Lady Dragons roll into regional finals behind 1st quarter scoring onslaught

LIBERTY TOWNSHIP — The Fairland Lady Dragons offense is like a powder keg.

When it explodes, there’s a whole lot of points scattered all over the basketball court.

Fairland erupted for 31 points in the first quarter and went on to blast the Waynesville Lady Spartans 76-38 in the Division 5 Regional Tournament on Wednesday.

Fairland (22-4) will now play Anna at 2 p.m. Saturday in the regional championship game with the winner advancing to the state semifinals.

Anna edged Versailles 50-49 in overtime in the other regional semifinal game on Wednesday.

Fairland’s Bailey Russell and Isa Taliaferro led the first quarter scoring onslaught as Taliaferro had three 3-pointers and scored 11 points and Russell drilled a pair of triples and scored 10 points.

The Lady Dragons continued to put up the points in the second quarter as they built a 51-16 halftime cushion.

Russell stayed hot with another set of 3-pointers and had 8 points as five different players scored for Fairland.

Maggie Stephenson scored 8 of Waynesville’s 10 points in the quarter.

The Lady Dragons held Waynesville to just 5 points in the third quarter as they extended the lead to 67-21.

Addison Godby and Russell scored 4 points each with Teagan Leep and Rylee Russell both adding 3-pointers.

With backups in the lineup, Waynesville outscored Fairland 17-9 in the fourth quarter as Katie Berrey knocked down a pair of 3-pointers for the Lady Spartans.

Bailey Russell led Fairland with 24 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Lola Donahue had 12 points off the bench. Addison Godby had 9 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists.

Waynesville (19-7) was led by Stephenson with 18 points while Berrey added 12.

Waynesville 6 10 5 17 = 38

Fairland 31 20 16 9 = 76

WAYNESVILLE (19-7): Katie Berrey 0 3 3-4 12, M. Musick 1 0 0-0 2, Bella Bradley 0 0 0-0 0, Maddie Koleczkowski 1 1 0-0 5, Grace Ann Cordery 0 0 1-2 1, Maggie Stephenson 8 0 2-5 18, Ryley Ellis 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 10 4 6-11 38. Fouls: 8. Fouled out: None.

FAIRLAND (22-4): Teagan Leep 0 1 0-0 3, Isa Taliaferro 2 3 0-0 13, Addison Godby 4 0 1-9 9, Rylee Russell 1 2 0-0 8, Haley Lykins 0 0 0-0 0, Addison Cornell 0 0 2-4 2, Stella Whitley 0 1 0-0 3, Lola Donahue 5 0 2-3 12, Kiana Miller 1 0 0-0 2, Liana Streets 0 0 0-0 0, Raydiance Anderson 0 0 0-0 0, Bailey Russell 5 4 2-2 24, Morgan Elliott 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 29-54 7-18 76. 3-pt goals: 11-27. Rebounds: 28 (Godby 9, B Russell 5). Assists: 19 (Godby 4, Taliaferro 4, B. Russell 4).  Turnovers; 13. Fouls: 14 Fouled out: None.