Top scorers get the best of Fairfield girls

Serena Ward scored 25 for Fairfield but was outdueled by Mount Pleasant?s Taylor Shull and her final tally of 36 points as Shull?s Panthers held off the Trojans 68-59 Friday night.

The marks were both career highs for the pair of juniors, but Shull?s 12 fourth-quarter points helped Mount Pleasant from a four-point lead to begin the final period to a 10-point lead half way through. Fairfield climbed back to within six with 2:45 remaining, but the Panthers salted away the rest.

?Basketball is a game of momentum, and we could never really get it,? said Fairfield head coach Billy Strickler. ?We had our chances, but just missed a couple shots that would?ve been huge and next thing you know Mount Pleasant stretches the lead a little bit again.?

Fairfield never held a lead after the opening minutes, but clawed back time and again only to fall short of evening the score. Sidney Baumann and Jessica Lamb scored four straight points for the Trojans to make the score 34-32 late in the second quarter. Ward got Fairfield within three at halftime and Baumann shrunk the Mount Pleasant lead to four entering the fourth.

But the Panthers, mainly because of Shull, always had an answer.

?We?ve played some tough games already this year, and the girls have shown they aren?t going to give up,? said Mount Pleasant head coach Rob McLeland. ?Even if we did fall behind, I?m not sure it would have mattered a whole lot with how they play.?

With the scoreboard reading 47-43 at the third-quarter horn, Shull scored the first four points of the period then found Natalie Booton for a deep jumper in the corner to make the score 53-45 and put Mount Pleasant in control.

?We busted our tails, but caught them on a pretty good shooting night,? Strickler said. ?We did what we needed to, and I was hoping to keep the game in the 50?s, but we just gave up a few too many points.?

Shull started the hot shooting for Mount Pleasant from the opening tip as she scored 12 points in the first period including two hits from behind the 3-point arc. The junior didn?t miss a shot aside from a last-second heave at the buzzer and helped build the Panthers? lead to 21-13 at the first break.

?If they?re going in, I have to keep shooting, and I just do what the team needs,? she said. ?My total doesn?t really matter as long as we get the win.?

Shull finished 12-of-17 from the floor including 3-of-5 from 3-point land and 9-of-10 at the free throw line while never taking a seat on the bench. Taylor Neil and Erin Thompson both fouled out trying to shadow the first-team All-SEC performer from last year.

?If it?s a close game, she doesn?t come out. She picked up her third foul in the third quarter, but there wasn?t any doubt that we needed her out there,? said McLeland. ?We have to have her offense out there, and more so her ball handling, especially with the press that Fairfield threw out to slow us down a little bit.?

Little sister Taryne Shull put in 12 points and seven rebounds while Rebekah Kimzey and Natalie Myers also had a team-high seven boards.

Behind Ward, Baumann finished with 12 points and Tori Ogden scored six for Fairfield.

Ottumwa 70, Fairfield 42

OTTUMWA ? With both squads playing their second game in less than 24 hours, it was Ottumwa that had the legs to run away from Fairfield late.

The Bulldogs (2-3) killed Fairfield?s will with a big run to close the third quarter and stayed out of reach with another big fourth quarter to earn 70-42 victory.

Sidney Baumann and Serena Ward pulled Fairfield within six at 30-24 early in the third quarter, but Ottumwa answered with a 9-0 run. The Trojans made it a single-digit deficit once more late in the period, but Ottumwa scored eight straight heading into the fourth.

One night removed from Mount Pleasant?s Taylor Shull slicing through the Fairfield (1-3) defense for 36 points, Ottumwa?s Kelsey Nickerson scored 26 points to lead the Bulldogs. Nickerson

Serena Ward had another big night scoring 20 points, but poor shooting overall once again doomed the Trojans. Fairfield hit 6-of-13 from downtown, but made just 8-of-40 from inside the arc.

Next up for Fairfield is a visit to Albia Tuesday night.