(December 9th, 2014) – FAYETTE: Going into the fourth quarter, Fayette was facing a 16 point deficit square in the face.
That didn’t intimidate them, however.
For most of the game, the Lady Eagles were down on the scoreboard. At one point in the third period they were down by more than 20 points. It seemed that no matter what they did, the Fayette girls weren’t able to climb back into the game. After all, the Lady Bulldogs hit on nearly every shot they took.
So Fayette didn’t let them shoot in the fourth period.
Powered by the efforts of Taylor Griffith, the Lady Eagles gradually chipped away at the Swanton lead throughout the final period of play. On the defensive side of the ball, the girls of Fayette came alive, stealing the ball, blocking shots, and rebounding the few attempts the Bulldogs were able to put up. A few missed free throws from Swanton helped out a bit as well.
Offensively, Griffith put forth a herculean performance, scoring 21 of her 30 points in that fourth quarter. She hit 6 three-pointers on her way to accomplishing that lofty number, including her last shot which pulled the Lady Eagles to within a single point with 7 seconds to go. Kaela Seiler offered 13 points to the Fayette cause as well, while Alexis Fruchey scored 7 points in the game.
The comeback attempt fell just short of success, though. Swanton made a gutsy play with 7 seconds to go, and they player throwing the ball in from out of bounds tossed the ball the nearly length of the court, and almost out of bounds. Another Lady Bulldog was able to catch up to the ball just before that happened, though, and she scored on a layup. There wasn’t enough time on the clock for the Lady Eagles to get another shot off, even one from half court.
Swanton was very tough to defend, as their roster is filled with efficient shooters. Over the course of the game, the Lady Bulldogs went 10 for 16 from the three-point line. Fayette had a solid day shooting from behind the arc as well, netting 6 of their 18 attempts.
The Lady Eagles also narrowly edged out Swanton in the rebounding margin. Fayette pulled in 28 boards, while the Lady Bulldogs had 25. The differential came from the 2 more offensive rebounds brought down by Fayette, as well as the 1 defensive rebound advantage they held.
Keeping their turnovers into singe digits played a large part in Fayette’s comeback as well. Turning the ball over just 8 times, they didn’t sacrifice too many opportunities to score, nor did they give the potent Swanton offense a lot of extra chances to put up points. The Lady Bulldogs themselves committed 14 turnovers, with a significant portion of that number coming in the fourth period.
Fayette fell far behind early in this game, due mainly to the Lady Bulldogs hitting a lot of their three-point attempts. The battled back without fear, and deserved to win this game.