CHESHIRE — All Fairland coach Jon Buchanan wanted his young team to do was relax.

Well, relax with intensity.

The Fairland Lady Dragons were able to play relaxed and with intensity as they beat the River Valley Lady Raiders 44-27 Saturday in an Ohio Valley Conference game.

“We talked about the fact we’re just playing basketball. It’s not life or death. We played loose and we were aggressive,” said Buchanan. “It was all of them, not just two or three girls.”

The aggressive defense by Fairland created 27 turnovers and caused River Valley to shoot just 9 of 42 from the field (21 percent).

“We got a lot of steals and a lot of layups. By far, it was our best defensive effort we’ve had,” said Buchanan.

The first half scoring moved slowly with Fairland taking a 17-15 halftime lead.

Kennon Clarkson scored 6 points in the third quarter as Fairland outscored River Valley 18-8 to open up a 35-23 lead.

Megan Brooks had 6 of Fairland’s 9 points in the fourth quarter and the defense limited the Lady Raiders to single digit scoring for the third time in a quarter.

Clarkson had 10 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists to lead the Lady Dragons (3-10, 3-3). Brooks added 9 points while Samantha Lamb had 10 rebounds and Jamie Phillips 8. Mariah Chaffin claimed 8 steals.

Kelsey Sands and Brooke Marcum scored 8 points each for River Valley (6-9, 1-5).

Fairland 5 12 18 9 = 44

River Valley 5 10 8 4 = 27

FAIRLAND (3-10, 3-3): Stormie Spitzer 1-3 0-1 0-0 2, Katie Fuller 0-1 0-0 0-0 0, Kayla Swiger 2-4 0-60-0 4, Jamie Phillips 1-1 0-0 1-2 3, Megan Brooks 4-6 0-2 1-4 9, Tori Garrett 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Kennon Clarkson 3-12 1-3 1-5 10, Haley Woodall 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Mariah Chaffin 2-4 0-1 0-2 4, Carmen Webb 0-1 0-0 0-0 0, Taylor Phillips 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Samantha Lamb 2-6 0-0 3-6 7, Lauren Poe 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Keri Napier 2-3 0-0 1-2 5. Totals: 18-53 7-21 44. Fouls: 22. Fouled out: J. Phillips. 3-point goals: 1-13. Rebounds: 35 (Lamb 10, Clarkson 8, J. Phillips 8). Assists: 9 (Clarkson 4). Steals: 21 (Chaffin 8). Turnovers: 21.

RIVER VALLEY (6-8, 1-5): Jessica Hager 2-7 0-0 0-0 4, Shalin Comer 0-0 0-1 0-0 0, Kelsey Sands 2-6 0-1 4-9 8, Allie Neville 0-7 0-2 0-1 0, Beth Misner 1-2 0-0 1-2 3, Cady Gilmore 0-1 0-4 1-2 1, Combs 0-2 0-0 1-3 4, Tracy Roberts 1-3 0-0 0-0 2, Brooke Marcum 3-6 0-0 2-8 8. Totals: 9-42 9-26 27. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 0-8. Rebounds: 34 (Marcum 15). Assists: 4 (Hager 2). Steals: 11 (Marcum 3). Turnovers: 27.