Lady Dragons withstand punches to beat Portsmouth in OVC showdown

PORTSMOUTH — Billed as a battle between two of Division 5's heavy weight contenders, both Fairland and Portsmouth slugged it out on Tuesday night with the Lady Dragons walking away with a 44-39 decision over the Lady Trojans in an Ohio Valley Conference showdown.

Leading up to the game, Fairland coach Jon Buchanan prepared his Lady Dragons for a basketball game by giving them a boxing lesson.

"At the end of practice yesterday, I brought out Rocky I, round 14. Where during the round he's getting pummeled and getting punched and punched. About dead, but he gets up and still fights. I told the girls they're going to punch. They're going to keep coming and we've got to be ready to take everything they got and be standing in the end."

While scoring seemed to be at a premium for both teams, the Lady Dragons still got solid offensive performances from Bailey Russell with 11 points — which included three of the team's six 3-point goals — and 3 rebounds. Addison Godby finished with a bevy of stats that included 9 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 blocks and 2 steals.

As a team, Fairland did manage to shoot a good percentage despite not getting many shots.

The Lady Dragons were 16 of 34 from the field for 47 percent and made 6 of 16 3-pointers for 37.5 percent.

Godby was also tasked with holding down the scoring of star Trojan Sienna Allen. And while Allen still led all scorers in the game with 17 points, Godby's effort was enough to key the win.

"Coach told me to just always be touching her, always be physical and don't let her out of my sight," said Godby. "We have two 6-foot-6 coaches on our staff and I would guard them every practice. That really helped me a lot because I knew she could drive and shoot."

"Against really good players like Sienna, you've just got to just make everything as hard as you can. Make her make contested shots and I thought we did a really good job at that," said Buchanan.

Portsmouth's offense sputtered for most of the game until the final 4 minutes of the third quarter when back-to-back layups from Sienna Allen and Keke Woods sparked a 7-2 scoring burst to help the Lady Trojans get to within 30-27.

But the Lady Dragons (5-0, 5-0 OVC) withstood those punches and landed one of their own when Godby took the ball in the high post and hit a runner at the buzzer to give Fairland a 32-27 lead going into the final quarter.

However, the Lady Trojans kept punching back when Sienna Allen hit a shot from behind the arc and Mays sank two free throws to cut the Fairland lead to just two with 5:39 remaining.

Portsmouth (4-2, 3-1) was finally able to take their first lead since the 3:55 mark of the first quarter when Woods came up with a steal past mid court and made a dish to Sienna Allen to give the Lady Trojans a 39-37 lead with 3:22 remaining.

"Our defense battled back. My kids are tough kids, gritty, they're fast, they're quick. They battled all the way back with the defense. But the offense, I just didn't have them ready. We're just not doing enough offensive stuff in practice. Not shooting the ball enough. Mistake by me and I will correct it."

Fairland immediately answered on the other end when Isa Taliaferro hit a runner while falling down to give the Lady Dragons the lead for good.

The lead got extended when Godby drove to the foul line, forced a double team, then kicked the ball out

to Russell and the senior buried a trey from the wing

After another successful defensive stop, Addyson Cornell laid in a basket on a runout to cap off the win for Fairland.

Portsmouth coach Amy Hughes threw praise at her teams' gritty comeback effort, but lamented afterwards that her team's performance on the offensive end.

"We kinda went to something there at the end. We trying to get the ball Bailey, which we did. But we either tried to get Godby in the lane," said Buchanan. "But she made the right read off the double and it's a hard guard to leave Bailey out there alone."

Asides from being the top scorer, Sienna Allen finished a perfect 8-for-8 from the line, had 4 rebounds and had 3 blocked shots. Woods added 12 points, 4 boards, 3 assists and 4 steals. Carter and Mays also chipped in 5 points for Portsmouth.

Fairland 8  12  10   16  =  44

Portsmouth 7 8    5   19  =  39

FAIRLAND (5-0, 5-0): Taegan Leep 0 1 1-2 4, Isa Taliaferro 1 1 0-0 5, Addyson Cornell 3 0 3-4 9, Addison Godby 4 0 1-2 9, Rylee Russell 0 1 0-0 3, Stella Whitley 0 0 0-0 0, Lola Donahue 1 0 0-0 2, Kiana Miller 0 0 1-2 1, Bailey Russell 1 3 0-0 11. Totals: 10 6 6-10 44. 3-pt goals: 6-16. Rebounds: (O-4, D-16) 20 (Cornell 7, Godby 4, Russell 3). Assists: 12 (Godby 4, Taliaferro 3, R. Russell 2). Steals: 7 (Godby 2). Blocks: 7 (Godby 5). Turnovers: 19. Fouls: 21. Fouled out: None.

PORTSMOUTH (4-2, 3-1): Sienna Allen 3 1 8-8 17, Salem Allen 0 0 0-0 0, Keke Woods 3 0 2-12, Hayven Carter 2 0 0-0 4, Bry Shannon 1 1 0-0 5, K.K. Mays 1 0 3-4 5. Totals: 10 2 13-24 39. Rebounds: (O-6, D-12) 18 (Si. Allen 4, Woods 4, Shannon 3). Assists: 6 (Woods 3, Si. Allen 2). Steals: 13 (Woods 4, Si. Allen 2, Sa. Allen 2, Carter 2). Blocks: 3 (Si. Allen 3). Turnovers:15. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: Hayven Carter (4th, 7:38), Kiki Mays (4th, 0:06). .