Lady Eagles heading to area game

FAIRFIELD JUNIOR GUARD Barvion Wyatt goes in fon a fast break en route to scoring a team leading 16 points in a district playoff game against Brownsboro. The Fairfield high school Lady Eagles got an early taste of the post season playoffs Friday night when they defeated the Brownsboro Lady Bears to see which team would advance in the first place spot from District 20-AAA.

Fairfield and Brownsboro tied for the district crown with 9-1 records, one loss to each other, and played at Navarro College to determine Class AAA bracket order.

The Lady Eagles get a bye in the bi-district round and face the winner of the Longview Springhill-Diboll game early this week.

Brownsboro was slated to meet Lorena at bi-district and Athens, which finished third in 20-AAA, was to play Robinson at bi-district.

“We played really well on the defensive end all night,” FHS head coach Stephen Heers says of the Brownsboro contest.

LADY EAGLES SENIOR post Kiresten Cox takes a look at the basket in a district playoff game against the Brownsboro Lady Bears. “You hope you can play defense that well all the way through the playoffs. If you do, you’ll win,” he adds.

The Lady Eagles took control of the game from the outset, winning the first period 14-6, and tacking on 11 second period points to lead 25-16 at half-time.

Fairfield varsity cagers were outscored 8-9 in the third period and recovered with 16 points in the final stanza to claim a 47-35 decision.

“They hardly got a rebound on the offensive end. It was probably the best job of rebounding we’ve done as a team. If there was a loose ball, we got it,” Heers reports.

The Lady Eagles battled foul trouble, losing junior post Courtney Morton early in the fourth period and junior guard Barvion Wyatt near the end.

But, Misses Morton and Wyatt did their jobs before exiting—-Miss Wyatt led scoring with 16 points and Miss Morton tallied 14, a dozen of those in the first half.

“Barvion played one of her best games,” the coach says.

Of her 16 points, Miss Wyatt scored 10 of them in the fourth period.

Also scoring were: Kiresten Cox, 7; Joye McElroy, 6; Jasmine Griffin, 3; and Mia Mayo, 1.

Because two starters were in foul trouble, and eventually exited the game, the Lady Eagles had to rely on their bench players to put away the Lady Bears.

“Our bench girls came in and did well. They can hold their own,” Heers says.

Miss Cox led rebounding with 15.

In the last regular season game, at Crockett, the Lady Eagles claimed a 15-8 lead the first period and held a 27-23 advantage at intermission.

Fairfield tallied 11 points in the third period and 10 in the fourth, giving up eight in each, to win 49-39.

“We didn’t bring our best to Crockett and didn’t get off to a very good start,” Heers says.

“It was their parent night and they played with a lot of energy,” he adds.

The Lady Eagles were forced to play carefully because of foul trouble. Miss Morton drew four the first half, including one that was mistakenly given her by the scorer, and Miss McElroy got five.

Picking up the slack was Miss Cox who scored 24 points on the night.

“Kiresten dominated the game from the beginning. It was one her best games this year,” the FHS coach says.

Also scoring were: Wyatt, 9; Morton, 4; Sarah Linton, 2; Mayo, 2; Keanna Cox, 2; Olivia Gallegos, 2; Griffin, 2; and McElroy, 1.

“I think our girls were already looking toward playing Brownsboro, and I think our girls weren’t completely focused,” Heers says.

In the junior varsity contest against the Lady Bulldogs, Fairfield fell behind 6-11 the first period, but rallied for 16 second period points to lead 22-13 at the half.

The Lady Eagles added 15 points the second half and gave up 12 for a 37-25 win.

Reaching double digits with 13 points was Gabby Ranson, who counted a 3- pointer toward her total.

Also scoring were: Fruncheska Daniels, 9; Krystal Rischer, 6; Sadie Schaefer, 6; Denise Washington, 2; and Kassi Floyd, 1.

The jv shot 40 percent from the free throw line, making four of 10 attempts.

Fairfield frosh cagers did not play last week.