Derrick Webb, Staff Writer
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
ZANESVILLE — For the third time in school history, Fairland’s girls basketball program will hang a regional championship banner in their rafters.
CREDIT: Jenny Webb/SOSA
The Dragons continued a historically dominant season on Friday evening, running away from Granville in a Division II regional final at Zanesville High School.
The bus ride from Proctorville to Winland Gymnasium is nearly a three-hour trip.
So bet your bottom dollar that after a 41-25 win over the Blue Aces, the Dragons had ample opportunity to celebrate their 27th victory in as many tries this winter — and, by far, the largest one to date.
“I told the kids in the locker room that there was a lot of expectations for this team,” Fairland coach Jon Buchanan said. “But then we got moved up to Division II. But we never focused on that. We focused on us. It didn’t matter what division we played in. Nobody ever said a word about it. But there’s a difference between having expectations and meeting them. But it says a ton about our kids, being able to meet them under pressure.”
Fairland’s Reece Barnitz started the night’s scoring with a 3 from the corner pocket, giving the Dragons an early lead with 6:37 to go in the first quarter.
Kam Barnitz followed suit with 4:52 left, making it 6-0, before Bree Allen completed an 8-0 run with a lay-in, forcing Granville to go into a timeout.
After the Blue Aces got on the board at the 2:24 mark, Kylee Bruce found Addison Godby under the bucket for an old-fashioned three-point play, giving the Dragons an 11-2 lead after one.
In the second, Fairland’s defense continued to swarm around the basketball.
While Granville successfully slowed the game’s pace, the Blue Aces mightily struggled to put the ball in the hoop through the first four minutes. Meanwhile, Tomi Hinkle nailed a deep splash with 3:14 to go, putting the Dragons ahead 16-6.
“Granville is a very good defensive team,” Buchanan said. “I mean, they gave up six points in their regional semifinal. Everything we had seen on film showed them to be a very good half-court defense. So we wanted to pressure them and try to get in transition. They did a great job in transition defense. They took that away. They’re well-coached. But we focused on being good defensively. You don’t normally win shootouts in the regional tournament. You have to win on the defensive end.”
Granville finally got a 3-ball to fall with 2:19 to play, courtesy of Ava Gossman, but Allen and Bailey Russell answered with scores to make it a 20-9 ballgame at the break.
Early in the third, Taylor Warehime and Harper Annarino drilled 3-balls for the Blue Aces, cutting Fairland’s lead to 22-15 with 5:21 to go.
But the Dragons continued to return punches.
Kam Barnitz got a runner to fall before hitting her second triple with 3:18 left, making it 27-15. Godby scored at the 2:44 mark after a gorgeous pass from Hinkle found the freshman inside the paint, which was followed by a bucket from Russell with 1:20 remaining.
By the start of the fourth, Fairland was in full control, owning a 31-17 advantage.
Neither team scored in the fourth until Russell got a bucket and a foul shot to fall with 5:08 left, stretching the Dragons’ lead to 34-17. When that happened, Fairland could taste a victory.
Cruise control was enabled, the Dragons salted time off the clock and a third regional championship plaque — to alongside 2014 and 2015 — was added to the school’s trophy case.
Kam Barnitz led the Dragons with 10 points while Russell added nine of her own. Allen also had nine points alongside five rebounds while Godby finished with seven points. Hinkle added three points, six boards and four assists.
“Balance is going to be important moving forward,” Buchanan said. “It’s like, ‘Who are you going guard? Who can they take away?’ It’s hard to take away somebody on our team because you’re giving something else up. That’s kind of been our M.O. all year long. We’ve been blessed with the kids we have to be able to do that.”
Fairland now advances to a Division II state semifinal at 1 p.m. on Thursday. That game will be played at the University of Dayton Arena against either Canal Fulton Northwest — a 51-29 winner over Canfield on Friday.
“It does’t matter what environment we’re playing in. We just want to be ourselves,” Buchanan said. “We didn’t change much out here tonight. We were us. We just said, ‘Hey, what we’ve been doing has been working.’ We may have to execute at a higher level, but we don’t change much. Fairland High School has been in the state tournament five times, boys and girls combined. But there’s never been a win. We haven’t come this far just to come this far.”
BOX SCORE
Granville: 2-7-8-8 — 25
Fairland: 11-9-11-10 — 41
Granville: 9-33 FG, 2-4 FT, 5-15 3pt., 22 rebounds (Hoover 7), 17 turnovers, 3 assists (Hoover 2). Scoring: Gossman 8, Annarino 7, Warehime 5, Moore 3, Schneider 2.
Fairland: 15-41 FG, 7-9 FT, 4-18 3pt., 22 rebounds (Hinkle 6), 13 turnovers, 10 assists (Hinkle 4). Scoring: K. Barnitz 10, Russell 9, Allen 9, Godby 7, Hinkle 3, R. Barnitz 3.
SPONSORED BY RICKEY SHIFKO — STATE FARM
