By JIM WALKER

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

PROCTORVILLE — When teams reach the state tournament, there are a lot of great players.

The Fairland Lady Dragons might have to deal with the best of the best.

The Lady Dragons play in the Division 2 state semifinals at 11 a.m. Friday against the Shaker Heights Laurel Lady Gators who may boast the best player in the state.

Laurel (18-10) is led by 5-foot-11 sophomore Saniyah Hall who averages 26.4 points, 11.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists and shoots 50 percent from the field.

“They are a good team and have maybe the best player in the state in the Hall girl,” Buchanan said of Hall who is a Ms. Basketball candidate.

“She’s really dynamic as far as right-and left-handed, she can make threes and she’s a great rebounder. I think maybe the best thing she does is she chases down her own misses. She’s so hard to box out. She’s a challenge in herself just trying to keep her from having 40 points.”

The Lady Gators also start 5-8 sophomore Tristan Williams who averages 14.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2,4 assists and shoots 40 percent from the field.

Freshman Nyla Edwards is the point guard and averages 4.7 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.3 steals.

“(Hall) has some kids around her. They have the Williams girl who is really solid and a really good athlete,” said Buchanan. “(Edwards is a good point guard who can shoot the threes.

“Their (statistical) numbers drop off after those two. They have those first three who start most of their games. The fourth and fifth starters could be anybody. They play about eight kids and any of those other five could start. They try to pressure the basketball and push the basketball.”

The Lady Dragons (26-1) lineup features 6-foot senior Bree Allen who was the Southeast District Player of theYear and the program’s all-time leading scorer who averages 15.9 points a game, 7.2 rebounds and is a four-year starter.

Another key figure is 5-foot senior Kylee Bruce who is a three-year starter and was first team all-district. Bruce averages 10.7 points and 5.2 rebounds a game.

Allen has signed to play at Tiffin and Bruce inked with Malone.

The other three starters are 5-9 sophomore Bailey Russell, 6-foot sophomore point guard Addison Godby and 5-8 junior Kamryn Barnitz.

Russell — the team’s best 3-point shooter — averages 17.4 points  and 3.7 rebounds a game. Godby averages 10.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 3.8 steals while shooting 60 percent from the field. Barnitz also shoots from 3-point range and averages 10.1 points per game and is a strong defender.

The top two players off the bench for Fairland are 5-10 sophomore Isa Taliaferro and 5-7 sophomore Teagan Leep.

The Lady Gators other starters or bench support will come from Chloe Johnson, Sydnee Robinson, Jordyn Meyer, Reese Grammes and Liv Schneider.

“I think we have a good chance. We’ve played really well defensively throughout the tournament. We haven’t guarded anybody the caliber of (Hall), but most teams in the state don’t have someone of her caliber,” said Buchanan.

“Their record is really deceiving. They seem to be playing their best basketball now, but we’re also playing our best basketball right now.”

The winner of Fairland-Laurel will play in the state championship game at 5:15 p.m. on Saturday against the winner of Copley (25-3) and defending state champion Cincinnati Purcell Marian (27-1) who play the 1 p.m. game on Friday.

“If we play defense like we have been playing, I think we have a chance. We scored more points against Sheridan than anyone all year but we held them to well under their worst-scoring game by 11 points,” said Buchanan.

Laurel has one previous appearance in the Final Four as they qualified in 2021. Fairland is making its fourth trip that includes last season and the 2014 and 2015 seasons.