Fairfield fights off Rock Hill in OT, advances to district championship game

Derrick Webb, Staff Writer

Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.

JACKSON — Winning time.

That’s when Fairfield senior Peyton Magee decided to turn on her burners, Wednesday night.

After failing to score a single point in the first two quarters — which is an anomaly at best — Magee bounced back in a big way, ending the night with a game-high 18 points.

Her second half performance spearheaded a hard-fought 43-37 overtime victory over Rock Hill in a Division III district semifinal.

“I had a slow start and I was getting face-guarded pretty hard,” Magee said. “It was hard to get the ball into my hands. But once I saw one shot go in, I knew I was fine and that I had to just keep going.”

While Rock Hill (17-7) did a nice job of denying Magee the basketball in the first half, Hailey Tolle picked up the slack.

Battling inside, Tolle scored six points in the first half.

But she was even more impressive on the defensive end, limiting shots near the bucket and cleaning the glass when she had the chance to do so.

“Defense is really our key,” Tolle said. “That’s what helped us a lot. Our shots weren’t falling for a while and boxing out was the main thing. We knew we were going to have to box [Rock Hill] out because they were bigger.”

The win allows the Lions (19-5) to play for a chance to punch Sweet 16 tickets — an extraordinary occurrence after the adversity they’ve endured throughout this winter.

“At first, honestly, it was hard because our coach stepped down [after the first game of the year],” Tolle said. “But after we got into it, [Fairfield coach Josh Stackhouse] has been a good coach and he’s helped us a lot. He preaches that defense is key and that we’re all a team.”

Tale of the tape

Tolle started the night’s scoring with a bucket through contact before hitting the awarded foul shot to put Fairfield (19-5) up 3-0. Just thirty seconds later, Faith Donley nailed a 3 for a 6-0 lead.

After Rock Hill’s Hazley Matthews connected on two freebies, Donley and Kassi Miller added a jumper and a 3-ball for an 11-2 advantage. Tolle then stepped to the line and hit two foul shots to cap a game-opening 14-2 run with 2:17 left in the first quarter.

The Redwomen, however, punched back.

J’lynn Risner and Hope Easterling added scores before the quarter’s ending, sparking a 14-0 run. After heading into the second facing a 14-5 deficit, Rock Hill completely swung momentum with a score from Easterling, a 3 from Hadyn Bailey and a 4-of-6 showing at the charity stripe.

By the 4:03 mark in the second, after a runner from Lola Hankins, Rock Hill led 16-14.

Fairfield retook an edge of 17-16 with a 3 from Miller before going into halftime with a 21-18 lead, thanks to a 3 from Jobey Hattan and a freebie via Tolle.

“Our bench is very important,” Magee said. “Everybody thinks it’s just Faith [Donley] and I, but it’s not. It’s the whole team. It’s not just one or two players. Kassi always hits big 3’s, Faith can step up and Jobey has some big rebounds for us.”

Rock Hill started the third quarter with a 3 from Bailey before Magee scored her first points at the 3:47 mark, putting Fairfield up 23-21. Magee then hit back-to-back treys with 3:04 and 2:16 left, willing Fairfield to a 29-26 lead after three.

In the fourth, Fairfield had a 33-28 lead with just 2:49 to play. 

However, Matthews dialed long distance with 2:35 left before scoring again at the 1:17 mark, cutting the lead to 34-33. On the opposite end, Donley hit one of two foul tries before Matthews drove to the bucket for a score to force a 35-35 deadlock and, eventually, overtime.

But despite Rock Hill gaining new life, Magee was simply too special to stop in the extra frame.

Hankins gave the Redwomen a 37-35 lead with 2:54 left, but that’s the last bucket Rock Hill scored. From there, Magee scored with 2:38 left and knocked down 5-of-6 free throw tries en route to a season-saving victory.

“The win feels really good,” Magee said. “We played [Rock Hill] early on and we lost. We knew we had them this time, but we knew we had to work on some things. We worked on them and it got us the win.”

Stat book

Magee added five rebounds and three assists to her game-high 18 points while Donley finished with seven points and three boards. Tolle had seven points and five rebounds, Miller added six points and Hattan finished with four points and five rebounds.

Rock Hill (17-7)l was led by Matthews with 13 points and five rebounds. Risner also chipped in with three points, a game-high 15 rebounds and four assists.

What’s on tap

While Rock Hill’s season ends after winning a sectional title, Fairfield advances to a Division III district final where the Lions will meet with conference opponent North Adams at noon, Saturday at Waverly’s Downtown Gym.

The Devils have won this year’s two previous meetings — a 51-37 final on Nov. 21 and a 54-32 tally on Jan. 12.

“Coach definitely said we had some things to work on,” Magee said. “We know what North Adams has coming for us, so I know we’ll be at least semi-prepared. Nobody thought we’d make this far and be as good as we are. We lost our coach, we’ve had three ACL tears and then Jobey was out for awhile. It’s kind of crazy. But we’ve stuck together and it’s paid off.”

BOX SCORE

Fairfield: 5-10-14-13 — 43

Rock Hill: 9-10-7-20 — 37

Fairfield: 11-44 FG, 15-24 FT, 6-21 3pt., 24 rebounds (Tolle 5, Magee 5, Hattan 5), 8 turnovers, 5 assists (Magee 3). Scoring: Magee 18, Donley 7, Tolle 7, Miller 6, Hattan 4, Hamilton 1.

Rock Hill: 19-49 FG, 9-11 FT, 4-18 3pt., 33 rebounds (J. Risner 15), 15 turnovers, 8 assists (J. Risner 4). Scoring: Matthews 13, Bailey 7, Easterling 7, Hankins 5, J. Risner 3, H. Risner 2.

SPONSORED BY ROMAN FAMILY HEALTHCARE