Trojan girls win, boys fall at buzzer

FAIRFIELD - Senior night brought the two polar opposite type of games for Fairifeld High School on Monday night against Albia. The girls blew the Lady Dees out 68-26, but the boys fell 60-57 on an NBA-range 3-pointer by Albia star Blake Chance.

Chance hit the game-winner with no time left on the clock. Albia had to in bound it the length of the court after Cameron Ledger banked in a huge 3-pointer of his own to tie the game at 57-57 with just 3.2 seconds left.

The Trojan boys trialed 17-14 after one quarter, but took a 28-26 lead at halftime. Albia won the third quarter by four points, to take a 39-37 advantage into the final period.

Fairfield trailed by seven points down the stretch, erasing the Albia lead in the final minute of the game to tie the game up. Drew Martin took over when the Trojans needed him the most, scoring 10 points in the fourth, and Ledger nailed the second-biggest shot of the game when his three found backboard and nylon.

'I was so proud of how our guys played and how hard they played,” Fairfield boys head coach Mick Flattery said. 'You would have never guessed in that game, against a team that's going to win the South Central Conference that we had only two wins. I really credit our guys.”

Martin finished the night with 16 points to lead the team. Elan Ledger netted 15. Cameron finished with 11. Max Wheaton had seven. J.J. Lane had four. Carter Ferrel scored three, and Ryan Higgins had one.

The Trojan girls trailed 7-1 in the middle of the first quarter and 7-4 after the period ended, with all four points coming from Hannah Simpson. The Trojans used a fierce full-court pressure defense to win the second quarter 25-8 and take a 29-15 lead into halftime. From that point on, it was all Trojans.

'We definitely started off slow,” said Trojan senior Shay Drish. 'Our shots weren't falling, but once we started our press, our intensity definitely got higher and we started to score more points.”

Drish scored 11 points on the game, only bested by Danielle Breen, who led the team with 19 points. Fourteen of those 19 points came in the third period.

Simpson ended the night with nine points. Darby Kaska scored eight. Delaney Breen and Destiny Gridley scored five each. Emily McAvan and Olivia Jones had three apiece, and Mallory Lyon scored four.

'We were moving the ball better,” said Trojan girls head coach Jeff Miller. 'We did a much better job defensively, as far as not letting them get three or four rebounds like they did. The girls did well. We got a win and tomorrow night we have Washington, so it was great to get some of those girls in and out and save some of their legs.”

The Fairfield girls are now 9-6 and will host the Demons tonight. The boys are 2-13 and will play host to Burlington on Thursday.