Lady Blue Lions rally for 4th-quarter win over Fairfield Lady Lions

LEESBURG — Free throws and making baskets in the paint proved to be a big difference for the battle of the Lions on Saturday afternoon at Grandle Gymnasium, as the Washington Lady Blue Lions rallied in the fourth frame to go ahead and defeat the host Fairfield Lady Lions, 49-41 in a competitive non-conference battle. 

The two teams battled close throughout the game, with Fairfield leading at halftime 25-23 and after three quarters by a 33-29 score. Then for the Lady Lions of Fairfield, the fourth quarter proved to be too much, as they were outscored by Washington, 20-8 for what became an eight-point loss. 

Going into the fourth quarter, Fairfield held a four-point lead, but Washington cut that lead in half with a jumper from Kate Miller. FHS kept the lead with a free throw made by Meri Jackson, but again, Washington answered with two free throws by Peyton Hughes, cutting Fairfield’s lead to one point. 

Fairfield’s lead jumped to four points with a layup from Landyn Hodson and another made free throw by Jackson for a 37-33 advantage, as Washington called a timeout before Jackson’s free throw with 5:00 left in regulation. 

After the made free throw and timeout called by Washington head coach John Denen — who recently gained his 400th career coaching win — the Lady Blue Lions began their rally and scored the next six points and eight of the next nine points in the game with a layup from Jayden Hatfield, a basket from Calee Ellars (which tied the score at 37), and Washington took the lead with a bucket from Elania “Bobb” Racine with 2:58 on the clock. 

After Fairfield made a free throw by Jackon, and Washington connected with the next four points, it was the Lady Blue Lions in front 43-38 with 1:28 left in the fourth frame. 

Fairfield came back with a put-back basket from Jackson, but Washington took their lead back to five points following a layup by Miller with 1:17 remaining in the game. 

Fairfield’s Vivian Henninger made 1-of-2 attempts from the free-throw line to make it a four-point deficit, but a Fairfield turnover at the 1:00 mark was too much to overcome for the host Lady Lions, as eventually the visitors scored four final points off two trips to the free-throw line for the eight-point Fairfield defeat. 

For Fairfield, they were led in the scoring column by Jackson with 12 points, with the post player making four two-point baskets, and she was 4-of-10 from the free-throw line. 
The game saw the Lady Lions of FHS finish 11-of-25 from the free-throw line. Washington was 6-of-13 in their free-throw attempts, with a fourth quarter that went 6-of-7 from the free-throw line. In the same quarter, Fairfield was 4-of-10.

Other final scoring totals for Fairfield included nine points from Henninger (four rebounds, one assist), seven points by Addison Cannon (one rebound, one steal), seven points from Rilee Quickle (six rebounds, two assists, four steals), four points from Hodson (two rebounds, one assist), and Isabelle Hale with two points (three rebounds, two assists, four steals). 

Other Fairfield team totals were 12 two-pointers and two 3-pointers, along with 29 rebounds, eight assists and seven steals. 

Washington was led by Hughes with 12 points (six rebounds, one block), Ellars with 11 points (three rebounds, four assists, one steal) and Hatfield with 10 points (three rebounds, three assists, two steals). 

Other totals for Washington were Miller (eight points, six rebounds, one assist, three steals), Morgan Reed (two points, two rebounds), and Racine (eight points, 10 rebounds, one assist, two steals, one block). Harley O’Connor finished with one rebound and one assist. 

Team totals for Washington were 17 two-point baskets, three 3-pointers and they were 6-of-19 from the free-throw line for the game. They also had 31 rebounds (16 offensive), 10 assists, eight steals and two blocks. 

As for Fairfield's first half, they led 12-6 after the first frame had a 3-pointer and two-point basket in the first frame from Quickle, along with a 3-pointer and two-point basket by Cannon, and a two-pointer made by Jackson. 

Washington in the first quarter saw their six points scored by Hughes, Ellars and Racine. 

The Lady Blue Lions won the second at 17-13 with their points by Hatfield (eight), Hughes (two) and Ellars (seven). Fairfield in the second had points scored by Hodson (two), Henninger (five), Cannon (two), and Jackson (four). 

FHS totaled eight points in the third quarter with two points from Quickle, three points by Henninger, two points from Hale and one point by Jackson. Washington’s third frame saw them score six points off baskets by Hughes, Reed and Racine. 

The win improves Washington to 10-5 overall, while Fairfield now stands at 8-6 overall. 

Next for Fairfield is a home game Thursday, Jan. 22 against the Manchester Lady Greyhounds in SHAC action. 

BOX SCORE
WHS    06 17 06 20 — 49
FHS     12 13 08 08 — 41

WASHINGTON (49) — P.Hughes 5 (0) 2-11 12, K.Miller 2 (0) 4-4 8, C.Ellars 4 (1) 0-0 11, J.Hatfield 2 (2) 0-1 10, E. “Bobb” Racine 3 (0) 0-2 6, M.Reed 1 (0) 0-0 2. TOTALS: 17 (3) 6-18 49. 

FAIRFIELD (41) — R.Quickle 1 (1) 2-4 7, I.Hale 0 (0) 2-2 2, V.Henninger 3 (0) 3-9 9, A.Cannon 2 (1) 0-0 7, M.Jackson 4 (0) 4-10 12, L.Hodson 2 (0) 0-0 4. TOTALS: 12 (2) 11-25 41.