Fairland advances in Division V with 77-44 victory
McKenna Shelton is one of four graduating seniors who have left their impression on the North Adams Lady Devils basketball program. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
In her final game as a North Adams Lady Devils, senior Katelynn Boerger battle for a rebound with a Fairland opponent. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
This first quarter putback basket by North Adams sophomore Elizabeth Raines cut the Fairland lead to 17-12 in contest the Lady Dragons eventually won 77-44 to end the Lady Devils’ season. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
Coach Rob Davis and his North Adams Lady Devils were back in the friendly confines of the Waverly Downtown Gym on the afternoon of February 22, back again looking for another district championship. The Lady Devils were coming off back to back district titles in what was then Division III and Saturday was Coach Davis’s 11th trip to the district title game in his 25 years at the helm in North Adams.
With the sweeping changes that the OHSAA made in this year’s divisional breakdowns, the Lady Devils now find themselves in Division V, where the brackets also included the Fairland Lady Dragons, who were a Final Four participant last season in Division II. It was those ultra-talented Lady Dragons who stood in the way of North Adams and their quest for a three-peat and that proved to be a wall the Lady Devils could not break through. The North Adams girls were able to stay withing striking distance for about a quarter and a half before the Lady Dragons probed to be just too formidable. Pulling away from a tired bunch of Lady Devils, Fairland rolled to the district title with a 77-44 victory.
“We thought we had to keep the score in the 40’s and I thought we did a good job of that early but we just got killed on the boards,” Coach Davis said in his postgame radio interview. “A team of great shooters like that you just can’t give them four or five opportunities. Rebounding and free throws got us today. If we make some free throws and hit some easy shots early, that’s just stuff we needed to do better.”
“Our kids played hard and that’s all you can ask them to do. Play hard and enjoy the game.”
The strategy for the Lady Devils going into Saturday’s contest was to try to slow down the high-powered Fairland attack and they were successful – for about 10 minutes of action. With 4:48 to play in the first quarter, a basket by Tatum Grooms off a designed out-of-bounds play kept the Lady Devils within 6-4. The Lady Dragons answered with five straight North Adams cut the deficit to 13-9 on a pair of Jaida Harrison free throws and a basket from close range from Emma Pistole, and with less than a minute left in the frame, a putback by Elizabeth Raines left the Lady Devils trailing just 18-12.
The hopes of the Lady Devils again rose when they got a Katelynn Boerger basket on their first possession of the second quarter, but Fairland squashed those hopes with a quick 8-0 run, aided by a Bailey Russell three-pointer that led to a 26-14 advantage. The lead stretched to 14 after another three, this one from Kamryn Barnitz, and a bucket from Addyson Cornell. The Lady Devils got the basket “and one” from Pistole that made it 31-20, but again the Lady Dragons answered, finishing the first half on a 9-3 run that sent them to the halftime intermission with a solid 40-23 lead. In a game against competition as Fairland, you must rebound, hit free throws and take care of the ball, things the Lady Devils didn’t do well over the first 16 minutes.
You can never question the heart and desire of a Rob Davis-coached team and in the second half, the Lady Devils gave it every ounce of effort but as they had in the first half, the Lady Dragons had an answer for every North Adams score, continuing to build their lead, up to 50-30 midway through the third period. The Lady Devils got a third quarter three-pointer from Aly McCann but as their gas tanks began to get depleted, they still trailed 54-36 after three.
Fairland just kept rolling through the fourth quarter, getting numerous easy baskets as the Lady Devils’ defense was forced to trap and gamble on every possession. By this time, exhaustion from a maximum effort seemed to set in and the Lady Dragons closed out the game on a 12-3 run, coasting to the district title with the 77-44 triumph.
Fairland has offensive weapons at every position and in Saturday’s win they were paced by three girls in double figures – Bailey Russell with 17, Addyson Cornell with 16 and Kamryn Barnitz with 11. The Lady Dragons move into the Division V regional tournament with an overall record of 19-5.
In their final outing of the season, the Lady Devils were led in scoring by 10 points from sophomore Emma Pistole, with seniors Karlie Kennedy and Katelynn Boerger adding 8 apiece. North Adams finishes the season at 18-7 and bids farewell to a quartet of seniors who had outstanding and successful careers and left their imprints on the program- Boerger, Kennedy, Tatum Grooms and McKenna Shelton.
“These girls really exceeded our expectations, just had a great year,” said an emotional Coach Davis. “Our seniors did everything to the best of their ability and we will definitely miss their intensity and leadership. They all improved so much through their careers. 18-7 is nothing to be ashamed of and I just asked them to compete and they did.”
North Adams
12 11 13 8 —44
Fairland
18 22 14 23 —77
N. Adams (44): Shelton 1 1-2 3, Grooms 3 0-0 6, Kennedy 3 1-2 8, Boerger 3 2-4 8, E. Pistole 4 2-5 10, Davis 1 0-0 2, McCann 1 0-0 3, Harrison 0 2-4 2, Raines 1 0-0 2, Team 17 8-19 44.
Fairland (77): Leep 4 0-0 9, Taliaferro 3 0-0 6, Layne 2 4-4 8, Godby 3 2-2 8, Cornell 6 4-7 16, Whitley 1 0-0 2, Barnitz 5 0-0 11, Russell 6 2-4 17, Team 30 12-17 77.
Three-Point Goals:
N. Adams (2) – Kennedy 1, McCann 1
Fairland (5) – Leep 1, Barnitz 1, Russell 3
