Chance Short
chance.short@irontontribune.com

PROCTORVILLE — The girls’ Ohio Valley Conference ended in a tie this season, but after the Fairland Lady Dragons won their sectional championship on Friday night they will get a chance to take on OVC title shareholder — the Coal Grove Lady Hornets — in the rubber match.
The Lady Hornets watched from the bleachers at the Carl York Center as Fairland defeated the Chesapeake Lady Panthers 54-40 to advance to the district semifinals.
“We came in with a plan to speed them up, but Chris (Ball) does a great job of switching it up. He played us man last time and switched it up with a box and one this time, which is just unorthodox,” said Fairland coach Jon Buchanan.
The Lady Dragons (18-2) will host the Lady Hornets (21-2) at 7 p.m. on Wednesday. Fairland and Coal Grove split their two games during the regular season in sharing the Ohio Valley Conference championship.
Fairland was able to speed things up in the opening minutes as Chesapeake turned the ball over three straight possessions. The Lady Dragons jumped ahead to a 11-1 advantage that forced a Lady Panthers timeout.
After regrouping in the timeout, Chesapeake finished the quarter on a 9-6 run to narrow the gap after one quarter of play, 17-10.
Tomi Hinkle got the ball rolling for the Lady Dragons in the first quarter with 9 points and the sophomore guard didn’t let up in the second. She scored 7 more points and Reece Barnitz hit a triple as Fairland led 29-18 at the break.
Brooklynn McComas led the Lady Panthers at the half with 5 points.
Chesapeake kept fighting in the third quarter and Maddie Ward scored 4 points as she found her way to the rim. Emily Duncan added 4 points as well.
Emma Marshall wouldn’t let the game slip too far out of grip for the Lady Dragons, however, as she scored 7 points that included one of her three triples on the night.
The Lady Dragons grabbed their largest lead of the game at the beginning of the fourth quarter when they went up 48-28 with 6:37 remaining in the game.
Neither team took care of the basketball as Chesapeake committed 23 turnovers and Fairland was guilty of 19.
Hinkle scored a game-high 19 points and snagged 12 rebounds for Fairland. Maddie Ward led the Panthers with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
“Obviously, we were able to split with them in the league (Coal Grove). We beat them early and they beat us towards the middle of the season so it will be a fun game, a high-energy game. We are excited to be in the district tournament,” added Buchanan.
Chesapeake 10 8 10 12 = 40
Fairland 17 12 13 12 = 54
CHESAPEAKE (13-7): Kandace Pauley 1 0 0-0 2, Robin Isaacs 0 1 0-0 3, Blake Anderson 2 0 2-3 6, Brooklyn McComas 3 0 1-2 7, Maddie Ward 2 2 2-2 12, Emily Duncan 5 0 0-0 10, Ashlee Conley 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 3 5-7 40. Rebounds: 28 (Ward 10). Turnovers: 19. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: none.
FAIRLAND (18-2): Emma Marshall 2 3 0-2 13. Reece Barnitz 0 2 0-0 6, Katie Brumfield 0 0 0-0 0, Kylee Bruce 1 0 0-2 2, Bree Allen 3 1 3-4 12, Tomi Hinkle 7 1 2-3 19, Libby Judge 0 0 0-0 0, Miaa Howard 1 0 0-0 2, Kirsten Orsbon 0 0 0-2. Totals: 14 7 5-13 54. Rebounds: 36 (Hinkle 12). Turnovers: 19. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: none.