By Kai Raymer (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Allison Findley wants to be greedy.
With the run Fair Grove is on, she’s certainly at the right school for her ambitious goal.
“I just want to hold more trophies,” said Findley, now a two-time state champion (basketball, volleyball). “It’s just great to be an Eagle right now.”
Fair Grove has another championship for its rapidly growing trophy case.
In a matchup of two teams who made the state final four last season, the Lady Eagles defeated West Plains 46-39 on Friday night in the championship game of the 43rd annual Fair Grove Invitational.
Junior guard Cam Hart led a balanced Fair Grove squad with 10 points. Four other Lady Eagles scored five or more.
The defending Class 3 state champions seem as motivated as ever.
“We still have something to prove,” Hart said. “We want to show that it wasn’t a mistake or fluke that we won (state).”
While Fair Grove welcomes back all but one player from its state championship squad, the Lady Eagles do have a significant new wrinkle for the 2023-24 season.
Longtime area coach Gary Greene, formerly at Mansfield, ended a brief retirement this summer when the Fair Grove job came open.
“The opportunity to come over here was a blessing,” Greene said. “If I was going to coach again, who wouldn’t want to coach these kids?”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
Fair Grove’s championship pedigree faced a familiar Class 5 test on Friday night.
For the third year in a row, Fair Grove faced West Plains in the championship game of its home tournament. The Lady Eagles were hungry for revenge after West Plains prevailed in last year’s matchup.
“We talked about that game. They came back and beat us in the fourth quarter,” Findley said. “We had to key in on that at halftime and not let that happen again. We had to take smart shots, because that’s what cost us last year against them.”
In Friday’s rubber match, Fair Grove built a 10-point halftime lead and survived a sluggish second half. The Eagles scored just 17 points over the final two quarters.
Fair Grove’s shaky free throw shooting helped West Plains hang around through the end. Fair Grove shot 8-for-19 at the line overall, including 3-for-11 in the fourth.
Allyssa Joyner led West Plains (2-2 overall) with 17 points. Olivia Lawson, who fouled out midway through the fourth, finished with 13 points.
“West Plains’ zone (defense) is really good and they’ve been doing it a long time,” Greene said. “It’s really hard to score against them. If you don’t make perimeter shots, it’s even harder. We made some early, which is why we were able to get ahead of them a little bit. Then, that third quarter, we couldn’t buy a basket and then we couldn’t make free throws in the fourth.”
Just two weeks into the season, Fair Grove is still looking to find its basketball legs. The players who helped Fair Grove win a volleyball state championship last month are catching up.
“We’re still behind,” Greene said. “We’re four games in, still trying to figure out what we’re doing and how to do it. We’ve spent most of our time on the defensive end. Our defense is way ahead of our offense at this point. But when you guard, you give yourself a chance to win.”
Fair Grove returns to action Tuesday night at Miller. West Plains returns to action Dec. 14 at Ozark.
Fair Grove 46, West Plains 39
West Plains 9 10 9 11 — 39
Fair Grove 17 12 6 11 — 46
West Plains (2-2 overall) – Allyssa Joyner 17, Olivia Lawson 13, Mylea Adams 6, Zoe Shrubb 3
Fair Grove (4-0 overall) – Cam Hart 10, Allison Findley 8, Ashton Bell 7, Brooke Daniels 6, Hannah Maxwell 5, Abbey Green 4, Emma Padgett 3, Taylor Green 2, Shea Skouby 1
