ANOTHER TWO POINTS for the Lady Eagles with this layup by Jaida Clark.
A pair of wins last week put the Fairfield Lady Eagles in control of first place in the District 19-4A standings. A road win over the Rusk Lady Eagles and a dominating win over the Palestine Lady Cats put the Lady Eagles at 6-0 with two games remaining.
Fairfield travelled to Rusk to battle the Rusk Lady Eagles on Tuesday and left with a 40-36 win. Jada Clark scored six in the first quarter and Josey Richardson added a three-pointer and took a 14-6 lead after one.
Breyanna Dowell scored six of her 12 points in the second quarter and had a 22-16 lead. Free throws told the rest of the story. Clark scored 17 points to lead all scorers in the win.
Fairfield returned home to face the Palestine Lady Cats in a pivotal district contest. They would tangle with perhaps the premier player in the district in senior Destanee Matthews. She had scored some high point totals and the hopes of the Lady Cats fell on her shoulders.
The Lady Eagles did a spectacular job of defending the scorer. They held Matthews scoreless through the first half on 12 shot attempts. The Lady Eagles hit nine of 14 in the first quarter and scored the first 18 points of the game. The Fairfield defense had seven steals and Belle Johnson hit a pair of three pointers. Ranina Hanzik hit a shot with 1:39 remaining in the first quarter and the Lady Eagles enjoyed a 21-2 lead.
Fairfield followed the first quarter with making five of seven from the field in the second and extended the lead to 32-9. Braden Bossier scored five in the quarter and Teyalla Simpson scored a basket. Lex Calhoun scored four for Palestine.
The Lady Eagles ran some clock in the third quarter and continued the masterful defensive job on Matthews. She scored her first basket of the game and scored eight in the quarter, but the game was a runaway and she was forced to keep shooting. Jarahle Daniels hit a three at the buzzer to extend the lead by another three to 44-18 heading into the final quarter.
Bossier had 14 points and 11 rebounds and Dowell added 12 points.
(Sports Photography by Melissa Lee)
