“The girls fought hard,” Fayetteville head coach Chad Wilkinson said. “They have fought hard all year and they needed this win. It is the Area Tournament; if you lose you go home and if you win you advance.”
Samara Nix scored four quick points, which helped the Lady Wolves jump out to an early 6-4 lead. The Lady Silent Warriors responded with a 7-0.Tuesday Dunlin capped off the run with a lay-up to give ASD an 11-6 lead with 2:17 remaining in the first quarter. Fayetteville’s Olivia Brasher nailed a 3-pointer to cut ASD lead down 11-9 going into the second quarter.
After getting a feel of what ASD likes to do offensively, Wilkinson changed defenses and it paid off. The Lady Wolves held the Lady Silent Warriors scoreless for 7:50 of the second quarter. Offensively Fayetteville put the basketball into Nix’s hands and she delivered. Nix scored six points to fuel a 10-0 run for the Lady Wolves. Ladia Leonard capped off the drive with a lay-up with 18 seconds remaining in the half to give Fayetteville a 19-11 advantage.
“ We changed the defense on them and it kind of got them mixed up a little bit,” Wilkinson said. “When we moved our defense around they didn’t know how to adjust to it. That was huge for us.”
Dunklin began to heat up for the Lady Silent Warriors in the third quarter. She scored seven points during an 11-4 run to give the Silent Warriors a 24-23 lead. Dunklin scored ASD’s last five points of the quarter to tie the game up a 29-29. Fayetteville ended the quarter on a 6-0 run to increase their lead to 35-29 going into the fourth quarter.
Dunklin scored five of her 23 points in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough for the Lady Silent Warriors.
Nix led the way for the Lady Wolves with 16 points. Anna Watkins scored 10 points for the Lady Wolves, while Brasher chipped in with eight points.
“She is a workhorse,” Wilkinson said of Nix. “She works down low, and I have to get her better on defense. I have to get her moving and a little faster, but she is going to be all right.
The Lady Wolves take on the host team, the Winterboro Lady Bulldogs Thursday in the semifinals of the Class 1A Area 7 tournament. The Lady Bulldogs won both meetings during the regular season 41-28 and 46-34.
“Our girls kind of want a little revenge,” Wilkinson said. “Maybe they will execute when they come out at 7:30 against Winterboro.”
Contact LaVonte Young at lyoung@dailyhome.com
