PROCTORVILLE - Doing things better helped the Fairland Lady Dragons better their chances in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Improved play enabled Fairland to hold off the Coal Grove Lady Hornets 53-49 Monday in a key league matchup.

"We did a good job moving the ball well and we're starting to be more aggressive on the offensive boards. That's helped out a lot," Fairland coach Nathan Speed said. "That was a big win. We're playing better defense. We're getting our confidence up."

Coal Grove outscored Fairland in every quarter but the second when the Lady Dragons outscored the Lady Hornets 20-8.

"They got hot in the second quarter and that killed us," Lady Hornets coach Nick Miller said.

Chelsea Markins had 7 points in the first quarter as Coal Grove took a 13-10 lead, but Brianna Davis had 10 points in the second quarter as the Lady Dragons stormed back to lead 30-21 at the break.

Davis had 7 points in the third quarter as Fairland led by as many as 15, but Markins scored 7 points as Coal Grove closed the gap to 42-36 at the end of the quarter.

Markins had 9 points in the fourth quarter as Coal Grove got within 52-49 with four seconds left. But the Lady Hornets missed the front end of a one-and-one and Fairland got the rebound and sank a free throw to seal the win.

"We had shot after shot in the fourth quarter and couldn't score," Miller said.

Davis had 23 points, five rebounds, two assists and four steals as Fairland improved to 5-8 overall and 3-1 in the OVC. Shay Berry had 12 points and two assists while Kara Riley hauled down 13 rebounds and Megan Auxier grabbed nine.

Markins led all scorers with 25 points including four 3-pointers. Samantha Hall added 10 points for Coal Grove (8-4, 2-2) which was only 1 of 3 from the foul line.

Coal Grove1381513-49

Fairland10201211-53

COAL GROVE (8-4, 2-2):

Samantha Zornes 2 0 0-0 4, Holli Swarts 1 0 0-0 2, Shana Klaiber 0 0 0-0 0, Jill Lovejoy 1 0 0-0 2, Tracy Tackett 2 0 0-0 4, Maggie Young 1 0 0-0 2, Chelsea Markins 6 4 1-3 25, Samantha Hall 5 0 0-0 10. Totals: 18

(4)

1-3

49. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None.

FAIRLAND (5-8, 3-1):

Brianna Davis 7 3 0-0 23, Megan Auxier 3 0 1-1 7, Shay Berry 3 0 6-7 12, Kara Riley 3 0 2-3 8, Kacie Lydell 0 0 0-0 0, Erica Smoot 0 0 0-0 0, Kristen Berry 0 0 0-0 0, Jennifer Legg 1 0 1-2 3. Totals: 17-36

(3-12)

10-13

53. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 29 (Riley 13, Auxier 9, Davis 5). Assists: 4 (S. Berry 2, Davis 2). Steals: 6 (Davis 4). Turnovers: 10. Blocked shots: 3 (Davis, Auxier, S. Berry).