WAVERLY – It was size vs.

Thursday, February 21, 2002

WAVERLY – It was size vs. speed. And speed won.

Playing against a much taller Huntington Ross team, the Fairland Lady Dragons used their fullcourt pressure to rally past the Lady Huntsmen 67-63 Wednesday in the Division III district semifinals.

The Lady Huntsmen lineup featured 5-10 Crystal McCloskey, 5-8 Tiffany Jones, and the DePugh sisters, 6-1 Jacinda and 6-3 Nicole and they combined to outrebound Fairland 45-29. But Fairland’s press forced 31 turnovers as it rallied in the fourth quarter to get the win.

"They were huge, they were physical, and they played hard," Fairland coach Nathan Speed said of Huntington. We knew going in if we didn’t get them in a running game, we’d be in trouble."

Fairland (16-6) will now play unbeaten Oak Hill at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27, at Waverly.

Jennifer Jones scored 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds for Fairland. Jeana Diamond had 17 points and eight rebounds while Brooke Fisher scored 17 points – 11 the fourth quarter – and had eight rebounds, four assists and six steals.

McCloskey had a game-high 24 points and 11 rebounds. Tiffany Jones and Jacinda DePugh had nine rebounds each.

The Lady Dragons led 4-3 on a layup by Jennifer Jones and tied the game at 8-8 on a 17-footer by Brooke Godby, but the Lady Huntsmen took the lead on a layup by McCloskey and went ahead 18-14 at the end of the quarter.

The lead was 25-14 on another layup by McCloskey early in the second quarter before Fairland came back to within 33-29 at the half on a layup by Megan Fisher.

A 3-pointer by Jennifer Jones tied the game at 35-35 with 5:40 left in the third quarter. Huntington then went on an 11-2 spurt for a 46-37 lead only to see Diamond and Megan Fisher each make a foul shot to make it 50-41 at the end of the quarter.

McCloskey’s foul shot to start the fourth quarter made it 51-41, but Fairland battled back to tie the game at 55-55 on a layup by Diamond with 5:16 to go.

The Lady Huntsmen went up 61-57 only to have Fairland storm back to tie the game again at 63-63 on a three-point play by Jennifer Jones with 1:52 left.

A layup by Jennifer Jones put Fairland ahead at 65-63 with 1:24 left and Jones made 2 of 4 from the line to save the win.

"Being down 10 going into he fourth quarter made me think about what it means to have seniors," Speed said. "Brooke Fisher took over the fourth quarter, and it was just heart and guts. The girls picked it up every else. We just found a way to win. We showed a lot of heart. What impressed me most was the fact we didn’t quit."

Oak Hill (22-0) rallied in the second half and won 66-49 over Portsmouth.

Fairland 14 15 12 26 – 67

Hunt. Ross 18 15 17 13 – 63

FAIRLAND (16-6): Brooke Godby 2-8 (0-4) 0-0 4, Megan Fisher 4-8 (0-1) 2-4 10, Jennifer Jones 6-16 (1-2) 6-9 19, Brooke Fisher 5-23 (0-0) 7-9 17, Jeana Diamond 6-16 (1-1) 4-5 17, Allison McConnell 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Kristen Brumfield 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0. Totals: 23-71 (2-8) 19-27 67. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 16-13=29 (Diamond 8, B. Fisher 8, Jones 7). Deadball-team rebounds: 7. Assists: 10 (B. Fisher 4). Steals: 24 (Jones 6, B. Fisher 6, Godby 5). Turnovers: 16. FG% – 32.4. FT% – 70.4. 3pt% – 25.

HUNTINGTON ROSS (19-3): Rachel Doss 3-7 (0-0) 3-4 9, Tiffany Carroll 1-5 (1-4) 0-0 3, Janna Edwards 3-9 (0-0) 2-2 8, Crystal McCloskey 11-13 (0-0) 2-5 24, Jacinda DePugh 2-5 (0-0) 0-0 4, Nicole DePugh 4-8 (0-0) 1-2 1, Lindsay Grubb 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Parker Robertson 0-0 0-0. Totals: 21-54 (1-5) 8-15 67. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 14-31=45 (McCloskey 11, J. DePugh 9, Jones 9). Team/deadball rebounds: 4. Assists: 9 (Carroll 5). Steals: 4 (Doss 2, Carroll 2, Jones 2). Steals: 8 (Doss 2, Carroll 2, Jones 20. Turnovers: 31. FG% – 50. FT% – 53.3. 3pt% – 20.0.