West Noble basketball put Fairfield on red alert Friday evening, figuratively and literally.
Fairfield trailed in the third quarter to a two-win Lady Charger side before recovering for a 44-32 win. The win wrapped up a 10-0 NECC regular season, the second straight unbeaten conference season for the Fairfield girls program.
Eva Herbert and Kaylee Dillon combined for 22 points in the victory, moving Fairfield to 21-3 overall heading into the West Noble Sectional this week. The Lady Falcons will take on either Lakeland or Wawasee Friday in the sectional’s second game.
The West Noble boys used three bombs from Nolan Kelly in the third quarter, his third as time ran out of the quarter to give the Chargers a 36-29 lead they wouldn’t give up in upsetting the No. 8 Falcons, 54-46.
The loss was the first for Fairfield since Dec. 9, ending a nine-game win streak, and the first loss for Fairfield in the NECC, which it won the conference tourney last week.
Noah Mast led the Falcons with 11 points.
The Fairfield boys JV smothered West Noble in a 58-26 result. Ben Kio had a huge night with 19 points and Cole Knight finished with 12 points.
The girls JV wrapped up its season with an 18-2 record after a 37-13 win at West Noble. Seven players scored in the season finale, led by Mykayla Mast’s eight points and seven points from Hayden Minder.
It was Senior Night at the Nest last Thursday, but it was a freshman who had a career night.
Rookie Madison Jones was nearly unstoppable, hitting 12-15 shots from the floor and finishing with a career-high 25 points to go with six rebounds and five steals as Fairfield rallied past Bethany Christian, 40-22, in the final girls basketball home game of the season Thursday night.
Herbert added 11 points and pair of steals in the win, which had Fairfield trailing 14-12 in a lethargic first half. Fairfield would outscore the Bruins 14-4 in each of the third and fourth quarters.
Senior Jayslynn Hall had nine rebounds - six offensive - and classmates Natalie Whitaker and Dillon combined for five rebounds.
Fairfield's boys were back at it in NECC play Saturday night at the Nest, hosting Angola. The Falcons held the Hornets to just nine second-half points in pulling away for a 46-32 victory to move to 12-4 on the season and 5-1 in the NECC. Stats for the game were not immediately provided.
Fairfield advanced five wrestlers to the regional round of the IHSAA state tournament, the most since 2017. Leading the way for Fairfield was Matthew Senn, who finished as runner-up at 132 pounds. Senn won by pin and decision to make the final, which he fell, 8-4, to Elkhart’s Cam Dews.
Ryan Noel lost his first match at 175, but rallied to win his final three to take third place, and the trio of Dirk Rumfelt at 157, Aldahir Ortiz at 165 and Breckan Maran at 190 were all fourth place and claimed tickets to the second step of the state ladder.
Both Bradyn Williams at 150 and Ethan Hochstetler at 215 were fifth and await phone calls as potential call backs.
The Goshen Regional will take place Saturday, where the top four move to the Fort Wayne Semi-state in two weeks.
The Fairfield junior grapplers were at it Wednesday evening in a double dual against Busco and Central Noble. Full results weren’t available, but Fairfield pulled out two wins, beating Busco 54-18 and Central 56-18.