The Fairfield Lady Eagles qualified for their fifth state semifinal in six years with a dominating second half performance over the Academy Lady Bees in the Region III final at Hewitt’s Panther Gymnasium Friday night. Fairfield will take on the Corpus Christi West Oso Lady Bears Tuesday at Houston Delmar, the game is set for a 4:00pm tipoff.
The week began with a long road trip to Conroe for the Regional semifinal game with an old foe in the Hitchcock Lady Bulldogs. Fairfield came into the game following the overtime win against Grandview and both teams had been state ranked all season.
Taryl Jones hit a short jumper to put the Bulldogs ahead early and Slyiah Johnson hit a three-pointer to maintain a first quarter lead. Blayke Brackens dipped inside for a score and Jaci Abram had a pair of buckets, each off passes from Jimilyah Nash and a base line drive for the score. Fairfield bolted ahead at 6-5. Brackens hit a three pointer and then passed to Kole Brackens for a score. Jacelynn Schmidt tacked on the final score of the period. Johnson hit three free throws to keep pace, but the Lady Eagles led 17-13 after the first period.
Fairfield took control of the second period early with a pair of Nash buckets. She scored seven of the 14 in the period. The Lady Eagle defense turned up the heat and only allowed one of 14 shooting for Hitchcock in the period. Fairfield added ten points to the lead and had a 31-17 advantage at the half.
The teams continued defensive pressure to open the second half. Nash, Abram and Schmidt each scored in the period for their only six points in the frame. Spells and Kimora Carroll scored for Hitchcock for their only points in the low scoring period. Fairfield led the period 6-4 and had a 20-8 scoring advantage over the middle two periods.
Hitchcock cut the lead to eight with a high-octane defense that produced scores in four of their first five possessions. Jones led that run with four and Hitchcock cut the lead to 40-32. That is as close as they would get. Fairfield did not hit a shot from the field in the fourth period but made nine of 13 free throws to close out a 46-33 regional semifinal victory.
Fairfield advanced to their seventh consecutive regional final at the site where the game would have been played if the regional tournament format had remained. With the teams separating into two divisions at the beginning of the playoffs, making all games in San Antonio a state final. So, the site of Midway High School was home to the Lady Eagles for the seventh straight year.
Waiting in the regional final was the Academy Lady Bees. They had faced the Lady Eagles back in the Fairfield Invitational Tournament in December and gave Fairfield one of their six losses with a ten-point win.
Journee White opened the scoring with a long distance shot to put the Bees in the lead. Jaci Abram answered for the Lady Eagles and was fouled but missed the free throw and the Bees maintained an early lead. Willow Dorsey added a pair of three pointers and Blayke Brackens countered with one of her own. Schmidt scored twice in the paint and Fairfield kept pace and the teams were tied at 13 after one.
Kaylee Williams and Nash hit threes to begin the second period to build a 19-15 lead. Hope Tomasek also hit a pair in the second period. Keke Alexander came off the bench when Fairfield guards got into a bit of foul trouble and hit a three pointer from the top and Schmidt scored again to build a 24- 17 lead and force a Lady Bees timeout. Out of the time out, Nash scored twice, and Addison Posey drained a three pointer from the baseline in the final seconds of the period. A late score from Academy at the buzzer put the score at 31-27 with the Lady Eagles holding the advantage.
Schmidt and Brackens scored in the first moments of the second half and built the largest lead of the game on Williams three-pointer. Academy converted three of eleven shooting in the third period.
Nash and Williams finished the period with scores and the Lady Eagles hit three of four free throws and built a 47-35 lead heading into the fourth period.
The Lady Eagles worked the clock in the fourth period. Williams drove inside for a score and was fouled, and she made the free throw to hold the double-digit lead. She had two key steals in the period to stop two Academy possessions. The Lady Bees began fouling and the Lady Eagles knocked down six of nine free throws to close out 61-43 win.
Fairfield hit 16-29 in the final three periods to build and seal the Region III win. Schmidt led all scorers with 16 points, Williams added 12 and Nash scored 11.
Fairfield moves into the state final four in Class 3A Division I and will face the Corpus Christi West Oso Lady Bears on Tuesday at Houston Delmar-Tusa Sports Complex on Tuesday at 4pm. The winner advances to the state final in the San Antonio Alamodome on Friday at 1pm.
