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SARDINIA — Fast. Talented. Dynamic.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
All three of those adjectives, and you can add many more of your own, describe the Fairland Dragons.
Coach Jon Buchanan’s group continued to roll off victories on Saturday, besting Cincinnati Country Day — the state’s No. 9 ranked team in Division III — by a 56-37 final.
To further drive home the point of just how good the Dragons (17-0) are, they still haven’t won a game by less than 11 points all year long. The beat goes on.
“I thought, overall, we played tremendous defense,” Buchanan said. “We battled the whole game and I was super-impressed with how we played on that end. We won by 20 against a state-ranked team that has a great chance to go to the state tournament. To win by 20 and shoot 3-of-24 from 3 … We kept saying in the first half, ‘We’re going to make one.’ We just shot so bad, but we won it on the defensive end.”
And so was Kylee Bruce.
Bruce ended the night with 10 points and five rebounds. But, possibly, her most important contributions to the win came in transition.
“Kylee Bruce was a catalyst with how she ran the floor for us in the second half,” Buchanan said. “We got two or three wide open lay-ups from that, and that’s part of who we are. We want to run the floor fast. [Bruce] did a great job of that.”
Senior guard Tomi Hinkle, as usual, could also be thrown into that category.
PHOTOS: Images from Fairland’s win over Country Day
Hinkle dazzled at the point, but also sat down defensively and helped Fairland force 22 turnovers while guarding Country Day’s Graice Barnes and holding her to just eight points.
“I’ll tell you what [Hinkle] has done … We’ve been putting her on the other team’s best player to guard and she’s done such a good job,” Buchanan said. “She does such a great job defensively and on the other end, she controls the tempo for us. She’s going to be a huge loss for us but she’s going to have a really successful college career because of how good she is.”
With the score tied at 4-4 early, freshman Bailey Russell gave Fairland a 7-4 lead with a 3-ball at the 5:02 mark in the first quarter. Hinkle and Bree Allen added baskets to the team’s tally after that to make it an 11-7 edge with 3:30 to play.
Country Day, however, continued to fight, bringing the deficit to within two at 15-13 heading into the second.
The Nighthawks took a 16-15 lead following a 3 to begin the third but Fairland answered with a 6-0 run, courtesy of Isa Taliaferro, Allen and Russell, to take a 21-16 advantage — one they’d never relinquish.
Bruce and Hinkle combined for the Dragons’ next three buckets, sending their teammates into halftime with a 27-18 lead.
And then the wheels off for Cincinnati Country Day.
After Bruce made it an 11-point lead to begin the third, Russell knocked down two jumpers and a deep ball to push the Dragons’ advantage to 41-25 with 2:14 to go. That 16-point lead stayed intact heading to the fourth at 45-29 and Fairland shifted into cruise control from there.
“I felt like we passed the ball well,” Russell said. “Tomi is an amazing passer in transition and I feel like when everyone keeps running, it helps us get going. We always share the basketball. I love playing with this group. It’s amazing.”
Stat book
Russell led all scorers with 14 points while Allen ended the night with 13 points and six rebounds. Hinkle and Bruce each had 10 points, and Isa Talieferro finished with five points. Addison Godby also chipped in with four points and a team-high nine rebounds.
Needless to say, it was another balanced night on the scoring sheet for the Dragons’ offense.
“We have a lot of kids that can score the ball,” Buchanan said. “We have a lot of capable kids and that’s a beautiful thing for us to know we have eight kids who can shoot the ball and score. We don’t really have to worry about if someone’s having a bad day because someone else will be having a good day.”
What’s on tap
Fairland is back in action on Monday at Galli Academy. A win would put the team at 12-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference and one win away from clinching at least a share of the league title.
Still, there are things to work on.
“We want to play fast-paced so much and then there’s a time where we want to back off late in the game,” Buchanan said. “They’re not used to that. They’re not used to backing off. So we have to understand time and score a little better and what a great shot is. I told them during one of the timeouts that we need to understand the definition of ‘uncontested.’ We were definitely not there tonight. But defensively, we did a great job and we made [the win] happen.”
BOX SCORE
Country Day: 13-5-11-8 — 37
Fairland: 15-12-18-11 — 56
Country Day: 16-46 FG, 2-3 FT, 3-16 3pt., 23 rebounds (Farris 6, E. Zimmerman 6), 22 turnovers, 1 assists (Farris 1). Scoring: E. Zimmerman 9, M. Zimmerman 9, Barnes 8, Farris 6, Easter 5.
Fairland: 25-59 FG, 3-6 FT, 3-24 3pt., 35 rebounds (Godby 9), 11 turnovers, 13 assists (Hinkle 3, K. Barnitz 3). Scoring: Russell 14, Allen 13, Bruce 10, Hinkle 10, Taliaferro 5, Godby 4.
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