WAVERLY — For 16 minutes, what could possibly be a major upset was brewing.
Then in just two minutes, all the suspense was gone and seemed to cool the tea kettle.
Leading the upset-minded Ironton Lady Fighting Tigers by just 4 points at halftime, the Fairland Lady Dragons made their move quickly to begin the second half and went on to post a 72-51 win in the Division 5 district semifinals on Tuesday at the Waverly Downtown Arena.
Fairland (18-5) will play North Adams at 2:30 p .m. Saturday at the Waverly Downtown Arena in the district finals.
Both teams came out with a full court press and the turnovers started to pile up as Ironton had 9 and Fairland committed 6.
The Lady Dragons opened the game with an 11-2 run before Lola Hankins made a layup for Ironton to stop the run.
Fairland led 15-4 when Hankins hit a baseline shot and free throw ignited a 9-2 run by the Lady Fighting Tigers that ended when Emerson White sank 2 foul shots with 26 seconds on the clock and it was 17-15.
Fairland got a 3-pointer by Isa Taliaferro to begin the second quarter and Addison Cornell’s layup put the lead at 22-15.
Layups by Lexi McCall and Hankins made it 26-23 and then Bailey Russell scored inside for Fairland and it was 28-23.
But White drilled a 3-pointer at the 2:17 marks and it was 28-26.
Russell made back-to-back layups for a 34-28 lead before McCall’s layup with 2 seconds left in the half had the score 34-30.
Fairland came out and went on a 7-0 run to start the second half to take charge of the game. Russell stole the ball and converted a 3-point play and Addison Godby’s layup put the lead at 43-30 at the 6:01 mark.
Ironton (12-12) got within 47-40 on a 3-pointer by Hankins but the Lady Dragons scored 9 unanswered points before White’s layup stopped the bleeding and it was 56-42 with 1:03 in the clock.
Fairland took a 58-43 lead into the fourth quarter and a 3-pointer by Russell and a layup by Taegan Leep opened up a 63-44 lead and Ironton could never get any closer.
Godby led the Lady Dragons with 19 points11 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals. Russell got 17 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists while Addyson Cornelll got 15 points off the bench and Taliaferro had 9 rebounds and 4 assists.
Lola Hankins led all scorers with 25 points while White and Jolee Hankins scored 9 each.
Ironton 15 15 13 8 = 51
Fairland 17 17 24 14 = 72
IRONTON (12-12): Peyton Deer 0 0 0-2 0, Lola Hankins 7 2 5-8 25, Lexi McCall 3 0 0-0 6, Jolee Hankins 4 0 1-2 9, Emerson White 1 1 4-5 9, Trinity Sharp 0 0 0-0 0, Addison Neal 1 0 0-0 2, Paidynn Royal 0 0 0-0 0, Addison Murray 0 0 0-0 0, Chloie Patterson 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 3 10-18 51. Fouls: 8. Fouled out: None.
FAIRLAND (18-5): Isa Taliaferro 1 2 0-0 8, Ava Layne 3 0 1-1 7, Addison Godby 8 0 3-4 19, Kamryn Barnitz 3 0 0-0 6, Bailey Russell 5 1 4-4 17, Taegan Leep 0 0 0-0 0, Addyson Cornell 7 0 1-1 15, Haleigh Miller 0 0 0-0 0, Stella Whitley 0 0 0-0 0, Khloe Walters 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 31-67 9-10 72. 3-pt goals: 3-28. Rebounds: 37 (Godby 11, Taliaferro 9, Russell 5). Assists: 17 (Godby 5, Russell 5, Taliaferro 4). Steals: 16 (Godby 5, Layne 5). Turnovers: 13. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None.
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