State Champions! San Antonio Success Story

The Fairfield Lady Eagles played like they were on a mission. A mission through Central and East Texas basketball opponents on the way to the Alamodome. They worked and they delivered a second state title in three years.

The Fairfield Lady Eagles would face the Idalou Lady Wildcats in the first game of the afternoon session and then await their state final opponent, a matchup between region 2 champion Winnsboro and region 4 title winner Bishop.

Fairfield took the opening tip and appeared to work through some early game jitters. They grabbed a few offensive rebounds and Breyunna Dowell scored on one of the offensive rebounds to take the early lead. A quick turnover on a steal by McKinna Brackens led to the next score on a pass to Avery Thaler for the 4-0 lead. The period remained a defensive struggle, Jarahle Daniels hit a short jumper and Shadasia Brackens hit a jumper of her own. Fairfield scored ten points in the paint and led 14-9 at the end of the first period.

The lead swelled to 19-9 on a score from Thaler and a three-pointer by Daniels. The lead held through half of the period and McKinna Brackens nailed a short jumper to lead 21-11. Idalou would draw to within seven on a three pointer by McKenna Nodine and another score with a minute remaining in the half by Logan Heard.

Idalou would close the gap to 23-19 on a score by Brenlea Wallace and she hit the additional foul shot. That is as close as the Lady Wildcats would get for the remainder of the afternoon. Shadasia Brackens, McKinna Brackens and Dowell each had plays and scored that extended the lead to 32-20 with just under six minutes remaining in the third period. The lead would hold at around ten and Nodine hit a shot from long distance to close the gap to 37-30 at the end of the third period.

The teams exchanged scores in the opening moment of the final period. Dowell drove in for a scored and Shadasia Brackens hit one of two free throws and the lead grew back to double figures. In the 17-5 period, Thaler hit a shot and Daniels hit a pair of free throws and the game turned to the showing signs of victory when the final buzzer went off, sending Fairfield to its third straight state final.

Fairfield scored 32 points in the paint, 16 more than the Lady Wildcats and the Lady Eagles never trailed in the contest.

Fairfield would go on to win 54-35 over Idalou and advance to take on the Winnsboro Lady Raiders, a 62-52 win over Bishop in the second game of the session. Breyunna Dowell led all scorers with 17 points and seven rebounds and made five of nine free throw attempts. Shadasia Brackens scored 13 points and McKinna Brackens scored ten points and pulled down ten rebounds and added eight assists and seven steals.

As in many games this season, Fairfield controlled the opening tip and Dowell scored the easy basket. Faith Sechrist hit a three pointer to the Lady Raiders ahead in the early moments of the game. Emori Davis hit a three pointer to put the Lady Eagles back in the lead and Brackens scored near the middle of the first period. Daniels made a three pointer to extend the lead to 16-10 with two minutes remaining. Faith Acker score in the final seconds of the first period for Winnsboro and closed the gap to 16-12.

Fairfield jumped the lead to eight in the first seconds of the second period. Shadasia Brackens and Dowell scored to give the Lady Eagles a 20-12 lead. Fairfield has had very few teams put multiple points on them but Winnsboro would go on a 7-0 run to slice the lead to one. Halle Deaton, Acker and Halle Derst scored off of missed Fairfield shots and closed to 20-16. The game remained close and the Lady Eagles tied the score at 28-28 on a pair of free throws by Reese Lindley. Dowell and Daniels took over and went on a 6-0 run to close the first half with the Lady Eagles leading 34-28.

The Fairfield lead swelled to eight on a score by Dowell and then to double digits on a layup by Thaler. The Lady Eagle lead was 40-30 with just under six minutes remaining the period. Winnsboro battle back into contention on a three pointer by Deaton, followed up by a three pointer by Lindley, that was countered by one on the other end by Daniels. McKinna Brackens pulled a rebound and started the Lady Eagle offense in motion and passed to Shadasia Brackens for the 49-41 lead at the end of the third period.

Acker scored to cut the lead to 49-43 and then later she added another to get to 49-45. The lead would close to as close as two with 4:43 remaining in regulation when Acker tipped in two of her game high 24 points. Shadasia Brackens and Dowell scored to grow the lead back up to six at four minutes remaining. Winnsboro went to repeated fouls to send Fairfield to the bonus. McKinna Brackens hit a pair of free throws and Daniels hit one of two. Daniels added two more free throws to increase the lead to 60-49. The Lady Eagle defense held on the by holding Winnsboro to five points, which was a 5-0 run to end the game. Fairfield missed their final ten free throws in the game but held on for the state title victory 60-54.

Dowell led the Lady Eagles with 20 points on 10-18 shooting, and was named the tournament’s most valuable player. Shadasia Brackens scored 16 points and Daniels add 11 points and seven assists.

“I’m just really proud of these girls for handling the pressure that comes with getting to the state tournament the last three years. In this tournament, we had to use pressure on defense and tire opponents out and it paid off,” stated head coach Sally Whitaker following the game.
Fairfield trailed in the state tournament for 29 seconds in two games. “It’s definitely tough for any team to play from behind, us included. It’s important for us to have a good start.”

McKinna Brackens, Shadasia Brackens, and Breyunna Dowell earned all-tournament team honors along with, Logan Heard from Idalou and Faith Acker from Winnsboro.

Jarahle Daniels, Breyunna Dowell and Emori Davis played their final game as a Fairfield Lady Eagle on the game’s grandest stage. It concludes a sparkling career by all three ladies and their success of the program will certainly leave its mark. The finished their career with a 131-17 record, with the final three years at 104-7 and three state title appearances with two titles, one in Class 4A, and one in Class 3A.

Click here to read The Times’ special State Championship edition.