Lady Tigers dominate Chillicothe

The McClain Lady Tigers varsity basketball team improved their overall record to 3-1 on the new season after a dominating 51-18 victory over Frontier Athletic Conference foe Chillicothe Wednesday night in Greenfield.

McClain led from start to finish and were never threatened on the scoreboard the entire game.  

Junior Paisley Pryor led the Lady Tigers’ scoring attack with a game-high 19 points, all coming in the first three quarters.  McClain post player Leah Lovett also reached double digits in scoring for the game with 13 points, along with some superb defensive play inside.

After a season-opening loss at Logan Elm the Lady Tigers have won three straight games and continue to improve on both ends of the floor.

McClain led 10-6 after one period and extended their halftime lead to 35-13 after outscoring the Lady Cavaliers 25-7 in the second quarter. Pryor had 13 points at halftime to lead the Lady Tigers, and Lovett was close behind with nine.

The Lady Tigers basically put the game away in the third period when they outscored Chillicothe 15-1 and took an insurmountable 50-14 advantage into the final quarter.

The Lady Cavaliers did win the final period, outscoring McClain 4-1, but it was after both coaches had emptied their bench, giving valuable playing time to their younger players.

Senior Brie Cummins and junior Larah Henson both turned in fine all-around games, along with Allie Burgess, who played a solid defensive ballgame.

“I really think we could be 4-0 right now, but we started off with a tough game at Logan Elm, and they’re a really good team,” said McClain head coach Shania Massie.

“We really shared the ball well tonight and are allowing our teammates to do what they do best, and if someone’s not on, we are constantly looking for and finding the open people that can score.

“Leah Lovett, who is my strongest post-player and probably one of the league’s top post players, played very well tonight,” Massie continued. “She always gives 100 percent when she’s on the floor, and she’s always going to be strong inside and do what she needs to do.

“We used our press a little tonight, and I thought we did OK with it, but we still have some areas of it to improve on. We have Washington at home Saturday afternoon, so we need to come into every game prepared and ready to play.”

Individual scoring for McClain: Paisley Pryor 19, Leah Lovett 13, Larah Henson 7, Brie Cummins 7, Allie Burgess 2, Becca Bergstrom 2, and Brooklyn Bolender 1.

The Lady Tigers converted 8-of-15 free throws for 54 percent.

McClain hosts FAC foe Washington Saturday, Dec. 6 with the JV contest starting at noon.