Derrick Webb, Staff Writer
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
CHILLICOTHE — For 24 minutes on Friday, Fairfield Union gave Fairland a run for its money.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
And then the Dragons decided to stop messing around.
After taking a six-point lead into halftime, Fairland regrouped before outscoring the Falcons by a 24-7 margin in the third quarter —blowing the doors off the hinges on a 68-39 victory in a Division II district final at Southeastern High School.
“I’ll be honest, even in the first half, once we got over the initial [start], we outscored them 30-18,” Fairland Jon Buchanan said. “So we told the girls at halftime that we felt really good about how we played the final 12 minutes of the first half. And that was after missing a couple of wide open lay-ups late. Then, obviously, we came out of halftime with really good energy.”
Believe it or not, the Dragons (25-0) began the contest by digging a 6-0 hole.
But once one shot fell, they were off to the races … and it wasn’t just one or two players leading the way.
When it was all said and done, six different players finished with eight points or more. The display was the very definition of balance.
“It’s nice because you can always tell our kids to make the right basketball play,” Buchanan said. “The right basketball play is always the right pass. We can always make that pass because we have great players. So if someone’s open and you draw and kick, that’s the right play every single time. With these kids, it just makes us different from other teams.”
Fairland senior Tomi Hinkle continued to be different from other players.
The Dragons’ point guard made the team’s offense run smoothly before finishing with a game-high 15 points alongside 10 rebounds and four assists.
But that’s nothing out of the ordinary. It’s the type of performance she’s put forth all year long.
“[Fairfield Union] has done a really good job of applying pressure all year long,” Buchanan said. “Tomi handled that really well and she went right through it. In the second half, her offensive rebounding … It seemed like every time we missed a shot, she was there. It’s just a straight hustle from her. She has a motor and she’s been that way for four years.”
Tale of the tape
The Falcons (15-10) got three consecutive scores from Nicole Terry, Christian Thompson and Elly Lewis to begin the game on a 6-0 run. Fairland’s first points came via two free throws from Addison Godby before Fairfield Union went ahead 8-2 with a bucket from Thompson.
But that proved to be a turning point as the Dragons ripped off a quarter-ending 9-2 run — courtesy of Bailey Russell and Kam Barnitz, who scored all of those nine points.
In the second, following baskets from Thompson and Terry, the Falcons held a 14-11 lead with seven minutes left. When Terry scored again with just over six minutes to go, Fairfield Union had a 17-13 edge.
The lead, at 23-20, was still intact with 3:42 remaining in the first half, following scores from Thompson and Elly Lewis. However, Hinkle scored four straight before Barnitz added a pair of free throws for a 26-23 lead change at the 1:30 mark.
From there, Hinkle scored again and Russell got a lay-in to fall with 6.2 seconds remaining, giving their Dragons a 30-24 advantage at the break.
“I thought our ball pressure started to get to [Fairfield Union] a little bit,” Buchanan said. “I’m just super-proud of our kids. We haven’t had a lot of times this year where we’ve had someone with us in the second quarter. So credit to our kids for staying focused.”
In the third, put simply, it was all Fairland.
Allen scored just 16 seconds into the action before Russell and Godby followed suit to make it a 37-26 lead. That advantage swelled to 41-29 after a bucket from Barnitz with 3:04 left.
Meanwhile, Russell was tasked with chasing Thompson, who scored 12 points in the first half. After Fairland made that switch, the Falcons’ star sophomore scored just two more.
“I thought Bailey did a phenomenal job on her. Thompson had a really good first quarter. But once we put Bailey on her, she kind of disappeared,” Buchanan said. “She’s just a freshman and she did a phenomenal job.”
Allen scored at the 2:01 and 1:21 marks while Barnitz stretched the lead to 51-31 with 1:07 left. Hinkle then ended the third with a bucket through contact, putting the game officially out of reach with Fairland leading 54-31.
From there, a district championship celebration started early.
“We had turned the ball over a lot [early], so we realized, let’s maybe not do that,” Hinkle said. “Once we got on a run, we were fine. Some of us were nervous but once we played, we were fine. That’s especially when we made a basket. We just relaxed.”
Stat book
Following Hinkle’s totals was Russell, who had 13 points and five rebounds. Allen finished with 13 points and eight boards, Gobdy had 10 points and eight rebounds, and Barnitz and Kylee Bruce totaled nine and eight points, respectively.
Fairfield Union was led by Thompson, who tallied 14 points while Terry added 14 points and seven rebounds. Lewis ended the game with nine points to round out the brunt of the Falcons’ scoring.
What’s on tap
While the Falcons’ season reaches its end, Fairland will now look towards a Division II regional semifinal.
That game will take place at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at Zanesville High School’s Winland Gymnasium. The Dragons’ opponent? Chillicothe Unioto, who will also enter the game at 25-0.
“There were a lot of times where we got the ball in the paint and we tried to force a shot,” Buchanan said. “The best shot for us is always the open shot. So we have to read that a little more. We’ll go back and watch film and see we still turned the ball over too many times. That number has to get lower for us to go where we really want to go.”
BOX SCORE
Fairfield Union: 10-14-7-8 — 39
Fairland: 11-19-24-14 — 68
Fairfield Union: 15-48 FG, 6-12 FT, 3-14 3pt., 23 rebounds (Terry 7), 16 turnovers, 4 assists (Lewis 2). Scoring: Terry 14, Thompson 14, Lewis 9, Wilkinson 2.
Fairland: 22-59 FG, 19-22 FT, 5-18 3pt., 44 rebounds (Hinkle 10), 12 turnovers, 9 assists (Hinkle 4). Scoring: Hinkle 15, Russell 13, Allen 13, Godby 10, K. Barnitz 9, Bruce 8.
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