Lady Tigers take down Fairfield

LEESBURG — From the 6:43 mark of the first quarter to the final buzzer, the McClain Lady Tigers held the lead against the Fairfield Lady Lions on Wednesday night, eventually winning against their Highland County counterpart, 46-32. 

In the non-conference game at Grandle Gymnasium, the away team McClain (2-1) played an outstanding first quarter where they led 16-4 when the frame came to a close. 

“I told the girls when we came into the game we have to play tough defense, and we have to be able to speed them (Fairfield) up and play up to our potential on defense,” MHS head coach Shania Massie said. “I think we executed that very well.”

Though Fairfield (0-2) was first to score off a basket by Meri Jackson, McClain answered with a 6-0 run for a 6-2 lead with 4:49 on the clock as points were scored by Paisley Pryor and Brenna Wright, as Pryor had five of the points, including a three-point play. 

Pryor led the Lady Tigers with 21 points in the win, including two 3-pointers. 

After two free throws made by Addison Cannon for the Lady Lions, McClain ended the quarter with a 10-0 run for the 12-point advantage at 16-4. In that 10-point run, McClain began the scoring with two free throws made by Anna Eikenberry, followed by five straight points by Pryor, including a 3-pointer with 2:28 left in the quarter. 

From there, a steal and basket by Brie Cummins and a free throw from Larah Henson completed the first-quarter scoring. 

McClain held an 18-point lead when halftime arrived, outscoring Fairfield 13-7 in the second quarter. Points for MHS in the second quarter included two by Henson, four by Pryor, two from Cummins and five from Eikenberry.

Fairfield in the second quarter had two points by Rylee Quickle, two points by Cannon and three points scored by Jackson for the 29-11 halftime deficit for the Lady Lions. 

“We did better against the pressure (Wednesday) than we did on Monday, but it is something we still have to work on,” FHS head coach Jennifer Blue said. “We are working hard in practice, and we are working on a couple things to simulate the pressure we’ll face in practice.”

McClain entered the third frame with an 18-point lead and ended the quarter leading by 22 points by a 41-19 score. MHS outscored Fairfield 12-8 in the frame, with seven points by Pryor, two points from Henson, two points from Wright and one point by Cummins.

Fairfield’s eight points in the third were scored by Quickle with four, while Isabelle Hale and Jackson each scored two points. 

Fairfield won the fourth frame at 13-5 with the Lady Lions seeing six points scored by Jackson, three points by Vivian Henninger and two points each off baskets by Jaeden Drury and Quickle. 

Despite scoring only five points in the final quarter, MHS kept a double-digit lead for the win, as Henson made a 3-pointer, and free throws were made by Pryor and Cummins. 

“My seniors play hard, and they want to win this year,” Massie said. “I can’t ask much more out of them. Our younger players also played hard and did everything I asked of them. They played very controlled defensively.”

Other final scoring totals for the Lady Tigers included Henson with eight points, seven points from Eikenberry, Cummins with six points and three points by Wright. 

Fairfield was led in scoring by Jackson with 13 points, followed by Quickle with eight, Cannon with four, Henninger with three, Hale with two and Drury with two points in the game. 

“We wanted to win the second half, and we actually did win the second half,” Blue said. “Our motto this year is ‘brick by brick we build,’ and that’s what we are trying to do, one step at a time.”

Next for the Lady Tigers is a non-conference game Monday, Dec. 2 at home vs. Peebles. 

Fairfield will play again Monday, Dec. 2 on the road in a non-conference game against Adena. 

BOX SCORE
MHS    16 13 12 05 — 46
FHS    04 07 08 13 — 32

INDIVIDUAL SCORING 
MCCLAIN (46) — L.Henson 2 (1) 1-2 8, P.Pryor 6 (2) 4-5 21, B.Cummins 2 (0) 2-4 6, B.Wright 1 (0) 1-4 3, A.Eikenberry 2 (0) 3-4 7. TOTALS: 13 (3) 11-19 46. 

FAIRFIELD (32) — I.Hale 1 (0) 0-0 2, J.Drury 1 (0) 0-0 2, R.Quickle 4 (0) 0-0 8, V.Henninger 1 (0) 1-2 3, A.Cannon 1 (0) 2-2 4, M.Jackson 6 (0) 1-5 13. TOTALS: 14 (0) 4-9 32.

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