McClain Lady Tigers clinch share of SCOL championship
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
GREENFIELD — For the first time since 1991, the McClain Lady Tigers are South Central Ohio League champions.
After a sluggish first half, where the host Lady Tigers shot just 14 percent from the field, the home team was able to take control midway through the third and keep the lead for good, defeating Highland County rival Hillsboro, 51-41.
Following the Saturday night showdown between the two Highland County rivals, the Lady Tigers not only celebrated their first SCOL championship since the very early '90s, but their first league championship in girls basketball since 2003 when MHS won the Southern Buckeye Athletic & Academic Conference title.
This title is a co-SCOL title as they share the championship with the Chillicothe Lady Cavaliers, who defeated the Wilmington Lady Hurricane, 59-47 Saturday night in Wilmington. Both teams finish 12-2 in league play, with MHS losing to CHS twice this season. The Lady Cavaliers lost to Hillsboro and Washington.
For MHS this season, they've outscored their SCOL opponents, 743-528 in 14 games en route to their eighth SCOL championship and 10th league/conference title in the history of the program.
"I'm really proud of these kids," McClain head coach Jarrod Haines said of the group winning the SCOL title. "These seniors have worked so hard, and they deserve it. To bring a little bit of the tradition back and for them all to be a part of it is huge for our program."
In the Lady Tigers' win, the first half wasn't to their liking, trailing 7-6 at the conclusion of the first. By the time the second quarter buzzer sounded, Hillsboro led McClain, 20-18.
For the Lady Indians team, this season has been four years in the making with them having six seniors on the squad. The loss drops them to 14-7 overall (8-6 SCOL), their best record in a number of seasons.
"This season (and their improvement) speaks numbers to our kids," HHS head coach JR Moberly said. "I'm blessed to have this group, and I couldn't be any more lucky to have them. They've played super hard, and parts of the season have been super rough for us. Tonight was rough for a couple of our kids, but they just battled."
Once the Lady Tigers came out of the locker room for the second half, they looked like a different team, outscoring Hillsboro, 19-7 in the third.
"The whole game was a testament of our season and how it went," Haines said. "When we've been down or gotten beaten, we've just come back stronger. At halftime, we could have just quit because we weren't knocking down shots and we had three turnovers … but in the second half, we turned up the pressure, came out stronger and Lexie Barton hit some huge shots for us down the stretch.
"It was also a great defensive effort all-around, and the main thing was we kept the ball off their end of the floor by pressing them and we just got open looks. We didn't make all of them, but we kept our composure."
McClain tied the score at 20 with senior Shania Massie sinking a basket to open the third, and on a fast break, the Lady Tigers took a two-point lead with Malea Montavon scoring on a fast break with the assist by Massie with 6:05 on the clock.
Massie led MHS with 17 points, while Montavon scored six points in the win.
Hillsboro senior Trista Rhodes tied the score at 22 with a jumper from the corner, and a free throw from Madison Snyder put HHS in front 23-22 with 5:18 on the third-quarter clock. Snyder led HHS with 12 points.
Massie eventually tied the score a 23 with a shot from the charity stripe, but again, the Lady Indians were there to spoil McClain's fun with a layup by Hannah Kibler with 4:16 on the scoreboard.
With Hillsboro leading 25-23, McClain's answer was a 14-2 run in the final 4:06 of the quarter that saw Massie tie the score at 25 with two free throws, followed by a steal and layup by senior Sarah Thompson to put MHS ahead 27-25 with 3:49 remaining in the third.
For the remainder of the game, the Lady Tigers didn't relinquish the lead.
After the two points by Thompson, Lexie Barton made a free throw, and then she sank a jumper. In between her two scoring conversions, Kaylynn Bell scored the lone HHS points during the MHS run.
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"The third quarter got away from us, and it got physical," Moberly said. "Our kids were slow to respond to how physical the game got, and once we did, it was too late. They (MHS) built a lead, and we couldn't overcome it."
After Barton's jumper, Taylor Polley sank a 3-pointer at the 1:18 mark, then the sophomore stole the ball and made a layup. Polley finished with 11 points.
Montavon scored the final two points of the quarter off a layup at the buzzer to push MHS ahead by 10 points.
Both teams scored 14 points in the final eight minutes, with Madi Marsh, Snyder, Bell and Kirsten Juillerat scoring points for HHS in the final frame. Juillerat was second in scoring with nine points.
McClain had points by Polley, Massie, Lexie Barton and Sydney Barton. Lexie Barton put the game out of reach for HHS by making two 3-pointers in the fourth.
"Taylor makes us go … she's a difference maker, whether it is on offense or defense," Haines said. "The game got physical, but Malea, Sarah and Beth all played unbelievable underneath the baskets. Shania was Shania, and she saw the floor really well and led us in scoring.
"I'm happy where we are at heading into the tournament, but I would like for us to be shooting better. We just need to relax and have fun, and that's what I told them at halftime. The second half was fun."
The Lady Tigers have one league game remaining, hosting Zane Trace on Monday, Feb. 9. Hillsboro will wrap up their regular season on Wednesday, Feb. 11 at Paint Valley.
Moberly said the game Saturday had a tournament atmosphere.
"This game always has that tournament atmosphere no matter what either team's record is, but with what McClain was playing for (Saturday) it was like that," he said. "That is what these rivalry games are for."
In JV play, HHS won 19-18 over MHS. Leading HHS was Taylor Chaney with seven points, and for MHS, their leading scorer was Mikenzie Coleman with six points.
After a sluggish first half, where the host Lady Tigers shot just 14 percent from the field, the home team was able to take control midway through the third and keep the lead for good, defeating Highland County rival Hillsboro, 51-41.
Following the Saturday night showdown between the two Highland County rivals, the Lady Tigers not only celebrated their first SCOL championship since the very early '90s, but their first league championship in girls basketball since 2003 when MHS won the Southern Buckeye Athletic & Academic Conference title.
This title is a co-SCOL title as they share the championship with the Chillicothe Lady Cavaliers, who defeated the Wilmington Lady Hurricane, 59-47 Saturday night in Wilmington. Both teams finish 12-2 in league play, with MHS losing to CHS twice this season. The Lady Cavaliers lost to Hillsboro and Washington.
For MHS this season, they've outscored their SCOL opponents, 743-528 in 14 games en route to their eighth SCOL championship and 10th league/conference title in the history of the program.
"I'm really proud of these kids," McClain head coach Jarrod Haines said of the group winning the SCOL title. "These seniors have worked so hard, and they deserve it. To bring a little bit of the tradition back and for them all to be a part of it is huge for our program."
In the Lady Tigers' win, the first half wasn't to their liking, trailing 7-6 at the conclusion of the first. By the time the second quarter buzzer sounded, Hillsboro led McClain, 20-18.
For the Lady Indians team, this season has been four years in the making with them having six seniors on the squad. The loss drops them to 14-7 overall (8-6 SCOL), their best record in a number of seasons.
"This season (and their improvement) speaks numbers to our kids," HHS head coach JR Moberly said. "I'm blessed to have this group, and I couldn't be any more lucky to have them. They've played super hard, and parts of the season have been super rough for us. Tonight was rough for a couple of our kids, but they just battled."
Once the Lady Tigers came out of the locker room for the second half, they looked like a different team, outscoring Hillsboro, 19-7 in the third.
"The whole game was a testament of our season and how it went," Haines said. "When we've been down or gotten beaten, we've just come back stronger. At halftime, we could have just quit because we weren't knocking down shots and we had three turnovers … but in the second half, we turned up the pressure, came out stronger and Lexie Barton hit some huge shots for us down the stretch.
"It was also a great defensive effort all-around, and the main thing was we kept the ball off their end of the floor by pressing them and we just got open looks. We didn't make all of them, but we kept our composure."
McClain tied the score at 20 with senior Shania Massie sinking a basket to open the third, and on a fast break, the Lady Tigers took a two-point lead with Malea Montavon scoring on a fast break with the assist by Massie with 6:05 on the clock.
Massie led MHS with 17 points, while Montavon scored six points in the win.
Hillsboro senior Trista Rhodes tied the score at 22 with a jumper from the corner, and a free throw from Madison Snyder put HHS in front 23-22 with 5:18 on the third-quarter clock. Snyder led HHS with 12 points.
Massie eventually tied the score a 23 with a shot from the charity stripe, but again, the Lady Indians were there to spoil McClain's fun with a layup by Hannah Kibler with 4:16 on the scoreboard.
With Hillsboro leading 25-23, McClain's answer was a 14-2 run in the final 4:06 of the quarter that saw Massie tie the score at 25 with two free throws, followed by a steal and layup by senior Sarah Thompson to put MHS ahead 27-25 with 3:49 remaining in the third.
For the remainder of the game, the Lady Tigers didn't relinquish the lead.
After the two points by Thompson, Lexie Barton made a free throw, and then she sank a jumper. In between her two scoring conversions, Kaylynn Bell scored the lone HHS points during the MHS run.
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"The third quarter got away from us, and it got physical," Moberly said. "Our kids were slow to respond to how physical the game got, and once we did, it was too late. They (MHS) built a lead, and we couldn't overcome it."
After Barton's jumper, Taylor Polley sank a 3-pointer at the 1:18 mark, then the sophomore stole the ball and made a layup. Polley finished with 11 points.
Montavon scored the final two points of the quarter off a layup at the buzzer to push MHS ahead by 10 points.
Both teams scored 14 points in the final eight minutes, with Madi Marsh, Snyder, Bell and Kirsten Juillerat scoring points for HHS in the final frame. Juillerat was second in scoring with nine points.
McClain had points by Polley, Massie, Lexie Barton and Sydney Barton. Lexie Barton put the game out of reach for HHS by making two 3-pointers in the fourth.
"Taylor makes us go … she's a difference maker, whether it is on offense or defense," Haines said. "The game got physical, but Malea, Sarah and Beth all played unbelievable underneath the baskets. Shania was Shania, and she saw the floor really well and led us in scoring.
"I'm happy where we are at heading into the tournament, but I would like for us to be shooting better. We just need to relax and have fun, and that's what I told them at halftime. The second half was fun."
The Lady Tigers have one league game remaining, hosting Zane Trace on Monday, Feb. 9. Hillsboro will wrap up their regular season on Wednesday, Feb. 11 at Paint Valley.
Moberly said the game Saturday had a tournament atmosphere.
"This game always has that tournament atmosphere no matter what either team's record is, but with what McClain was playing for (Saturday) it was like that," he said. "That is what these rivalry games are for."
In JV play, HHS won 19-18 over MHS. Leading HHS was Taylor Chaney with seven points, and for MHS, their leading scorer was Mikenzie Coleman with six points.