Brewer’s run ends against Fairfield

BIRIMINGHAM – Brewer’s magical run to the Final 4A in Class 5A came to an end last Friday as the Lady Patriots fell to Fairfield 65-54.

Ricky Allen, head coach of the Lady Patriots, was still pleased with the way his team continued to fight all the way up until the end.

“I think I was the only one in Alabama who thought we’d be here right now,” Allen said. “Our one senior (Hannah Crawford) led our team to this point. I’m just really pleased with how hard our team worked to get here.”

Brewer’s youth and inexperience finally caught up to them at the end of the first quarter. The Lady Patriots turned it over three consecutive possessions, allowing Fairfield to go on a 8-0 run and take a 23-12 lead.

The two teams played almost evenly through the second quarter, but Brewer made a charge in the third quarter behind the play of Riley Northway and Caitlin Rush. The Lady Patriots cut the lead to just four points, but Northway picked up her fourth foul.

From that point, Fairfield outscored Brewer 9-3 to lead 48-38 at the end of the third quarter.

Brewer kept fighting, but they could get no closer than 10 points in the fourth quarter.

Northway said she really wanted to win the game.

“This was the last time this team played together,” Northway said. “Next year, we won’t have the same girls playing. I really wanted this team to win.”

Crawford said she plans to attend Troy or UNA next year, but doesn’t anticipate playing basketball again in college. She said she’s just happy with her teammates.

“Everyone’s really worked hard,” Crawford said. “We just kept fighting this whole year.”

Northway finished with 18 points and 9 rebounds while Crawford added 13 and Rush chipped in 12. Other Brewer scorers were Rheagan Harvel with 7 and Courtney Oldacre with 4.