SENIOR POST PLAYER Kiresten Cox tries to get a shot off over a defending Madisonville Lady Mustang. The Fairfield high school Lady Eagles ended their basketball playoffs run Friday evening with a loss to the Madisonville Lady Mustangs at the region tournament.

Lady Mustangs cagers went on to win the tourney and advance to state this week in Austin.

“It wasn’t for a lack of hustle. Our girls hustled and played hard,” Fairfield head coach Stephen Heers says. “Madisonville is a solid team.”

The other team in the region tourney was Rudder, which lost to Bullard in the first round.

Fairfield and Madisonville played a close contest throughout, with several lead changes.

The Lady Eagles trailed 8-9 the first period and tallied 13 second period points to take a 21-20 advantage into intermission.

Although the FHS quintet extended the lead to 33- 30 at the end of the third period, Heers reports that some missed opportunities kept them from pulling well away from Madisonville.

LADY EAGLES JUNIOR guard Barvion Wyatt goes airborne to gain a height advantage against a Madisonville defender at the region tournament. “We had a little spurt in the third period where we missed repeatedly from point-blank range,” the coach reports.

The Lady Mustangs got hot from long range in the final stanza, making three treys, to take the lead and sent the Lady Eagles packing on the short end of a 46-52 score.

“What broke our backs was the 3-point shots,” Heers says. “They kept hitting threes.”

Madisonville scored five 3-point shots in the game and the Lady Eagles had none from long range.

Leading the Fairfield offensive effort was junior post Courtney Morton, 18 points, and senior post Kiresten Cox, 16 points.

FAIRFIELD LADY EAGLES basketball player Courtney Morton receives good luck wishes from fellow students and fans as she prepares to board a bus Friday morning for the region playoff tournament. “Courtney and Kiresten had good games around the basket,” the FHS coach points out.

Also scoring were: Joye McElroy, 6; and Barvion Wyatt, 4.

Fairfield shot 62 percent from the free throw line, making 13 of 21 attempts.

The Lady Mustangs stepped up to the charity stripe 11 times and made seven.

The Lady Eagles close the season with a 25-10 record, including a 9-1 mark in district and a share of the 20-AAA title with Brownsboro.

Seniors on the squad are point guards Sarah Linton and Mia Mayo, and Misses Cox and McElroy.

Expected to return to the team next season are Misses Cox, Wyatt and Olivia Gallegos, all juniors, sophomores Kathleen Chappell, Jermaca Brown and Fruncheska Daniels, and freshman Jasmine Griffin.