Lady Tigers defeat rival Lady Indians in OT; earn 1st win of season

GREENFIELD — Both the McClain Lady Tigers and Hillsboro Lady Indians had to overcome a total of 65 combined fouls called — equaling 77 free throw attempts — on Saturday night, but in between all of the whistles, the Highland County and Frontier Athletic Conference rivals battled on the court in a game that went into overtime.

As the score was tied at 51 once regulation concluded, when overtime expired, the Lady Tigers achieved two firsts for the season as they gained not only their first win of the year, but also their first FAC win in history as the conference is in its first season, by a 62-59 final score.

Hillsboro had foul trouble with the Lady Indians having five girls foul out and two others with four fouls, and McClain had no players foul out, but had five girls with four fouls, leading to both teams having to go to their bench throughout the fourth quarter and overtime.

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The Lady Indians were first to score in overtime with a three-point play from Kayden Watson at the 2:35 mark of the 4:00 minute overtime period. The Lady Tigers had an answer in a three-point play from Kyla Burchett with 2:17 on the clock, tying the score at 54. Ten seconds later, in another trip to the free-throw line, Burchett put MHS ahead by a 55-54 score with a converted free throw.

As overtime continued, Hillsboro’s Madi Marsh gave the Lady Indians a 57-55 advantage with a three-point play, only to see a put-back basket by McClain’s Bryn Karnes tie the score at 57 with 1:30 on the clock.

McClain regained the lead with two free throw conversions from Maddy Stegbauer at the 51.8 mark of OT, and those were followed with one free throw from Karnes and two more by Stegbauer for a 62-57 lead with 30 seconds remaining.

Hillsboro made a two-point basket off a shot from Watson to make it what was the final three-point deficit for HHS and the final score of 62-59 as MHS outscored the Lady Indians 11-8 in overtime.

Both teams put in a strong effort getting to the overtime period with McClain leading 12-7 at the end of the first quarter, beginning the first frame with the opening points off a layup by Maddy Stegbauer 35 seconds into the game. MHS took a 5-0 advantage with a 3-pointer from Emma Stegbauer, who finished the game with 11 points.

HHS responded with two free throws 30 seconds later, but Emma Stegbauer was there for MHS to push their lead back to five points with a layup. Hillsboro’s Delaney Eakins added two points to the Hillsboro side of the scoreboard, but those were equaled with a put-back basket by Kelli Uhrig of McClain for a 9-4 advantage.

A 3-pointer by Hillsboro’s Madi Marsh (who totaled 10 points for HHS) brought the away fans to their feet with 1:43 left in the opening frame, but McClain had the final cheers of the first half with a three-point play from Emma Stegbauer with 43.6 on the clock and a 12-7 advantage.

In the second half, Hillsboro outscored the Lady Indians 15-13 with points from Kayden Watson, Josie Hopkins, Lana Grover, Kaley Burns and Eakins. McClain had scoring in the second from Maddy Stegbauer, Uhrig and Karnes. Maddy Stegbauer led all scorers with 24 points.

At one point in the second frame, Maddy Stegbauer pushed the MHS lead to 16-9 with a long jumper. and eventually with 4:00 on the clock, a 3-pointer by Grover of HHS and then a layup from Eakins tied the score at 20. HHS took their first lead of the game with a free throw make by Hopkins, but at the 2:28 mark, McClain tied the score with a free throw from Maddy Stegbauer.

After HHS took the lead with a free throw by Grover, Maddy Stegbauer sank a jumper for MHS to once again go in front of HHS. That was followed by Karnes (who totaled 10 points) taking a charge, then 30 seconds later, after being fouled yet again, she made two free throws for a 25-22 lead that went all the way to halftime.

By the time the third frame ended, it was McClain increasing their lead from three points to eight points with a 17-point quarter in their favor and 12 points for the Lady Indians.

All 12 of Hillsboro’s points in the third were scored by Karleigh Hopkins — who led HHS with 15 points — with two 3-pointers, one two-point basket and she was 4-of-4 from the free-throw line. In the third, McClain had scoring from Maddy Stegbauer, Emma Stegbauer, Burchett, Karnes and Jaelyn Pitzer who sank a 3-pointer with 2:09 left in the third, giving MHS a lead at the time of 35-29.

The most exciting basket of the game came at the buzzer to end the third with Karleigh Hopkins sinking a half-court 3-pointer for the Lady Indians as time expired.

Hillsboro forced overtime in the fourth frame by outscoring the host Lady Tigers 17-9 in the final eight minutes of regulation. The score was tied three times within the first 4:30 of the quarter at 42, 44 and 47 points with Karleigh Hopkins tying the score at 42 with a three-point play for the Lady Indians at the 6:41 mark of the frame. McClain tied the score twice in that time frame at the 5:25 mark off a free throw by Karnes, and at the 3:36 mark, Maddy Stegbauer scored two points on a layup for a 47-47 score.

From there, the lead exchanged hands on a free throw by Maddy Stegbauer, followed by two free throws from Grover to push HHS ahead by a 49-48 score. Eakins added to the HHS lead with a free throw, as did Grover, for a 51-48 advantage with 1:49 left in the fourth. Grover finished with 12 points.

McClain eventually tied the game and went into overtime with a jumper from Maddy Stegbauer and a free throw by Emma Stegbauer for the 51-51 score at the end of regulation.

(Editor's note: More photos from McClain vs. Hillsboro will be added).