Lady Tigers defeat Fairfield in rivalry renewal
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
For one half, the rivalry renewal of the McClain and Fairfield series was as close as it could be on the scoreboard, but in the final 16 minutes, the Lady Tigers were able to slowly pull away and gain their fourth win of the year, defeating the visiting Lady Lions, 51-43, Saturday.
The first half was tied at 19 after a number of tied scores and lead changes, but it was the second half where McClain (4-7) never trailed as they broke the 19-19 halftime tie, taking an eight-point lead after three quarters.
"This was another game with two young teams competing with each other with a lot of fouls being called," MHS head coach Dennis Overstake said. "The kids are doing what we ask of them, and both teams were playing hard to try to win the game.
"We had others step up (Saturday), and we need for that to continue for the rest of the season."
In the third, Shania Massie broke the tie to put MHS ahead 21-19 one minute into the third frame, followed by Tara Karnes and Massie again scoring points from the free-throw line for a lead of 24-19 with 6:25 on the clock in the third frame.
Fairfield's Kaitlin Evans broke what was a 5-0 run by MHS, but MHS continued to outscore the Lady Lions (1-8) in the frame with Karnes scoring a layup, followed by Massie stealing an inbounds pass and scoring seconds after Karnes for an eight-point lead.
Later in the quarter, Lauren Rayburn, Massie and Karnes put MHS ahead by 11 points with 3:36 on the clock.
Fairfield continued to battle with Evans sinking a free throw and Heather Cox stealing the basketball and shooting a jumper for an eight-point deficit, but Haylee Turner came off the bench for MHS to score two points on a put-back opportunity. FHS ended the third with a steal and layup by Cox.
Cox led all scorers with 24 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double.
"Heather played well getting her points and rebounds, but also Lydia Sowders played well for us as well with seven rebounds," Hodson said.
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"We had our chances, but we missed shots, and turnovers got to us again. The girls are working hard ... we just need to continue to improve."
In the fourth, MHS and the Lady Lions each scored 14 points.
"We are improving, but we fouled too much and had too many turnovers," FHS head coach Matt Hodson said. "We've worked on defense a lot, but we didn't move our feet (Saturday), and that's not how we normally play defense."
For FHS in the fourth, Evans (who totaled 12 points in the game) scored seven points with a 3-pointer with 5:38 remaining to bring the Lady Lions within six points of tying the score at 41-35. Later, Evans brought FHS to within four points of the Lady Tigers after two free throws.
Also scoring for FHS in the fourth was Cox with seven points.
The scoring for MHS was more balanced in the fourth as Rayburn, Caitlyn Lovett, Katy Unger, Turner and Karnes all added points to the scoreboard.
"Haylee and Caitlyn did a nice job off the bench for us as we were a player down," Overstake said.
Unger led the Lady Tigers with 14 points, followed by Karnes with 13 and Massie with 10.
Of the 14 points by MHS in the fourth, 12 of them came from the free-throw line as there were a total of 41 fouls called on the two teams combined in the game.
From the free-throw line (for the game), FHS was 8-of-21, and the host Lady Tigers were 16-of-29.
"Free throws hurt us … we can't miss that many free throws and expect to win games," Hodson said. "We missed too many from ends of one-of-ones, which took away more opportunities for us."
The opening half was balanced by both teams with FHS leading 10-6 after the first quarter and MHS outscoring FHS 13-9 in the second, as the score was tied five times in the second eight-minute span.
"Matthew (Hodson) does a good job with his team, and they played hard and battled," Overstake said.
The Lady Lions will play again on Thursday, Jan. 3 at Lynchburg-Clay. MHS plays again on Saturday, Jan. 5 at London.
The first half was tied at 19 after a number of tied scores and lead changes, but it was the second half where McClain (4-7) never trailed as they broke the 19-19 halftime tie, taking an eight-point lead after three quarters.
"This was another game with two young teams competing with each other with a lot of fouls being called," MHS head coach Dennis Overstake said. "The kids are doing what we ask of them, and both teams were playing hard to try to win the game.
"We had others step up (Saturday), and we need for that to continue for the rest of the season."
In the third, Shania Massie broke the tie to put MHS ahead 21-19 one minute into the third frame, followed by Tara Karnes and Massie again scoring points from the free-throw line for a lead of 24-19 with 6:25 on the clock in the third frame.
Fairfield's Kaitlin Evans broke what was a 5-0 run by MHS, but MHS continued to outscore the Lady Lions (1-8) in the frame with Karnes scoring a layup, followed by Massie stealing an inbounds pass and scoring seconds after Karnes for an eight-point lead.
Later in the quarter, Lauren Rayburn, Massie and Karnes put MHS ahead by 11 points with 3:36 on the clock.
Fairfield continued to battle with Evans sinking a free throw and Heather Cox stealing the basketball and shooting a jumper for an eight-point deficit, but Haylee Turner came off the bench for MHS to score two points on a put-back opportunity. FHS ended the third with a steal and layup by Cox.
Cox led all scorers with 24 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double.
"Heather played well getting her points and rebounds, but also Lydia Sowders played well for us as well with seven rebounds," Hodson said.
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"We had our chances, but we missed shots, and turnovers got to us again. The girls are working hard ... we just need to continue to improve."
In the fourth, MHS and the Lady Lions each scored 14 points.
"We are improving, but we fouled too much and had too many turnovers," FHS head coach Matt Hodson said. "We've worked on defense a lot, but we didn't move our feet (Saturday), and that's not how we normally play defense."
For FHS in the fourth, Evans (who totaled 12 points in the game) scored seven points with a 3-pointer with 5:38 remaining to bring the Lady Lions within six points of tying the score at 41-35. Later, Evans brought FHS to within four points of the Lady Tigers after two free throws.
Also scoring for FHS in the fourth was Cox with seven points.
The scoring for MHS was more balanced in the fourth as Rayburn, Caitlyn Lovett, Katy Unger, Turner and Karnes all added points to the scoreboard.
"Haylee and Caitlyn did a nice job off the bench for us as we were a player down," Overstake said.
Unger led the Lady Tigers with 14 points, followed by Karnes with 13 and Massie with 10.
Of the 14 points by MHS in the fourth, 12 of them came from the free-throw line as there were a total of 41 fouls called on the two teams combined in the game.
From the free-throw line (for the game), FHS was 8-of-21, and the host Lady Tigers were 16-of-29.
"Free throws hurt us … we can't miss that many free throws and expect to win games," Hodson said. "We missed too many from ends of one-of-ones, which took away more opportunities for us."
The opening half was balanced by both teams with FHS leading 10-6 after the first quarter and MHS outscoring FHS 13-9 in the second, as the score was tied five times in the second eight-minute span.
"Matthew (Hodson) does a good job with his team, and they played hard and battled," Overstake said.
The Lady Lions will play again on Thursday, Jan. 3 at Lynchburg-Clay. MHS plays again on Saturday, Jan. 5 at London.