Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

PROCTORVILLE — Track season is still a few weeks away, but Fairland Lady Dragons’ basketball coach Jon Buchanan and his team can’t help but think about crossing the finish line first.

After rolling past Albany Alexander 62-37 on Saturday to win the Division III district title for the third straight year, Fairland now turns its sights on the regional tournament Wednesday at Logan against the Greenfield McClain Lady Tigers.

Wednesday’s first game at 6:15 p.m. has Nelsonville-York playing Sugarcreek Garaway. Fairland and McClain will start at 8 p.m. The championship game is 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

“We’ve been (in the district finals) three times and we’ve won it three straight times, but we talked about this isn’t the finish line for us. We don’t want this to be the finish line. Our finish line is in the future,” said Buchanan.

“We don’t want it to be today. We don’t want it to be Wednesday. We want to keep playing. We treated this as a stepping stone for us. This was just the next hurdle to get over.”

Fairland is 20-3 while McClain comes into the game 15-7. He said the Lady Tigers are a better version of Alexander.

“McClain is very similar. They may be physically stronger and they have a little more inside presence. They have real good guards and they can get up and guard you real hard,” said Buchanan.

“They play a real good schedule, so they’re definitely not going to be intimidated by playing us. They play in a good league. It should be a good game.

Four of McClain’s losses were in their league. They lost to Miami Trace 41-38 and 24-18 and to Clinton-Massie 46-37 and 39-30. They also lost to Jackson 49-37, North Adams 55-48 in overtime and Washington Court House 47-45 in overtime.

Fairland’s only losses were 61-51 at Boyd County, Ky., 80-48 to West Virginia power Huntington and 48-43 to Jackson.

The two teams have another common opponent in Rock Hill. Fairland won two regular season games 70-13 and 78-31 while McClain beat Rock Hill in the sectional tournament 64-22.

In the district finals, Shania Massie scored 24 points — 10 at the foul line — and 6-foot senior Tara Karnes added 10 points and 14 rebounds in a 57-31 win over Wellston in the district finals Saturday.

Massie — a 5-7 junior guard — is just 49 points shy of 1,000 career points. She is averaging 17.4 points a game.

Other top players include 5-5 freshman Taylor Polley, 5-11 freshman Bethany Montgomery, 5-9 senior Katy Unger, 5-7 junior Sarah Thompson, 5-3 junior Lauren Rayburn, and 5-5 senior Allison Willett.

ROSTERS

Greenfield McClain (15-7)

No. Player Pos. Ht. Gr.

3 Allison Willett G 5-03 Sr.

4 Taylor Polley G 5-05 Fr.

12 Lauren Rayburn G 5-03 Jr.

14 Shania Massie G 5-07 Jr.

20 Caitlyn Lovett G/F 5-07 Sr.

22 Lexie Barton G 5-07 Fr.

24 Sarah Thompson F 5-07 Jr.

30 Katy Unger F 5-09 Sr.

31 Sydney Barton F 5-07 Jr.

33 Sara Bennett G 5-03 Fr.

35 Malea Montavon F 5-08 Fr.

40 Brooke Foody G 5-05 Fr.

45 Tara Karnes C 6-00 Sr.

00 Bethany Montgomery C 5-11 Fr.

Head coach: Jarrod Haines

 

Fairland Lady Dragons (20-3)

No. Player Pos. Ht. Gr.

1 Terra Stapleton C 6-04 Sr.

3 Tiffani Christian G 5-06 Jr.

4 Taylor Staten G 5-07 Jr.

5 Morgan Manns G 5-06 So.

10 Mollie Morris G-F 5-07 So.

11 Bri Dickess G-F 5-07 Sr.

12 Chandler Fulks G 5-06 Sr.

13 Mackenzie Riley F 5-11 Jr.

14 Emily Henderson G 5-05 So.

20 Sarah Warnock G 5-05 Jr.

22 Kelsey Riley F 5-09 Jr.

23 Caitlin Stone G 5-05 Jr.

24 Taylor Perry G 5-6 So.

32 Whitney Huff F 5-09 Jr.

33 Jenna Fulks F 5-09 Jr.

44 Maddy Kazee G-F 5-08 So.

Head coach: Jon Buchanan

Assistant coaches: Adam Alt, Katie Fuller