FAIRVIEW — What was anticipated to be a battle royal between the top two clubs in Class 5A, Area 14 never materialized Tuesday evening.
Lawrence County’s Lady Red Devils had a suffocating defense on the Fairview Lady Aggies for the first half. It factored into the Lady Red Devils running away from the Lady Aggies 59-38 at Joe Shults Gymnasium.
The visitors from Moulton allowed the home team one field goal in the final 30 seconds of the opening quarter then shut them down for over 4:30 of the second without getting a basket to fall.
Fairview’s first trey of the night came with 1:18 left in the half. A 3 for 19 first half at 15 percent and just one of 11 from long range spelled doom for Mary Lauren Hartline’s Lady Aggies.
hartThe Lady Aggies were down 36-9 at the break. They never stopped playing hard. Shots started to go down much better in the second half with 11 of 26 made for 42 percent.
Trailing 56-26 early in the fourth and with a running clock after Lawrence County pushed the margin to 30 points, Fairview finished the game with a 12-3 spurt, scoring at one stretch eight consecutive points.
Unfortunately, the worst first half of the season was too much to fight back from, and the Lady Aggies fell to 7-3 and 1-1 in the area standings. Lawrence County is 1-0 in the area and 7-2 overall.
Senior Rachael Childress scored 27 to lead Lawrence County with 19 coming in the first half. She did have support with four others accounting for 17 in the opening frame with balance displayed, taking pressure off the All-State Childress, who has signed with the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Taylor Yeager got 13 for Fairview with 11 by Dalys Mullican and seven from Mckinna Yearwood.
Fairview now has back to back county games with a trip to Hanceville Thursday and at home Friday to meet Holly Pond on Joe Shults Night.
The Lady Aggies are currently 3-0 in the county, tied for first place with Holly Pond.
Lawrence County 56 – Fairview 54
Fairview never gave up Tuesday night, trailing for most of the evening. A Lawrence County victory came down to free throws from point guard Chip Proctor with 3.5 seconds remaining.
His two from the line gave the Red Devils a 56-51 lead. Fairview’s star weapon, Austin Fletcher, ended the scoring with a three at the buzzer to reduce the final margin to a mere field goal.
Fairview was down 52-49 with a minute left in regulation and unable to score on four consecutive possessions. They had to foul in which Proctor scored the final five points for his team to get them to 1-0 in 5A, Area 14 and their second win of the season.y
Fletcher netted 25 in a losing cause for the Aggies who are 0-2 and 2-6 on the season. Sam Elrod delivered with eight including a couple of long-range field goals.
Tuesday Scoring Wrap Up
Girls
Hanceville 57 – Vinemont 16
Oneonta – Good Hope (unavailable)
Holly Pond 72 – Susan Moore 37
Lawrence County – 59 Fairview 38
Boys
Hanceville 82 – Vinemont 43
Oneonta 66 – Good Hope 44
Holly Pond 72 – Susan Moore 35
Lawrence County 56 – Fairview 54
(Contributed by Josh McBrayer.)
