The Fairfield Lady Eagles dominated the Region III tournament and earned a trip to their third consecutive State Tournament at the Alamodome in San Antonio. They will face Region I winner Idalou at 1:30pm in the opening game of the afternoon session.
Fairfield cruised through the Friday night game with a lopsided victory over the Hitchcock Lady Bulldogs at Waco Midway High School in the Region III tournament.
#13 Avery Thaler jumps to prevent a pass.
The Lady Eagles got a put back off an offensive rebound from Emori Davis to take the early lead and then Chloe Countee hit a three pointer to give the Lady Bulldogs the 3-2 lead. That would be the last lead of the night when the Lady Eagles got hot with scoring and earned a big lead. Shadasia Brackens took a couple of passes and turned them into points. Shadasia Brackens found McKinna Brackens for a quick score and Addie Cox scored off of an inside out pass from Breyunna Dowell. Jarahle Daniels hit a short jumper and a three-pointer sandwiching an inside score from Avery Thaler. That would stretch the lead out to 29-16 on an 8-0 run to end the period.
#20 Shadasia Brackens rises up.
Shadasia Brackens, Dowell, and a three pointer from McKinna Brackens continued the streak into the second period. The run of 17-0 was stopped by a timeout and then Thaler, Daniels, Dowell scored to continue the run. Jaylnn Calloway buried a three pointer and the streak ended at 34-0 when Genesis Carter hit a shot for their only points of the period and a 55-18 halftime lead.
The Lady Eagles opened the second half with another run of 20-0 with Dowell scored the first six points and Shadasia Brackens adding scores and recording her tenth steal of the game. Carter would hit a free throw in the third period to end a 54-2 dominating run by the Fairfield Lady Eagles and took a 79-22 lead into the final period.
#23 Emori Davis keeps an eye on the action.
The only remaining question was whether Fairfield would top the 100-point mark for the second time in three weeks. Daniels hit a three pointer with 4:03 remaining in the contest and the Lady Eagle offense ran over a minute of the clock standing out front to all the clock to run and finish the game 102-29.
Malakoff would be the opponent in the regional final with their 57-42 win over Nacogdoches Central Heights Lady Devils in the second game of the Friday action.
Dowell scored off the tip and Kyiah Hicks scored inside to tie the score. Daniels hit a three pointer but the inside game kept the Lady Tigers close. Shadasia Brackens scored along with Daniels began a run to build a lead. McKinna Brackens hit a three pointer in the final minute to double the score at 16-8 at the end of the first period.
Malakoff turned up the defensive heat and closed the gap to five on a basket and foul by Mia Jackson and a pair of scores from freshman Hillary Dawson. Daniels hit a three and Shadasia Brackens scored on two baskets when she forced her way inside and the low scoring period put the Lady Eagles ahead 28-14 at the half.
McKinna Brackens scored 11 of the 15 points in the third period to open the scoring in the second half. Hicks and Jackson held the gap at near ten but the lead swelled to 43-25 in the final seconds of the third. Jackson hit a baseline three pointer at the buzzer to close to 43-28 but the momentum was clearly on the side of Fairfield.
Fairfield held onto the lead throughout the fourth period and earned the trip to the state tournament representing Region III.
“We knew that Malakoff was going to be a tough matchup for us. I thought the girls handled the adversity extremely well today. Each time Malakoff made a run, the girls responded,” state head coach Sally Whitaker following the game.
The Fairfield Lady Eagles have upped the expectation level for girls’ athletics at the school and in the community. Whitaker added. “There is definitely a lot of pressure when that is the expectation, but I wouldn’t want there to be a different expectation. I’m proud that these girls share the same expectation and the fan support has been awesome as well.”
Fairfield will take on the Idalou Wildcats in the Class 3A state semifinal on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. and the other state semifinal will be Bishop and Winnsboro. The state final will be at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday morning.
Follow the state tournament ride right here in the Freestone County Times.
(Photos by Ayden Peters)
