Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
CHILLICOTHE — It’s officially the winningest season in Fairfield Union’s history, and the Falcons aren’t finished yet.
Despite a tight first half, the Falcons used a dominant defensive performance in the third quarter while forcing more than 20 turnovers throughout the night, allowing themselves to win a 52-36 decision over Hillsboro in a Division IV district semifinal.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
“We feel like we play harder than everyone else and it has worked out well. Our defense has won us a lot of games and we kind of wear teams down,” Fairfield Union coach Keith Barr said. “We were locked in on defense from start to finish. We haven’t had a lot of close battles, and I was kind of worried because we haven’t been tested in the last month. We were tested tonight, and we handled it. We just want to play hard every night and let the chips fall where they may.”
The victory moves the Falcons to an unblemished 24-0, passing the 23-win 2012-13 team for most wins in a season.
“I think we knew we could be successful, we just didn’t know how successful we really could be,” Fairfield Union’s Christian Thompson said. “With the hard work we were prepared to put in when the season started, we understood that whatever we were willing to put in is what we were going to get out of it.”
After an opening 3 from Hillsboro’s Kobie Miles, the Falcons went on an 8-0 run behind a pair of 3’s from Taylor Smeck and Maycee Martindill to take an 8-3 advantage. Smeck and Thompson then each scored to help keep the Falcons ahead 14-7 at the end of the first quarter.
That lead was built to 18-9 and then to to 21-11, but that’s when Hillsboro (19-5) began to fight back.
Kyra Boyd knocked down a triple, Tylee Davis logged a rebound and a put back while Annia Young established herself underneath with a pair of buckets for a 9-2 run that trimmed the deficit to 23-20. Thompson then scored to make the game 25-20 at halftime.
Despite losing a double-digit lead, the Falcons were poised to gain it right back and their defense led the way in doing so.
After a 5-0 run that pushed the lead back to 10 points, the Falcons began to speed up the Indians’ offensive efforts and as the turnovers started to pile up, so did the buckets on the other end from Thompson, Smeck and Maddi Mitchell.
All the while, the Indians were held without a field goal and mustered just four free throws as FU’s lead reached 39-24.
“Coach Barr always preaches to us how the third quarter is one of the biggest parts of the game, and we know that defense wins games,” Thompson said. “Our offense is strong, but our defense is stronger and that’s what really carries us. We’ve gotten a lot of community support, which doesn’t happen for girls sports a lot, and having them cheer us really helps.”
Hillsboro gave itself a fighting chance, opening the fourth on a 9-2 run behind Boyd, Davis and Miles, which cut the deficit to 41-34.
But that was the closest the Indians got. The Falcons created more turnovers and knocked down free throws, ending the game on an 11-2 run and punching their district final ticket.
“This team just plays together,” Barr said. “It’s someone different every night. They don’t care who scores. Everyone has a role and they play it to the best of their ability. Our league is so tough, top-to-bottom, and you have to bring it every single night. I think that’s something that’s helped separate us is how tough our schedule is and it’s prepared us for these moments.”
Thompson finished the night with 16 points and 17 rebounds to lead the Falcons while Martindill had 14 points. Smeck added to the effort with 13 points.
Davis finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds for Hillsboro.
Fairfield Union returns to action in a Division IV district final at 5 p.m., Saturday at Southeastern against Circleville, who they’ve bested twice already this season.
“It’s very exciting to be playing in a district final after not having as good of a season last year,” Smeck said. “This season has meant so much to me and it’s been great having our seniors like Christian and Averey [Cottrill] come back, and hopefully we’ll keep winning.”
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