and we'll have to have some good practices this week.
"I feel like we are up to the challenge, and I feel we can play with about anyone down here in the Southeast district in this sectional, so I'm pretty excited about Saturday."