WEST POINT — Only once Fairview’s girls started driving Friday night at West Point did they take the driver’s seat.

Both in the all-important area tilt, as well as the race for the county’s second seed.

Taylor Ann Yeager let loose for 19 points, five steals and four assists, Abbi Taylor overcame foul trouble to deliver 10 points and nine rebounds, and the Lady Aggies shook off a brief deficit in the third quarter to blow by the Lady Warriors for a 46-32 victory.

The Purple and Gold improved to 12-3 overall, 3-0 in the area and 4-1 in the county, while Class 5A No. 9 West Point fell to 12-2, 2-1 and 3-2.

“It feels good,” Yeager said of the win. “It helps us to see where we’re at.”

Where exactly that’d be wasn’t clear for much of Friday’s highly anticipated contest. The Warriors dug out of an early hole to take a 29-26 lead on a third-quarter putback by Mackenzie Carter and inside shot by Olivia Ball, only for Fairview to respond with a 13-0 run stretching into the final frame.

Yeager nailed a pair of 3-pointers, Jada Golden sank one, and McKinna Yearwood and Daylia Dean also added baskets during the decisive stretch, giving the Aggies more than enough momentum to ease past the suddenly icy home squad.

“They were physical and they were a tough team,” Fairview coach Mary Hartline said. “We pulled that one out thank goodness. We’ve got some girls who have been around awhile. Maturity took over and we realized we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do and win. Taylor Ann came down and hit a couple shots, and that took a lot of pressure off everybody. Then Abbi Taylor, even though she was in foul trouble, she was on the bench just giving it to our own girls. That was good leadership and I think that picked ’em up.”

Yearwood (11), Taylor and Abby Schnittker (six) helped the Purple and Gold outrebound West Point 42-17. Golden and Dean each swiped three of the Aggies’ 16 steals, and Yearwood, Jordan Moore, Maci Yeager and Schnittker all got their hands on at least one.

Barring an upset, Fairview is locked into the No. 2 seed for next month’s county tournament. That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t mean much to Hartline at the moment, especially after the Aggies’ early exit as the top seed in 2015.

“This is what I’ve learned — in-season means nothing,” she said. “You know that. I know that. But the good thing is our girls are looking for things they’ve worked on. This is a tough game and you’re always happy to win a tough game no matter what position it’s for.

“The girls want their hard work to pay off, but I want it to pay off at the right time.”

John Welborn just wanted his girls to find some offense and make better decisions after Fairview took over on Friday, but the West Point coach never got either wish.

Following their short time out front, the Warriors only mustered one field goal and one free throw the rest of the way.

“If you can’t score more than 32 points, you’re not going to beat anybody,” Welborn said. “We got good looks. We just had too many turnovers. Unforced errors, stuff that we hadn’t been doing. Just trying to dribble between three people, force the ball when it wasn’t there. And you’ve got to make shots, and we didn’t make any shots.”

Ball touted a team-high 15 points and six rebounds for the Maroon and White.

Welborn obviously would’ve rather preferred the win, but with a young nucleus that’s so far cruised through almost all its competition, he planned on gleaning as much good from the loss as possible.

“Now we know what different stuff we’ve got to work on,” he said. “That’s a good thing. We’ll come back next week, practice hard and try to get better. That’s all you can do.”

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Varsity Boys

% Fairview 51, West Point 37: Caleb White collected 14 points, and the Aggies outscored the Warriors 12-3 in the third quarter and 29-13 in the second half to snag their second area win.

Bryson Fletcher and Luke Yarbrough added 11 and 10 points for the Purple and Gold, who improved to 7-7 overall and 2-1 in area play. Grant Howard was good for seven.

Kolton Sapp made West Point’s only shot in the third quarter and finished with nine points. Austin Dubberly kicked in seven points, and Rylan Jones and Brandon Farley each had six.