Trojans fall short in OT

FAIRFIELD — Fairfield girls basketball got the better of Burlington once already this season in a tightly contested four point victory.

In the two’s Southeast Conference meeting on Friday, it was more of the same, but this time around the Trojans came up just short in a 68-62 loss to the Grayhounds in overtime.

The win was right in the Trojans hands with just 39.7 on the clock in the fourth.

Fairfield led 55-50 and then 57-51 with over 20 seconds remaining, but Burlington banked in a three with 17 seconds left to make it 57-54.

Back-to-back turnovers which led to fouls put the Grayhounds at the line and with 10.2 on the clock, Burlington went 3-4 from the stripe to tie it up at 57-57.

The score was the first time the Trojans didn’t hold the lead, going back to the end of the first quarter.

In overtime, Burlington won the game at the foul line. With both teams sitting at over 10 fouls, each were getting two shots a trip.

Fairfield put the first points on the board in the extra period with one shot from the line to make it 58-57, but they would never lead again.

A 4-0 run made it 61-58 and that marked an 11-5 run in overtime.

Burlington shot a total of 14 free throws in overtime, compared to Fairfield’s eight.

Fairfield controlled the game through much of the night.

Burlington’s largest lead of the first four quarter came with just two minutes to go in the first quarter at 11-5.

The Trojans dwindled that lead with an 8-2 run to the end of the first to make it 13-13 after one.

In the second, it was all Fairfield until the final moments of the quarter.

Fairfield outscored Burlington 20-8 until the 1:27 mark, but Burlington buried back-to-back threes, including one at the buzzer to go from 33-21 to 33-27.

In the third, Fairfield outscored Burlington 6-1 to start the quarter. The Grayhounds ran the rest of the quarter though, taking the scoring battle, 10-2, making it a 41-38 ballgame after three.

Burlington outscored Fairfield 19-16 in the fourth to force overtime.

Leading Fairfield on the night was Savannah Hollander with 22 points. Ashlyn Lisk added 15. Maddie Jones had nine. Briana Steele ended with seven. Addison Ferrel had five. Grace Lyon and Faith Jones each added two.

Fairfield drops to (2-12, 2-6) on the season.

The Trojans will be back on the court on Friday, Jan. 27 against Fort Madison.

“We put up over 60 point tonight,” Fairfield head coach Rebecca Becker said. “That’s huge for us. There’s were so many good things. When you lose it’s easy to look at the bad. The important thing for us is to not let this loss define our season. We have a lot of season left. We have to continue to get better. Despite the loss, we got better tonight.”