LIBERTY TWP. — Fairfield High School girls basketball coach Carl Woods said getting his Indians in position to win wasn’t always an obstacle.
It was trying to keep them healthy.
No. 17 seed Fairfield struggled to produce some consistency on offense and couldn’t close out its Division I sectional tournament game in a 38-34 overtime loss to No. 12 Lebanon on Thursday night at Lakota East.
“That’s a tough pill to swallow,” said Woods, whose Indians finished 11-12 in his first year at the helm “We had our opportunities, and we had our chances. A couple shots just didn’t go in for us. We got the stops we needed. We had opportunities in regulation to seal the deal — they just didn’t go in for us.”
Fairfield was bit by the injury bug all season long, according to Woods. So getting the right mix out on the court posed a nagging issue.
“That’s kind of been the story of our season,” Woods said. “We are so beat up. Just battered.”
Juniors Jasmine Opoku and Hailei Henderson, who put in decent minutes when they were on the court, missed 22 games altogether and averaged a combined 9.4 points a contest.
Woods said senior Kylee Booker just came back from an ankle injury. Booker finished with six points on Thursday.
Junior Kimberlin Samples and sophomore Kayla McCoy each scored eight points to pace the Indians.
Lebanon (16-7) moves on to face No. 11 Harrison on Wednesday, Feb. 15, at 7:30 p.m. at Lakota East.
The Warriors used an 11-0 run in the first quarter to build the game’s largest lead at 15-6. Then Booker banked in a 3-pointer at the first-quarter buzzer to cut Lebanon’s lead to 15-9.
Fairfield held Lebanon to just one made field goal in the second quarter, but the Warriors still took a 21-17 advantage into the half.
“That was one of our better defensive outings that we’ve had,” Woods said. “I challenged them at halftime to play better and stop being nervous or whatever was going on with them. They responded. They woke up. They got after it, and we were rolling.”
The Indians won the third quarter 11-4 and took a 28-25 lead into the fourth.
But Fairfield went scoreless for nearly seven minutes, and Maddie Mueller drained a 3-pointer to put Lebanon back on top 30-28 midway through the fourth. A McCoy jumper tied it back up at 30-30 with 1:52 showing.
“In regulation, we just missed some shots down the stretch,” Woods said. “The looks were there.”
Braylyn Mattox put the Warriors ahead 32-30 with 1:39 left to play, and McCoy tied it back up at the 35-second mark.
The Indians had two reasonable looks at the rim but came up empty at the end of regulation. Lebanon won the overtime period, 6-2.
Mattox had a game-high 15 points, and Mueller had 11 for the Warriers.
Fairfield shot 25% from the floor in the first half, 25% in the second half and 12.5% in the extra period.
“We just make some errant passes or a couple mental lapses and give the game away,” Woods said. “Just one play didn’t go their way, and we couldn’t let it go.
“We talk about control the controllables. Control what you can control — your effort, your attitude, your body language,” Woods added. “Don’t flinch — it was one of our mottos. If you make a mistake, who cares? Get it back. It seemed like they flinched a little too long, and it caught up to us.”
While the Indians graduate Booker, Breyel Kidd and Adrianna Givens, Woods said down the road looks bright.
“I’m excited, but it does sting to lose,” Woods said. “I’m excited about the future of this program — the pipeline.”
