FAIRFIELD JUNIOR POST Courtney Morton scrambles for the basketball in the area playoff game against the Brownsboro Bears. Battling from behind twice in four days, the Fairfield Lady Eagles earned a berth in the Class AAA, Region III basketball tournament this weekend.

The Lady Eagles squeaked past Longview Spring Hill in overtime 43- 37 Friday night and edged Robinson 40-36 in the region quarterfinal Monday night.

Region tourney action is this Friday and Saturday at Sam Houston State University. The tourney winner advances to state March 4-6 in Austin.

The furthest the Lady Eagles have ever advanced is to the region tourney final game.

“I’m glad to have that one over with,” Fairfield head coach Stephen Heers says of the Robinson game.

Fairfield was overwhelmed by the Robinson Rockettes as the quarterfinal contest started, giving up nine points before cracking the scoring column. The Lady Eagles then played a little catchup to pull within one at 10-9 when the first period ended.

LADY EAGLES JUNIOR guard Barvion Wyatt gets hammered as she tries to get off a shot in the region semifinal playoff game Monday night against the Robinson Rockettes. Second period action was worse, though, as the Fairfield quintet gave up 12 points to drop to a 16-22 deficit at half-time.

However, the Lady Eagles came out with a sense of purpose in the third period, getting even tougher on defense, to out play the Rockettes 12-6 and pull within a bucket at 26- 28.

“We had a game plan going in, but ditched that plan and went to a full court press,” Heers says. “We did a great job, defensively, and that’s how we won.”

The fourth period opened with a field goal by Kiresten Cox—-she tallied six in the final stanza—-to tie the score and Courtney Morton added a bucket to give Fairfield a quick 34-29 advantage.

Robinson was not done and added a field goal and 3-pointer to tie the tally 34- all with about three minutes remaining.

At that point, the Lady Eagles went into a stall game waiting for a good look at the goal, but instead Miss Cox was fouled and made both free throws to retake the lead at 36-34 with 34 seconds left in the game.

“Getting the lead in the fourth quarter allowed us to pull the ball out and get a good look,” Heers says.

“We have to thank the freshmen boys who let us practice this,” he adds.

Fairfield tied the ball when the Rockettes brought it down under their goal, then got possession when Robinson stepped out of bounds.

Senior guard Mia Mayo lofted a long pass down court to Barvion Wyatt who was flagrantly fouled and made the second of her two free throws to extend the lead to three points.

On the inbounds play, Miss Wyatt was fouled again and made the first half of the two shots, giving the Lady Eagles a 38-34 advantage with just over 11 seconds left.

The Rockettes made a 2- pointer and Miss Wyatt was fouled again with just over a second left, and made both free throws to provide the final tally.

“In the first half we constantly were frustrated,” Heers says. “It took us a long time to find a set that would leave us a girl open.”

The Lady Eagles got some early preparation for the Robinson game because they scrimmaged the Rockettes early in the year and saw some of their offensive and defensive sets. They just had to adjust in a real game.

Heers credits his bench players for giving the starters some rest, and relief when they racked up a few fouls.

“You might play 40 seconds and it’s the most important 40 seconds of the game,” the coach notes.

Offensive leaders were Miss Morton, 15 points, and Miss Cox, 14 points.

Also scoring were: McElroy, 7; and Wyatt, 4.

The Lady Eagles shot 63 percent from the free throw line, making 14 of 22 attempts.

Miss McElroy fouled out with about three minutes left in the contest.

In narrowly escaping Spring Hill at the area game, the Lady Eagles took advantage of their opponents’ need to foul and force the FHS quintet to the free throw line, not their strong suit.

Although Fairfield shot only 43 percent from the charity stripe, they got too many opportunities, 30 on the night.

“That was their game plan. They know we don’t shoot free throws well,” Heers says.

But free throws are what won the game in overtime. The Lady Eagles went to the line 15 times and made eight to provide the winning margin.

For the night, the FHS quintet made just 13 of their charity tosses.

“When you are 13-for- 30 from the foul line, you aren’t going to beat many people,” Heers says.

The Lady Eagles opened with 10 points to take a 1- point lead and were held to just a pair of second period baskets to trail 14-17 at half-time in a defensive contest.

“They are pretty talented,” the FHS coach points out. “They play good manto man defense.”

He notes that Spring Hill kept scoring low because offense is not their strong suit.

The Lady Eagles tallied 10 points the third period to take a 24-23 lead, but wound up in a 35-all stalemate when the final buzzer sounded.

Sending the Fairfield quintet to the free throw line final took its toll, as three Spring Hill starters fouled out and the Lady Eagles canned eight charity tosses in overtime to win 43-37.

“They definitely were very physical with us, and we were pretty much our own enemy shooting the ball,” Heers says.

FHS cagers shot only about 35 percent from the field in the contest.

Leading the offensive effort with 14 points was Miss Morton, while Kiresten Cox kicked in 11 points.

Also scoring were: McElroy, 7; Wyatt, 6; Mayo, 3; and Keanna Cox, 3.

Spring Hill was led by Lizzie Autry who scored 14 points, all from the field, before fouling out.

As physical as Spring Hill was, the Lady Eagles played it clean and sent their opponents to the charity stripe just five times.