The Fairfield Lady Eagles completed the weekend with a gold bracket win in the Fairfield Invitational Basketball tournament. The Lady Eagle five wins over the weekend extend their record to 13-1 as they head more into district play beginning Tuesday night.
Fairfield was in pool play with Mount Vernon, Waco Connally and Breckenridge. Fairfield swept those games and entered the gold bracket with a semifinal game against the Neches Lady Tigers.
Neches came into the tournament out of pool C and defeated China Spring and Mexia in dominating fashion (55-32 and 55-27)
The other semifinal was the winner of pool B when the Madisonville Lady Mustangs swept Teague 60-45 and Covenant Christian 51-32. Connally was the fourth team into the gold bracket as the runner up to Fairfield.
Madisonville would enter the tournament final with a 57-53 win over Connally. Madisonville had pulled away slightly in the second half and held on for the win. Teague defeated Mexia in the consolation final 37-26 and Neches returned to defeat Connally in the third-place game 41-31.
Fairfield played through pool play in dominating fashion with a game one win over Mount Vernon 43-28. They led 25-8 at the half and Avery Thaler poured in 11 points to pace the Lady Eagle win. The second game was a win over Connally 56-37.
Jimilyah Nash nailed five three pointers en route to 25 points in the game and extended a 27-21 halftime lead. The final game of pool play ended in a game three win over the Breckenridge Lay Bucs 56-46. The Lady Eagles got balanced scoring led by K.K. Williams with ten.
The Lady Eagles faced Neches in the semifinal game and would face a tough matchup in the contest. Williams hit a pair of three-pointers and Nash added another and took a 12-8 lead. The lead was 20-17 at the half and Fairfield hit four of their first five of the second half and built a double-digit lead at 29-19. Hines scored the first eight points of the half and kept the Tigers close but Williams three pointer late in the game sealed a 39-31 win.
The Lady Eagles took on the Madisonville Lady Mustangs in the gold bracket tournament final and claimed a double digit win to claim the tournament title. Nash hit two shots from the field and all eight of her free throws and had a 24-18 halftime lead. Sophomore Blayke Brackens sparked the defense with a pair of steals and ignited the offense with six assists, leading to a 19-0 run. Nash finished with 23 points to lead the way and the Lady Eagles won 55-42.
Playing for the Lady Eagles include (front row) Addison Posey, Jimilyah Nash, Kaylee Williams, Lillian McBean, Delaney McGowan, Kristavia Nelms, (back row) Charlee Brackens, Rhett Ralstin, Blayke Brackens, Avery Thaler, Jaci Abram, Jacelynn Schmidt, and Jalecia McMillian.
(Photos by Natalia V. Marsters)
