By Dustin Melchior

PEDRO— The Fairland Lady Dragons put on a strong performance against the Portsmouth Lady Trojans from the opening tip, cruising to a 38-point victory, winning 64-26 in the Division III sectional finals on Saturday.
Leading the way for the Lady Dragons was Emily Chapman who recorded 18 points including three triples in the second quarter. On the day, Chapman recorded four three pointers.
Alesha Simpson put up a big game as well, with 15 points— nine coming in the second quarter — for the Lady Dragons (20-2).
Portsmouth struggled to find a rhythm all game but was led by Jasmine Eley who scored eight points.
“Fairland’s a great team. They came out and put a lot of pressure on us from the start of the first quarter,” Portsmouth coach Kristen Bradshaw said.
“I think that we lack a little bit of experience, but we knew Fairland was going to be ready. They’ve been here before.”
All 14 Lady Dragons saw action in the game with 11 of them scoring as they never trailed Portsmouth.
At the end of the first quarter Fairland led 16-2 and outscored the Lady Trojans 24-8 in the second to carry a 40-10 lead into halftime.
Kelsie Warnock scored five points — all coming in the first quarter — and Taylar Wilson, Karli Fuller, Jenna Stone and Jackie Wagner each scored four points on the day for Fairland.
For the Lady Trojans (5-19), Semajah Parker and Destiny McKenzie scored four points each.
Fairland outscored Portsmouth 10-4 in the third quarter and 14-12 in the fourth to finish off the Lady Trojans.
Bradshaw said that Fairland’s double team caught the Lady Trojans off guard a little bit, but that she was proud with her team’s effort throughout the game.
“It’s a good tournament atmosphere for our young girls,” she said. “And we hustled until the final buzzer.”
Fairland plays at 6:15 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 27, at Waverly’s downtown arena against Piketon.
Portsmouth    2    8    4    12    =    26
Fairland    16    24    10    14    =    64
PORTSMOUTH (5-19): Jasmine Eley 0 1 5-8 8, Kylisha Kearns 0 0 0-0 0, Hannah Hughes 2 0 0-0 4, Shai Howard 0 0 0-0 0, Destiny McKenzie 3 0 0-0 6, Jaiden Rickett 0 0 0-2 0, Mya Williams 0 0 1-3 1, Semajah Parker 2 0 2-4 6, Layla Kegg 0 0 1-2 1. Totals: 7 1 9-19 26. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: None.
FAIRLAND (20-2): Allie Marshall 0 0 0-2 0, Harley Lyons 0 0 3-5 3, Taylar Wilson 2 0 0-1 4, Emily Chapman 2 4 2-2 18, Karli Fuller 0 1 1-3 4, Morgan Fridley 0 0 2-4 2, Bailey Roland 0 1 0-0 3, Kelsie Warnock 1 1 0-0 5, Britney Thompson 0 0 0-0 0, Issy McKinney 1 0 0-0 2, Jenna Stone 2 0 0-0 4, Syeney Bane 0 0 0-0 0, Alesha Simpson 4 2 1-2 15, Jackie Wagner 2 0 0-2 4. Totals: 14 9 9-21 64. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: None.

Jim Walker contributed to this story.