ZANESVILLE — A high school basketball game takes 32 minutes to play. The Fairland Lady Dragons needed about one-fourth of that time.
The Lady Dragons made quick work of West Muskingum to start the game as they took an early 14-point lead and blew past the Lady Tornadoes 63-22 on Tuesday in the Division 2 regional semifinals.
The sends Fairland (25-1) into the regional finals for the second straight season as they face Sheridan (26-0) at 7 p.m. Friday with a berth in the Final Four at stake.
Sheridan beat Carrollton 59-42.
Fairland came out of the game with a 10-4 run and then got a layup by Kamryn Barnitz and 3-pointers by Bailey Russell and Isa Taliaferro to make it 20-5.
West Muskingum’s Laney Johnson made a layup and a 15-footer and cut the deficit to 20-9, but Barnitz sank a free throw and Addison Godby rebounded the missed second free throw and scored with 4 seconds left for a 23-9 lead.
Jayden Thornton scored to start the second quarter and it was 23-11, but Russell drilled a 3-pointer, Bree Allen, Godby and Kylee Bruce all made layups and suddenly the lead was 32-11.
Antonetz stopped the bleeding for a moment but Russell made a layup and Barnitz finished out the half with a free throw and then a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left and it was 38-13 at the break.
The Lady Dragons didn’t break stride coming out of the locker room as Russell hit back-to-back 3-pointers and it was 44-13.
The Lady Tornadoes (23-4) finally scored on a pair of free throws by Thornton at the 4:09 mark, She also made a layup with 1:52 left in the quarter only to have Bruce drill a trifecta.
Lyla Johnson made West Muskingum’s only3-pointer but Barnitz drove for a layup and Fairland led 51-20 at the end of the third quarter.
Bruce hit a pair of 3-pointers, Allen followed with one of her own and Taliaferro converted a 3-pointer play as the lead grew to 63-20.
Thornton’s baseline shot with 20 seconds left capped the scoring as most of the fourth quarter was played with a running clock.
Bruce scored 20 points to go with 6 rebounds and 4 assists to lead a balanced Fairland attack. Russell got 16 points while Allen had 10 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists.
Barnitz had a game-high 9 rebounds while Godby had 8 assists and 4 steals.
Fairland shot 23-of-50 from the field for 46 percent and connected on 12-of-26 from behind the arc for 46.2 percent.
Thornton had 11 points to lead the Lady Tornadoes.
W. Muskingum 9 4 7 2 = 22
Fairland 23 15 13 12 = 63
WEST MUSKINGUM (23-4): Debra Allen 0 0 2-2 2, Laney Johnson 2 0 0-0 4, Teriauna Bradford 0 0 0-0 0, Lydiah Huey 0 0 0-0 0, Lyla Johnson 0 1 0-0 3, Hannah Roberts 0 0 0-0 0, Taylor Spung 0 0 0-2 0, Addy Antonetz 1 0 0-0 2, Jayden Thornton 4 0 3-4 11. Totals: 7 1 5-8 22. Fouls: 7. Fouled out: None.
FAIRLAND (25-1): Addison Godby 2-6 0-0 0-0 4, Bree Allen 1-3 2-4 2-4 10, Kamryn Barnitz 1-4 1-5 2-4 7, Bailey Russell 2-3 4-9 0-0 16, Kylee Bruce 4-6 4-5 0-0 20, Teagan Leep 0-0 0-1 0-0 0, Isa Taliaferro 1-2 1-2 1-1 6, Haliegh Miller 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Sierra Pemberton 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Katie McIntyre 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Avery Byers 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Hannah Taylor 0-0 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 23-50 5-9 63. 3-pt goals: 12-26. Rebounds: 34 (Barnitz 9, Allen 8, Bruce 6). Assists: 19 (Godby 8, Allen 4, Bruce 4). Steals: 12 (Godby 4). Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None.
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