Trojans still control own destiny in SEC after loss

The Fairfield girls' basketball team fell to 5-4 overall and 2-1 in Southeast Conference play with a 60-47 home loss to rival Keokuk in the FHS gymnasium.

Quick start

The first basket of the ball game came on a Destiny Gridley 3-point shot before she assisted Malory Jones, followed by a Shay Drish assist to Jones for a 7-4 advantage for the Trojans in the early minutes of the first period.

The Chiefs took their first lead, 8-7, with 4:23 on the clock and Fairfield called a timeout three minutes later after an 11-0 run gave Keokuk a 15-7 edge.

The final points of the quarter were tallied by Kara Jeffrey who hit two foul shots with 67 seconds left in the opening frame.

Climbing the hill

The Trojans refused to give up with Drish scoring the first points of the quarter for Fairfield on an and 1 with 5:57 remaining in the half to cut their deficit to 21-12. Gridley had a layup in transition before Drish had another and 1 with four minutes left and the Trojans trailing 25-17.

Jones got a bucket followed by a Gridley 3-pointer that left the Trojans down by just three, 25-22.

Unfortunately, that is as close as it would get and Keokuk scored back-to-back baskets in the final minute, including a buzzer-beater to give the Chiefs a 29-22 halftime lead.

Second chance

Although the Trojans came out with their same high-level of intensity, they were unable to crack the Chiefs code in the third and were outscored 13-8 and headed into the fourth, trailed 42-30.

Ashley Bloomquist hit a 3-pointer to cut it to 48-37 with 3:32 left and the Trojans scored 17 points in the final period, but Keokuk was able to score 18 points themselves and keep Fairfield at arms length and avoid a comeback.

Coaches corner with Brian Witzenburg

Thoughts on the loss?

'We've got to come out ready to play right out of the gate instead of waiting until we are down a little bit. We started all right, but we need to have the sense of urgency right out of the gate.”

'I was proud of the way we didn't give up and we kept fighting until the final buzzer.”

On Christmas break

'Breaks are always good. It'd be nice to have that win to build some momentum for the second half of the season, but we'll get rejuvenated and come out of the break strong. We're still trying to figure out who we are with our chemistry and all of that, but as long as we figure that out by the beginning of February, than I'm all right.”

On physical opponents such as Pella and Keokuk

'We can play tough, we just need to be ready for it and we showed that we can do that in the fourth quarter but we need to do that for four quarters and not just one.”