Lady Tigers fend off rival Hillsboro

GREENFIELD — The McClain offense ran through junior Shania Massie, as she and her teammates made it a memorable night for the Lady Tigers' seniors as they held on to defeat the Hillsboro Lady Indians, 56-49.

The Hillsboro Lady Indians (3-8, 10-11) didn't make anything easy for the host Lady Tigers (7-4, 12-6) on Senior Night as it was a four-point game with under 2:00 left in fourth.

"Credit Coach Moberly, HIllsboro didn't go away, and I knew they wouldn't," MHS head coach Jarrod Haines said. "We got comfortable with that 18-point lead, and we just kind of stopped attacking.

"They didn't go away, they just kept chipping, chipping, chipping. That last two minutes, we had to get after it and finish."

As for Massie, the junior led all scorers with a season-high 34 points, surpassing a mark of 33 points earlier this season against East Clinton.

"Obviously, Shania had a great game," Haines said. "She got to the free-throw line, which is where she usually gets a lot of her points.

"She knocked down some big shots down for us from the outside. Obviously, she was offensively a huge key, and that's been consistent."

Though MHS won the SCOL matchup, it was the Lady Indians who led early on as they scored the first seven points of the game with a 3-pointer from Kaylynn Bell and two-point buckets by Kirsten Juillerat and Madison Snyder for the 7-0 lead with 5:19 left on the first-quarter clock.

Snyder led HHS with 16 points, followed by Juillerat with 12 points and Bell with 10.

"Kaylynn is a warrior," HHS head coach JR Moberly said. "She battled all night. She had to slide back into that point guard role, which isn't really where we want her, but she's done a great job with it."

Massie took over the first quarter by scoring seven straight points from the 4:19 mark to a 7-7 tie with 1:49 left in the quarter. It began with a 3-pointer and then a layup. The score was tied as Massie spun around a defender and placed the ball through the hoop.

HHS regained the lead to end the first with two points from Hannah Kibler and a jumper at the buzzer by Bell for a lead of 11-7.

Moberly spoke highly of Kibler's play.

"Hannah has the roughest assignments," he said. "(Thursday) she had to guard Massie. Every night, she's got the other team's best player, and then we ask her to do all these other things, too.

"She just battles. I know Massie had a bunch of points tonight, but she didn't get them all on Hannah."

The second quarter saw the lead shift in favor of the home team for good with Tara Karnes beginning the scoring on the second with a layup, followed by a 3-pointer from Massie and a layup, off a fast break, by Taylor Polley for a 14-11 advantage with 6:55 left in the quarter.

Karnes finished with 12 points.

"We were kind of lethargic in the first half until Taylor Polley came in," Haines said. "Taylor just gave us a lot of energy."

HHS eventually built a 21-13 lead with Karnes, Massie and Beth Montgomery combining for seven points in just under a minute of game time with 4:27 left in the quarter. Montgomery in that run had a three-point play.

From there, both teams exchanged baskets until the final seconds of the quarter where HHS scored four points to end the first half with Kibler scoring on a jumper and a put-back basket.

With MHS leading 26-21 at the start of the third, they built a 10-point lead with 5:47 on the clock following a free throw from Polley.

Eventually, MHS built an 18-point lead, 43-25, following eight straight points by Massie, including two 3-pointers with 2:53 left in the third. HHS ended the quarter with seven straight points, trailing by a 43-32 score.

"I told them I was proud of their efforts," Moberly said. "They could have rolled over and let it go when we were down early. They battled and did everything they had to do to get back into it."

In the fourth, HHS got to within four points of tying the score following a 3-pointer from Middleton, but Massie answered with five free-throw conversions out of six chances as HHS was forced to foul in the final 1:38 of regulation.

"The kids work hard every day," Moberly said. "They battle, and they've recently decided that no matter what the score is or what the deal is, they've got a chance to win, and they'll fight until the end. We won a couple games over the weekend like that. We just came up a little short (Thursday)."

Seniors honored before the game were Alli Willett, Katy Unger, Tara Karnes and Caitlyn Lovett. Haines said they were going to miss them, but "they're not done yet."

"Katy played really well down the stretch, and Caitlyn is the kind of kid that's just going to run through a wall for you if you want her to," Hines said. "She doesn't complain. She comes and works hard every day and gets after it.

"Alli's the same way. She gets some minutes and plays great defense. Her offense is right now not there, but she's battling some injuries. Tara makes a lot of things happen. I thought for Tara, this was one of her better games, and what better time than now for her to step up, and not just offensively … she was blocking shots, she had a lot of rebounds. It was a huge difference."

HHS was 10-of-21 from the free-throw line, while MHS went 13-of-27.

HHS is scheduled to play again on Friday in an SCOL game with East Clinton, now scheduled at HHS before the boys varsity game.

MHS will play again on Saturday at Washington in an SCOL game.

In JV play, MHS defeated HHS, 28-12. Hannah Rumpke (HHS) and Lexie Barton (MHS) each led their teams with seven points.