Molly McKelvy (32) sprints past Anniston's Anna Garrett (10) during Fairview's loss to the Lady Bulldogs on Thursday. (Nick Griffin for The Cullman Tribune)
JACKSONVILLE. Ala. – After knocking off Cherokee County in the semi-final round, Fairview made the trip back to Jacksonville Thursday for the 4A Girls Northeast Regional finals. The Lady Aggies took on fourth-ranked Anniston at and came up short against the Lady Bulldogs 50-27, bringing their playoff run and stellar season to an end at 19-11.
After the game, head coach Justin Billings touched on his first season in Fairview as a whole and how this team was able to make it so far despite losing so much from last year’s squad.
“The key words are patience and hard work,” Billings said. “Around the eighth or ninth game of the season most teams are fine-tuning and starting to get on a pretty good roll. It took us a little longer to figure it out after not having a lot of offseason time with the girls making it so far in volleyball, but I wouldn’t trade this season for anything. These girls worked hard, I think they gave me all they could have and a little bit more so I’m proud of them.”
With no seniors scheduled to graduate this year, Fairview will be loaded and experienced when basketball season comes back around in the fall. Two standouts for the Lady Aggies that will return next season, Molly McKelvy and Payton Golden, are already looking forward to another season with this team.
“I’m very excited,” Golden and McKelvy said together.
“we’re going to have everybody back and we’ll be able to work better together,” McKelvy said. “We’re used to playing with each other.”
“Payton was the only one who had played varsity, so a lot of these girls are younger and haven’t been in situations like this,” Billings said. “So, this year has been a learning experience and next year hopefully we’ll be a little more seasoned and experienced and be able to do it a little bit better.”
McKelvy nailed a shot from behind the arc to give the Lady Aggies a 3-0 lead in the first few seconds of the game but Anniston responded with a 12-0 run that put Fairview in an early hole. A layup from Golden cut the lead 12-5 late in the first quarter and that score held going into the second.
Full court pressure from the Lady Bulldogs gave the Lady Aggies a lot of trouble in the second period. Anniston began forcing more turnovers and converted them to easy buckets on the other end. The Lady Bulldogs made it a 23-8 game midway through the second and stretched the lead to 31-8 with just over two minutes to play in the half. That lead held for Anniston at the halftime break. The Lady Bulldogs scored 19 points off 13 Fairview turnovers in the first half.
A basket from Maddie Yeager trimmed the lead to 31-10 at the start of the third quarter and McKelvy followed her with a three-pointer and mid-range jumper to cut the lead to down to 33-17 early in the period. Anniston’s defense began forcing more turnovers and slowed down the offense for the Lady Aggies. The lead stood at 35-17 midway through the third but McKelvy added another three with just under a minute in the quarter to make it a 35-20 game and send Fairview into the final frame down by 15.
A pair of free throws stretched the Lady Bulldogs’ lead to 40-22 early in the fourth quarter and turnovers continued to make it tough for the Lady Aggies to chip away. A basket from Manasco made it a 44-27 game with just under two minutes to play but Fairview ran out of time and Anniston held on to win it 50-27.
McKelvy led the Lady Aggies with 14 points, followed by Golden with seven. McKelvy and Golden were also named to the Northeast Regional All-Tournament Team. Every Lady Aggie on the roster will be back next season and after reaching the elite eight with so little returning experience this year, they’ll be in good shape to make another run in 2020.
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