Lady Tigers add another win; defeat Fairfield

LEESBURG — The McClain Lady Tigers continued play that should make them noticeable throughout the SE District and statewide on Wednesday night, with stifling defense, solid post play and scoring which led them to their 16th win of the season.

McClain defeated 11-win Fairfield on the road Wednesday, due in large part to their defense more than their offense, as they defeated their Highland County rival, 66-31 at Grandle Gymnasium in Leesburg.

The catalyst of their victory was the defensive and offensive play of juniors Taylor Polley and Malea Montavon, who played excellent defense and scored a combined 36 of the 66 points by the Lady Tigers. Polley led the Lady Tigers with 19 points, sinking three 3-pointers, four two-point baskets and was 2-of-4 from the free-throw line.

Montavon was on point as well, with 17 points, three 3-pointers and four two-point buckets in the victory.

“That was one of our better man-to-man defensive performances, and we’ve been working on it very, very hard,” MHS head coach Jarrod Haines said. “We are playing a lot of young kids who don’t always understand the philosophies, but we did a great job, I thought, of being tough and strong.

“There were certain situations where we guard Grace Shope, she’s coming in averaging 20 points, and we hold her to half of that, that’s credit to Taylor Polley … it was an absolutely awesome job by her. What Taylor did well was when they tried to isolate her in the post, she made sure she got her hands on every pass that was in there. Taylor is a great defender.”

In the game itself, the first frame was the closest-played quarter of the four, with the Lady Tigers leading Fairfield, 11-6 at the conclusion of the opening eight minutes. In the first frame, Montavon sank two of her three treys for six of the 11 points scored by McClain in the quarter. Lexie Barton also connected with a 3-pointer in the first frame, finishing with five points in the quarter.

“Malea played the guard to start out and finished with the post in the second half … she did a really good job,” Haines said.

The second quarter sealed the fate of the Lady Lions against their county rival, with McClain outscoring the hosts, 23-10 for a halftime lead of 34-16.

McClain had 10 of those 23 points in the second frame scored by Polley, with Maddy Stegbauer sinking a 3-pointer with 6:47 left in the quarter for a lead of 18-8.

“The girls did great in help situations and played well,” Haines said. “We got in foul trouble early, so our guards carried us through the first half, but our post players did a lot better this outing than the last one. I thought Mikenzie Coleman played excellent. She’s really good at finding the open player.”

Also in the quarter, Montavon added four points, as did Barton, and Coleman scored two points in the second, helping the Lady Tigers gain what was an 18-point advantage. The second ended with a 3-pointer by Polley, followed by the buzzer to make it the aforementioned 34-16 score.

For Fairfield in the second frame, five of their 10 points came from Grace Shope, who led the Lady Lions in scoring with 10 points. Others to net points in the second from FHS were Carly Arnold, Lauren Arnold and Blake Adams.

Adams was the second-leading scorer for Fairfield on the night with nine points.

“Their defense dictated everything,” FHS head coach Chad Hamilton said. “They did everything … it was really hard for us to get open looks, and they had the size advantage against us and did everything fundamentally well. They may be the best team we’ve seen all year.

“They made things really difficult on us.”

In the second half, McClain outscored the Lady Lions, 32-15, including a 10-6 third frame and a 22-9 fourth quarter.

For McClain in the third, Beth Montgomery scored five of her eight total points, with Polley adding three and Coleman scoring two. In the fourth, Montgomery added three more points, with Malea Montavon scoring seven points (including her third 3-pointer).

Polley sank two 3-pointers in the fourth for MHS, and Kelli Uhrig also connected with a 3-pointer with 17 seconds left in the game. Also adding points in the fourth for the visitors were Barton and Makenzie Montavon.

In the final frame for Fairfield, Brianna Barnes scored four points, as did Adams, and Macie Pauley also reached the scoring column.

“Our game plan was to attack the boards, and they were leaking out their guards and running, so I knew our guards could rebound,” Haines said. “Malea did a really good job of rebounding.”

FHS finished the game 6-of-11 from the free-throw line, while MHS was 7-of-14. McClain totaled nine 3-pointers.

In JV play, Fairfield defeated McClain, 34-23. Fairfield was led by Ashley Sowards with seven points, while McClain was led by Elizabeth Kegley with 11.

McClain will play again on Saturday when they hit the road for a South Central Ohio League contest against the Hillsboro Lady Indians. Fairfield play again on Thursday when they host Fayetteville in a Southern Hills Athletic Conference game.