FAIRFIELD LADY EAGLES junior varsity player Funcheska Daniels tries to get around a defender in action at the Fairfield Invitational tournament. In a repeat of last year, the Fairfield high school Lady Eagles varsity basketball team placed second in the Fairfield Invitational tournament.

The event, which featured 16 area teams, was played Thursday-Saturday at the FHS gymnasiums.

Fairfield won three games to reach the finals against Ennis, where the Lady Eagles came up six points short.

Third place went to Madisonville and Melissa claimed consolation.

“I thought the bracket was pretty balanced,” Fairfield head coach Stephen Heers says.

The Lady Eagles junior varsity also competed in the tourney.

FHS varsity cagers started their tourney run with a blowout win over the Groesbeck Lady Goats 75- 24.

“I thought we played pretty well,” Heers says. “I didn’t expect Groesbeck to be that weak.”

The coach points out that the game allowed him to give his bench players some time on the court and they contributed 21 points to the winning effort.

Leading the offensive effort with 23 points was Courtney Morton. Joining her in double digits were Mia Mayo, 11 points, and Jazzmin Griffin, 10 points.

Also scoring were: Kiresten Cox, 9; Jermaca Brown, 7; Barvion Wyatt, 7; Joye McElroy, 4; and Olivia Gallegos, 4.

Hitting a 3-pointer apiece were Misses Brown and Mayo.

The Lady Eagles shot 47 percent from the free throw line, making 15 of 32 attempts. Miss Mayo was perfect on four free throws.

Fairfield also had an easy time in the second round game, defeating Diboll by a 61-31 margin.

Key to the contest was the second period when the Lady Eagles went into the press and outscored Diboll 21-6.

Miss Wyatt led scorers with 15 points, Miss McElroy hit for 14, Miss Morton tallied 13 and Miss Cox contributed 10.

Also scoring were: Brown, 3; Gallegos, 3; Kathleen Chappell, 2; and Mayo, 1.

Connecting from long range were Misses Brown and McElroy.

The Lady Eagles shot 41 percent from the free throw line against Diboll, making 11 of 27 attempts. Miss Cox was good on five of six free throws.

Fairfield faced a test in the third round when they faced Madisonville, squeaking out a 59-58 win to advance to the championship game.

Although the quintet struggled again at the free throw line, making 47 percent, they canned eight in the fourth period to get the win.

The Lady Eagles held a 27-20 edge at half-time and were ahead 45-37 through the third period, but Madisonville made a late charge that almost gave them the win.

“We made some free throws that were very clutch,” Heers says. “We ran out of gas and just survived.”

Miss Wyatt, who tallied 16 points, made back-toback free throws near the end of the game to help preserve the victory.

Leading the offensive output with 18 points was Miss Cox, and Miss Morton kicked in 13 points.

Also scoring were: McElroy, 7; Mayo, 4; and Griffin, 1.

The Lady Eagles waged a see-saw battle in the championship game with Ennis, trailing 6-12 the first period, leading 18-15 at the half and trailing 25- 30 at the end of the third period.

In the final stanza, Fairfield and Ennis were tied 35-all with 2:30 minutes left to play and were tied again at 37-all before the Lady Eagles fell 37-43.

“We played poorly in the fourth quarter and the last two and one-half minutes,” Heers reports.

“I thought we got tired toward the end and didn’t execute. They worked us to a point that we made some mistakes,” he adds.

Scoring for the Lady Eagles in the title game were: Cox, 8; Morton, 8; McElroy, 6; Mayo, 5; Wyatt, 5; Brown, 3; and Griffin, 2.

Fairfield did perform better at the free throw line, shooting 75 percent, but got just four charity tosses in the game.

En route to the champi- onship game, Ennis beat Tarkington, Robinson and China Spring.

The Fairfield jv squad improved throughout the tournament, narrowing the margin in three losses against varsity teams.

“I think the jv got a lot out of it. There’s no disgrace losing to varsity teams,” Heers says.

The Lady Eagles jv opened against China Spring and dropped a 19- 68 decision.

Scoring for Fairfield were: Krystal Rischer, 6; Denise Washington, 5; Keanna Cox, 4; Sadie Schaefer, 2; and Gabby Ransom, 2.

The jv faced Marlin in the second round and lost 26-57.

Scoring were: Rischer, 8; Kassi Floyd, 6; Cox, 4; Jayda Griffin, 2; Ransom, 2; Washington, 2; and Hannah Dodds, 2.

In their third game of the tourney, the jv trailed Tarkington 8-9 the first period, then grabbed a 23- 15 lead in the second period.

The Lady Eagles were outscored by four points in the third period but still held a lead, 36-32, and were outscored by eight points in the fourth period to drop a 46-50 decision.

Reaching double digits with 14 points was Miss Daniels.

Also scoring were: Ransom, 8; Washington, 7; Floyd, 6; Cox, 6; Schaefer, 3; and Rischer, 2.