It’s hard to win if you can’t make shots, especially in a district semi finals game. Unfortunately, that’s what they Fairfield Lady Lions (12-12) did on Saturday afternoon against Eastern Meigs, which led to a 37-30 loss and an end to their season.
Overall, the Lady Lions shot just 16% overall on the day (9/55) but what stood out the most was an 18% shooting percentage when within five feet of the basket (6/32).
The game started out well for the Lady Lions as they lead after the first quarter 7-6. But in the second quarter, things slipped away from the Fairfield girls as they could not get a shot to drop and even though Eastern Meigs’ shooting percentage wasn’t much better than Fairfield’s in the game, it was enough to have an 18-12 lead going into the half.
In the third quarter, the Lady Lions fell behind a little bit more getting outscored 11-10 in the eight minutes and even though they played even with their opponents in the fourth, they could never overcome the deficit which brought the game to its final score of 37-30.
“I can’t fault our effort tonight,” said Head Coach Chad Hamilton after the loss. “I think that was the best defense we’ve probably played all year. We were really prepared for them and knew what they did and was by far the best we had boxed out all year. But, at the end of the day, if you don’t make shots, you’re not going to win in the district tournament and that’s what we failed to do.
“In the fourth, it took a while there for either team to get started, but when we did, every time we would start to get close and need a big basket, [Eastern] would hit a three. And in a game in the 30’s, a three pointer is a bigger deal than it usually is. We gave up a couple big ones and weren’t able to counter. I have to think we took twice as many shots as they did, we just couldn’t convert. Sometimes we’re a little out of control and hope we’re going to get bailed out and that didn’t happen tonight. We did get some good shots and we did play good defense but in the end we just couldn’t score.”
Grace Shope led the Lady Lions and all scores with 17. She also had a double-double with 15 rebounds.
Box:
EMHS – 6 12 11 8 – 37
FHS – 7 5 10 8 – 30
Fairfield: Shope 6 5/7 – 17; Pauley (2) 2/2 – 8; Huff 1- 2; Barnes 2/4 – 2; L. Arnold 1/2 – 1. Totals: 7(2) 10/15 – 30
Eastern Meigs: L. Pullins 2(1) 3/6 – 10; B. Pullins 2(1) 1/2 – 8; Parker 3 2/3 – 8; Collins 3 0/2 – 6; H. Bailey (1) – 3; A. Bailey 1 – 2. Totals: 11(3) 6/13 – 37.
Reach Robert Stegbauer at 937-393-3456 ext. 1679 or on Twitter @RStegbauer.
