Gracie Pyers of Fairbanks fires up a shot at Elgin on Tuesday. Pyers led FHS with 12 points during a Division III tournament loss. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
Fairbanks’ girls basketball team put up a couple of impressive numbers during Tuesday’s Division III tournament game at Marion Elgin High School.
The Lady Panthers climbed the offensive boards for 25 rebounds and only committed 10 turnovers.
Here, however, are the bad digits.
The 12th-seeded Lady Panthers shot only 22 percent from the field and thus ended their season with a 49-39 setback.
It was the second meeting of the season between the two teams.
The Lady Panthers easily handled the Comets, 59-41, on Dec. 21.
This game simply did not have the same result.
“We had 25 offensive rebounds,” said FHS head coach Landon Fraker. “That’s not total rebounds… That’s offensive boards.
“We outrebounded them totally by 16 and didn’t make that many turnovers,” he said. “It’s just that we had second, third and sometimes fourth shot efforts and couldn’t get the ball to drop.”
Several other components of the numbers game eventually hampered the Lady Panthers, who ended their season with a 10-13 record.
The Comets, who carried the 10th seed into the game, connected on five three-point shots, while Fairbanks managed only one.
Elgin also had a strong showing at the charity stripe by cashing in on 18-of-26 free throws.
The Lady Panthers, on the other hand, were just 10-of-16.
The game began very slowly for Fairbanks as the empty possessions mounted.
Elgin tallied a pair of three-pointers from Molly Hafer and Bekah Muselin for an early 8-0 lead.
Fairbanks did not move its side of the scoreboard until Carly Lehman swished a jumper with 1:29 remaining in the opening quarter.
The Comets stretched their lead to 11-2, but Lillian Miller scored on the offensive glass for FHS.
As a result, Fairbanks trailed 11-4 by the end of the stanza.
Megan Rausch followed her own shot for an offensive rebound that sliced Fairbanks’ deficit to 13-6 early in the second quarter.
Lehman converted a steal into a coast-to-coast layup.
A later free throw from Gracie Pyers pulled Fairbanks to within 13-9.
Elgin maintained leads of five to seven points over the next several minutes.
Brooklyn Matthews, however, hit a jumper and added a charity toss as the Comets took a 20-12 margin at halftime.
Lehman, who led FHS in scoring this season with a 10 point per game average, was saddled with three fouls by the intermission.
That prevented her from taking some chances to the hoop throughout the second half.
To their credit, though, the Lady Panthers refused to fold.
Just when it appeared as though Elgin would make a nice run to put the contest away, the local team would creep back into contention.
Elaina Lahmers buried a three-pointer to narrow FHS’ gap to 23-19.
Gracie Pyers, who led Fairbanks with 12 points, scored in traffic and closed the spread to within 28-22.
Fairbanks stayed within striking distance at 31-24 during the final minutes of the third quarter on a basket by Pyers and a couple of free throws from Rausch, which narrowed Elgin’s upper hand to 31-26.
Muselin, however, got a leaning jumper to fall as the Comets took a 33-26 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Lady Panthers continued to battle, pulling down numerous offensive rebounds during the ensuing set.
Those rebounds, however, didn’t lead to enough points to overcome the Comets.
FHS pulled to within 34-30 with 7:47 to play on a pair of free throws by Lahmers.
Macy Miller scored along the baseline to cut FHS’ gap to 36-32.
Lehman hit a jumper and Pyers cashed in on two critical free throws.
As a result, FHS closed to within 44-39 with 1:39 on the timer.
The Comets began milking the clock and FHS was forced to foul in order to regain possession.
Several Panthers were nailed with their fourth fouls and Lehman eventually was whistled to the sidelines with her fifth.
Matthews, Tirah Nelson and Muselin hit charity tosses down the stretch to keep FHS at bay.
Elgin
Muselin 6-8-23, Nelson 2-4-9, Schoen 2-2-6, Matthews 1-4-6, Hafer 1-0-3, Kagel 1-0-2, Brown 0-0-0, Dillon 0-0-0. Totals 13-18-49.
Three-point goals: Muselin 2, Nelson 1, Hafer 1.
Fairbanks
Pyers 4-4-12, Lehman 4-0-8, Lahmers 1-3-6, M. Miller 3-0-6, Rausch 1-2-4, L. Miller 1-1-3, Headings 0-0-0, Kugel 0-0-0, Rowland 0-0-0, Bookwalter 0-0-0, Carter 0-0-0, Thrush 0-0-0. Totals 14-10-39.
Three-point goal: Lahmers 1.
Fairbanks’ Carly Lehman hits a jumper at Elgin on Tuesday. The Lady Panthers lost the Division III tourney game. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)