McClain wins battle of Highland County; defeats rival Hillsboro 
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
GREENFIELD — McClain head coach Dennis Overstake said it best following the Lady Tigers' 63-32 win over cross-county rival Hillsboro Tuesday night at McClain High School.
"It was a game of two halves," Overstake said. "In the first half they (Hillsboro) came out and played hard, got the ball to their two big people, and they were scoring. They were getting the ball where they wanted it, and we didn't do a lot to deny them. We were standing around, and we looked like we were really tired."
Unofficially, Hillsboro was 11-of-18 in the first half from the field, including a 10-1 run to end the second quarter, with MHS leading 29-22 in the South Central Ohio League opener.
Then the third quarter happened and the entire outlook of McClain's home opener changed for both teams, with HHS shooting the ball just five times in the quarter and seven times in the fourth.
In the final 16 minutes, the Lady Tigers (1-0, 3-0) outscored Hillsboro 34-10, with a 19-point effort in the third quarter, forcing the Lady Indians into turnovers while going to a man-to-man defense, disrupting the Lady Indians' tempo they gained in the first half by keeping the game on just one half of the court.
The productive third frame by the undefeated Lady Tigers started off when junior Kate Crabtree scored points in the paint. Her points were followed with buckets by senior Frankie Wise, who scored 10 points, and junior Taylor Faulconer. McClain soon turned the run of points from a 6-0 effort to a 16-3 game-changing run with 2:17 remaining in the frame for a 45-20 lead. In the run, the Lady Tigers' final 10 points were gained via a 10-of-10 free-throw performance by senior Chrissy Cobb, junior Sammy Rooks, Crabtree and junior Jenna Perie.
"After halftime, Coach (Jarrod) Haines changed up our defenses, and we come out with a lot more energy. That enabled us to keep the ballgame at our end of the floor and we didn't let them get the ball to their two big kids," Overstake said.
"We've got enough people that we can shuffle in-and-out, keep some fresh legs in there, but our guards did a nice job once we got into the full-court. Chrissy did a nice job at the foul line, and that's what you've got to have."
For the quarter, MHS was 11-of-12 in free throw shooting and 21-of-26 for the game with Cobb, who scored a game-high 19 points, finishing 12-of-14 from the line. Cobb also had six steals and five assists.
Though the third quarter sealed the fate of the game, it was the first quarter that proved to be the most exciting.
McClain began the game with eight straight points off junior Kaitlyn Faulconer, Cobb and junior Brittany Mullikin.
HHS (0-1, 0-2) answered with six straight points with seniors A.J. Sanders, Jenni Willey and junior Carey Juillerat all scoring.
Perie, who grabbed nine of McClain's 24 rebounds, took control of the game with tough, inside points in the quarter, adding six points to the MHS lead, putting MHS up 17-10 after the first frame.
In the aforementioned 10-1 run portion of the second quarter, the Lady Indians cut the MHS lead from 28-12 when Wise sank a 3-pointer, to 29-22 with baskets by Sanders, senior Maggie Tamborski, junior Whitney Earley and Willey. HHS scored the final six points of the quarter.
"I was real pleased. The girls executed some fundamental things we've been working on in practices and executed some schemes we put together in preparation for McClain," HHS head coach JR Moberly said. "I was real happy with the way the girls came out and did those things early on. The intensity in the second half was a little different, and that got to us."
HHS was led in scoring by Willey with 13 points, followed by Sanders with 10.
"They are both real athletic, they play hard and they are great kids. All my kids are great kids. Those two post players do everything I ask them to do, and again, they play really hard and I'm proud of their effort."
The Lady Indians showed improvement from game one to game two.
"Again, the intensity was different in the second half. I think we were fatigued, and we haven't put four quarters together yet. We'll take two quarters tonight, we are going to ask them for more later. We still have a lot of work to do with our ball-handling. I think we had more turnovers tonight but didn't give up as quite as many points. We need to apply better pressure, and until we can do that, we can't improve on the turnovers."
For the game, HHS had 35 turnovers, while forcing the Lady Tigers into 24. In the game, MHS was 20-of-49 (41 percent) from the field and HHS was 14-of-40 (37 percent).
But for Overstake, he said the third quarter changes made the game for his squad.
"Jarrod (Haines) did a nice job of changing things up at halftime. That full-court press really made the difference. There were a lot of times where they were still in four seconds trying to get the ball in, especially in the third quarter."
Scoring in the fourth quarter for HHS were junior Jessica Donahue, Earley, Willey and junior Danielle Gillman. For MHS, sophomore Makenzie Olaker made a layup.
The win improves MHS to 3-0 overall, 1-0 in the SCOL. HHS falls to 0-2 overall, 0-1 in the SCOL.
MHS will travel to Clinton-Massie Friday and HHS will host the Madison-Plains Lady Golden Eagles that same night, both SCOL games.
GAME NOTES: HHS out-rebounded MHS 28-24 … McClain had 20 steals and 15 assists … Rooks had four rebounds … there was one technical foul in the third quarter on HHS at the 4:20 mark … HHS had nine assists … MHS committed more fouls at 17-16 … MHS scored in double digits all four quarters … MHS had nine players score points … HHS had seven players score … HHS was 4-of-14 from the free-throw line … MHS shot 81 percent in free throw shooting at 21-of-26 … This was Dennis Overstake's 463rd varsity coaching win.[[In-content Ad]]
"It was a game of two halves," Overstake said. "In the first half they (Hillsboro) came out and played hard, got the ball to their two big people, and they were scoring. They were getting the ball where they wanted it, and we didn't do a lot to deny them. We were standing around, and we looked like we were really tired."
Unofficially, Hillsboro was 11-of-18 in the first half from the field, including a 10-1 run to end the second quarter, with MHS leading 29-22 in the South Central Ohio League opener.
Then the third quarter happened and the entire outlook of McClain's home opener changed for both teams, with HHS shooting the ball just five times in the quarter and seven times in the fourth.
In the final 16 minutes, the Lady Tigers (1-0, 3-0) outscored Hillsboro 34-10, with a 19-point effort in the third quarter, forcing the Lady Indians into turnovers while going to a man-to-man defense, disrupting the Lady Indians' tempo they gained in the first half by keeping the game on just one half of the court.
The productive third frame by the undefeated Lady Tigers started off when junior Kate Crabtree scored points in the paint. Her points were followed with buckets by senior Frankie Wise, who scored 10 points, and junior Taylor Faulconer. McClain soon turned the run of points from a 6-0 effort to a 16-3 game-changing run with 2:17 remaining in the frame for a 45-20 lead. In the run, the Lady Tigers' final 10 points were gained via a 10-of-10 free-throw performance by senior Chrissy Cobb, junior Sammy Rooks, Crabtree and junior Jenna Perie.
"After halftime, Coach (Jarrod) Haines changed up our defenses, and we come out with a lot more energy. That enabled us to keep the ballgame at our end of the floor and we didn't let them get the ball to their two big kids," Overstake said.
"We've got enough people that we can shuffle in-and-out, keep some fresh legs in there, but our guards did a nice job once we got into the full-court. Chrissy did a nice job at the foul line, and that's what you've got to have."
For the quarter, MHS was 11-of-12 in free throw shooting and 21-of-26 for the game with Cobb, who scored a game-high 19 points, finishing 12-of-14 from the line. Cobb also had six steals and five assists.
Though the third quarter sealed the fate of the game, it was the first quarter that proved to be the most exciting.
McClain began the game with eight straight points off junior Kaitlyn Faulconer, Cobb and junior Brittany Mullikin.
HHS (0-1, 0-2) answered with six straight points with seniors A.J. Sanders, Jenni Willey and junior Carey Juillerat all scoring.
Perie, who grabbed nine of McClain's 24 rebounds, took control of the game with tough, inside points in the quarter, adding six points to the MHS lead, putting MHS up 17-10 after the first frame.
In the aforementioned 10-1 run portion of the second quarter, the Lady Indians cut the MHS lead from 28-12 when Wise sank a 3-pointer, to 29-22 with baskets by Sanders, senior Maggie Tamborski, junior Whitney Earley and Willey. HHS scored the final six points of the quarter.
"I was real pleased. The girls executed some fundamental things we've been working on in practices and executed some schemes we put together in preparation for McClain," HHS head coach JR Moberly said. "I was real happy with the way the girls came out and did those things early on. The intensity in the second half was a little different, and that got to us."
HHS was led in scoring by Willey with 13 points, followed by Sanders with 10.
"They are both real athletic, they play hard and they are great kids. All my kids are great kids. Those two post players do everything I ask them to do, and again, they play really hard and I'm proud of their effort."
The Lady Indians showed improvement from game one to game two.
"Again, the intensity was different in the second half. I think we were fatigued, and we haven't put four quarters together yet. We'll take two quarters tonight, we are going to ask them for more later. We still have a lot of work to do with our ball-handling. I think we had more turnovers tonight but didn't give up as quite as many points. We need to apply better pressure, and until we can do that, we can't improve on the turnovers."
For the game, HHS had 35 turnovers, while forcing the Lady Tigers into 24. In the game, MHS was 20-of-49 (41 percent) from the field and HHS was 14-of-40 (37 percent).
But for Overstake, he said the third quarter changes made the game for his squad.
"Jarrod (Haines) did a nice job of changing things up at halftime. That full-court press really made the difference. There were a lot of times where they were still in four seconds trying to get the ball in, especially in the third quarter."
Scoring in the fourth quarter for HHS were junior Jessica Donahue, Earley, Willey and junior Danielle Gillman. For MHS, sophomore Makenzie Olaker made a layup.
The win improves MHS to 3-0 overall, 1-0 in the SCOL. HHS falls to 0-2 overall, 0-1 in the SCOL.
MHS will travel to Clinton-Massie Friday and HHS will host the Madison-Plains Lady Golden Eagles that same night, both SCOL games.
GAME NOTES: HHS out-rebounded MHS 28-24 … McClain had 20 steals and 15 assists … Rooks had four rebounds … there was one technical foul in the third quarter on HHS at the 4:20 mark … HHS had nine assists … MHS committed more fouls at 17-16 … MHS scored in double digits all four quarters … MHS had nine players score points … HHS had seven players score … HHS was 4-of-14 from the free-throw line … MHS shot 81 percent in free throw shooting at 21-of-26 … This was Dennis Overstake's 463rd varsity coaching win.[[In-content Ad]]