By Mitchell Pate
news@fairfield-recorder.com
It’s going to be a big game for Fairfield on Tuesday night, Feb. 20, as the Lady Eagles take on the Rice Lady Bulldogs in the Regional Quarterfinals at Navarro College in Corsicana at 6 p.m.
Fairfield (33-2) and Rice Lady (22-5) will meet up once again this year in the playoffs. Last year, the Lady Eagles defeated the Lady Bulldogs, 47-43, in the Regional Final to advance to the State Tournament.
“It’s going to be a big game. Rice is a great team and they have a great player,” Fairfield Head Coach Sally Whitaker said. “It is going to challenge us, but I know our girls are looking forward to it.”
Rice has three seniors and the rest on the team are sophomores and freshmen. Senior Saniya Burks has been leading the Lady Bulldogs all season.
Senior Avery Thaler says the key is going to be to shut down their best player and run the fast offense that Fairfield runs.
“We are very prepared to face Rice in the next round. Our team has the same mind set of relentless defense. We know they have one strong player that we will shut down and we have to be sure we play our game, but I know we will execute that,” Thaler said. “We are faster than them and can run the court, getting fast breaks. We also need to play our strong defensive game in order to get steals and again, shut their girl down.”
Junior Jimilyah Nash says the team needs to be on the same page going into the game against Rice.
“We really just need to stay humble and focused these next few weeks if we want to get back to the big stage again,” Nash said. “As an individual, my mindset going into the game Tuesday is to be confident in myself as well as my team. I am going to play my hardest each time I step on the floor and make things happen offensively, and especially defensively. As a team, our mindset going into the game is obviously to win, but to also be good teammates and trust each other. We will have to play with urgency and be consistent.”
The winner between Fairfield and Rice will advance to the Regional Tournament at Midway High School to take on the winner of Hitchcock and Anderson-Shiro in the Regional Semi-Finals on Friday, Feb. 23.
“Our whole team is extremely grateful and thankful for all the love and support we have received from the community,” Nash ended. “It doesn’t go unnoticed and we hope that we will continue to make everyone proud.”
Area Championship
On Friday night, Feb. 16, the Fairfield Lady Eagles knocked-off the Mildred Lady Eagles, 70-38, in the Area Championship at Corsicana High School.
“We started strong and kept the momentum going,” Whitaker said. “We had a lot of fast breaks and steals on the night. The girls did a great job.”
It was all Fairfield from the beginning as the Lady Eagles took a 17-7 lead in the first quarter. Fairfield added 20 points to the board in the second quarter and held Mildred to just 5 points to increase their lead to 37-12 at halftime.
The Lady Eagles came out strong in the third quarter scoring 25 points; Jacelynn Schmidt scored 10 of those points mainly on fast breaks. Mildred outscored Fairfield 20-8 in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t nearly enough as the Lady Eagles took the big 70-38 victory.
Kaylee Williams led the way for the Lady Eagles with 14 points. Jacelynn Schmidt added 12 points, Blayke Brackens 10, Avery Thaler 9, Jaci Abram and Delaney McGowan 7 each, Lillian McBean 4, Jimilyah Nash 3, and Rhett Ralstin and Jalecia McMillian 2 apiece.
“It was fun (Friday)and it is a cool experience getting to play for the Lady Eagles,” sophomore Delaney McGowan said. “We are so excited to advance and to take on Rice. We are going to play hard and run our fast defense. We are going to push the ball every chance we get.”