Lady Jacks' streak ended by Fairfield
By Russell Payne Sports Editor

Coming off an enormous victory in the Area Championship contest last Friday night over the Lorena Lady Leopards 53 ^ 40 in Fairfield the Diboll Lady Jacks advanced to the Class 3A Quarterfinals. The dominating performance by the Lady Jacks over Lorena saw the District 20 3A Champions capture their 20th straight victory and increase their season total to 26 - 8.

The Quarterfinals round was thus set and Monday night the Lady Jacks headed up 59 to Angelina College for at a contest at Chance Coliseum with the Lady Eagles of Fairfield.

Fairfield came into the contest with a 3A ranking of No. 7 and an overall record of 30-2 on the season.

The crowd at Angelina was large and electrified as the Lady Jacks prepared to continue their triumphant march toward Austin and a state title. Unfortunately for the Diboll squad a big first half lead would not hold up and Fairfield wound up with a victory by a final score of 76 ^ 67.

The opening half, if not the entire game saw the Lady Jacks marred by some of the most horrific foul calls imaginable and it just was piled on. That however was not enough to hold down the Lady Jacks early on as they worked past losing star post Nikki Greene early on with her second foul coming at the 5:36 mark in the opening period of play.

That is when Diboll turned to Vanessa Jones, and Jones delivered indeed. In the first peri-

10od alone Jones put up 10 points for the Lady Jacks in the first six minutes of the ballgame.

That is when the foul troubles continued and Jones was called for her second of the game at the 2:13 mark of the first period. At that point the Diboll had a lead of 12 ^ 6.

During the second period the Lady Jacks got both Greene and Jones back on the court with a pair of fouls each.

Greene got the scoring started and laid in a huge basket to give them a 22 ^ 14 lead. That was followed up by Kayla Elizalde with a magical behind the back pass to Chelsea Burns that put Diboll up by 10.

On the other end of the court Elizalde makes a hug steal and chunks back to Jones who laid it in and put Diboll up 26 ^ 14.

That is when the foul troubles started back up and within 20 seconds Elizalde had her second and Greene was handed a third personal foul.

The half ended with a small run by Fairfield, but the Lady Jacks held in there and took a halftime lead of 38 ^ 30.

The second half saw the Lady Jacks come out a little cold and with Greene still on the bench in foul trouble.

Fairfield used the opportunity to make nine point run and grab their first lead of the evening at 39 ^ 38. Diboll answered right back and as T.K. Jackson hit a lay up.

Over the next couple of minutes Jones was hit with her third and fourth personal fouls, forcing her to the bench.

The Lady Eagles started to take advantage of the Diboll foul troubles and used the line to build up a lead, along with a huge three-point basket. The period ended with Fairfield up by seven points.

In the final period the Lady Jacks turned to Greene as they lost several key players to fouls.

In the end Greene survived with four fouls and put on a huge effort in the final period. Unfortunately it would not be enough on this day and the Fairfield Lady Eagles would take the game 76 ^ 67.

It was a great year for this group of young ladies and they deserve credit for all of their hard work. For Ja¿Frina Jackson and PaShun Tappin it was their final game as Lady Jacks, for the rest of this squad next year is looking very bright.