McClain battles to victory against Lynchburg-Clay

GREENFIELD — Getting Lynchburg-Clay’s best shot on Monday evening, the McClain Lady Tigers battled with their Highland County counterpart, and after a close first half, McClain gradually added to their lead to defeat the visiting Lady Mustangs, 49-36 in non-conference action.

The Lady Tigers have just one loss on the season, as this win moved them to 17-1 overall. MHS has won 16 consecutive games, as their lone loss was the second game of the season. Since then, McClain has not only built the aforementioned overall record, but they are 7-0 in the Frontier Athletic Conference with three FAC games left on their schedule, and they are undefeated at home with seven wins.

“Honestly, we didn't play our best game, and that's expected. We have to have a few of those in a year,” McClain head coach Shania Massie said. “I like to say that we're going to get everyone's best game from here on out. We have a giant target on our back. We expect that, and it's important that we don't sleep on teams.”

Lynchburg-Clay head coach Whitney Lewis spoke about facing the Lady Tigers at MHS.

“We knew coming in that they were a good basketball team,” Lewis said. “They’ve only got one loss on the season. We were really excited for that challenge to come in here and kind of just put it all on the line and go up against a squad like these guys. I thought we came out ready to play defensively. We really kind of knew what we were supposed to do and where to go. We just played hard. We played hard the whole game.”

In the non-conference game against LCHS, MHS led 14-11 at the end of the opening frame, and they did so with a basket by Larah Henson, but LCHS came back with two points by Madison McMullen. The Lady Tigers took the lead with a basket by Anna Eikenberry, but two free throws with 6:17 on the clock, but McMullen tied the score at 4-4.

Henson totaled five points for MHS, while Eikenberry totaled nine points in the win. For LCHS, McMullen finished the game with a team-high — and career-high — 20 points.

“Madison McMullen had a really great game for us,” Lewis said. “I think that's her first 20-point game. She just came out aggressive and with an offensive mindset, and she was able to get to the basket. Her confidence really kind of built up, and she was able to hit some good shots for us and attack the rim and just be aggressive on the offensive side of the ball.”

LCHS gained the lead for the first time in the game with 5:53 on the first-quarter clock as Lily Ferguson sank a basket for a 6-4 lead, only to have McClain’s Lindsey Hutchinson tie the score at 6-6 with a jumper. After baskets by McMullen and Eikenberry, the score was tied at 8-8 with 3:49 left in the opening quarter, but it was a 3-pointer from Adilyn Carraher — who finished with nine points — which lifted LCHS to a three-point lead with less than 2:00 still remaining in the first quarter.

After all of that back and forth action, it was McClain leading when the quarter came to a close, scoring the final six points of the first frame with a three-point play by Paisley Pryor and a 3-pointer from Brie Cummins for the 14-11 lead. Pryor led all scorers with 21 points for McClain.

“Brie came in, and she took that three,” Massie said. “She played great defense for us. She stepped up there.

“[Pryor] was being face guarded, so that's pretty good, 21 points while being face guarded. I've been in that spot. I know that position. It's hard to get the ball, it's hard to get the ball in the hole, especially when you have that much pressure. I think she adjusted well.”

MHS led at halftime by a 25-19 score, as they won the second at 11-8.

“In that first half, we were able to get our defense to cause some turnovers and get us some extra possessions,” Lewis said. “Unfortunately, we just couldn't cash in on those.

“I think we were down six at the half, and I was happy with that, going into half. I think we only had eight turnovers, took care of the ball fairly well tonight, especially against a good defensive team like McClain.”

Pryor scored the first five points of the quarter with a basket 30 seconds into the second, followed by a 3-pointer at the 5:35 mark of the quarter of a 19-11 advantage.

LCHS came back with a jumper by McMullen and a basket by teammate Carraher with 3:52 left in the second, then LCHS cut the McClain lead to two points following a basket by McMullen for a 19-17 score. The two teams continued to exchange baskets until the final 1:12 of the first half, with Pryor scoring the final four points of the frame for the six-point halftime lead.

Brenna Wright and Eikenberry scored the first four points of the third, increasing their lead to 10 points, and as the third frame continued MHS led by no less than 10 points and by as many as 12 points on five different occasions.

“I think we ended up coming out that third quarter and changed the tempo of the game,” Massie said. “I think that's what brought us up to that lead there. Other than that, we started off slow. It took us until the third to really get going.

“My girls, they adjusted. We had players step up off the bench, and that was probably one of our key factors from tonight's game.”

At the 1:11 mark of the third, LC’s Savannah Bell made a free throw and later scored a two-point basket, but MHS answered both times with baskets by Brie Cummins for a 40-28 MHS lead after three quarters. Bell finished the game with five points, while for MHS, Cummins scored six points.

“I thought Savannah Bell came off the bench and played really well for us,” Lewis said. “She gave us some energy off the bench, on both the offensive and defensive side of the basketball.”

In the final frame, MHS led by 15 points twice, but the quarter started with a layup by Henson, and after baskets by both teams, it was the Lady Tigers leading 43-32.

In the final 2:51 of the game, McClain outscored Lynchburg-Clay 6-4 for the 13-point win, as McClain’s final two points were scored off a layup by Leah Lovett.

Massie said she wanted to highlight Lovett’s defensive play in particular.

“Leah Lovett came in, and she played her heart out,” Massie said. She ran the floor very well. She boxed out.

“I asked who wanted to stop their best player. She raised her hand, and she wanted to be that person. I think she did very well doing that there, once she went on to that task. That's just a good trait about that player, right there.”

LCHS now stands at 6-12 overall, as they will face Georgetown Jan. 29 and host West Union Jan. 30 for senior night, where their lone senior Allie Waits will be recognized.

“We're in crunch time, and we've got two weeks left of the regular season,” Lewis said. “This is the beginning of a three-game week for us. We play Georgetown on Wednesday, and then senior night for Allie [Waits] on Thursday, and then next week finish up with our league play with North Adams and Peebles. The next two weeks are really going to help prepare us for what we're going to face when we get out into the tournament.”

McClain also has a three-game week, with games against Frontier Athletic Conference rivals Chillicothe Jan. 29 and Hillsboro Feb. 1.

“It’s actually a huge week, actually huge end of the season here,” Massie said. “We have Chillicothe Wednesday, Hillsboro Saturday, Logan Elm Monday and then [Miami] Trace next Wednesday. We really, honestly, don't have any time to sleep. We’ve got to focus in, do what we know how to do, and hopefully finish all good.”
   

BOX SCORE
LCHS    11 08 09 08 — 36
MHS    14 11 15 09 — 49

MCCLAIN (49) — L.Henson 2 (0) 1-4 5, L.Hutchinson 1 (0) 0-0 2, P.Pryor 7 (1) 4-5 21, B.Cummins 1 (1) 1-4 6, B.Wright 1 (0) 0-0 2, A.Eikenberry 4 (0) 1-2 9, L.Lovett 1 (0) 2-4 4. TOTALS: 17 (2) 9-19 49.

LYNCHBURG-CLAY (36) — S.Bell 2 (0) 1-2 5, L.Ferguson 1 (0) 0-0 2, M.McMullen 9 (0) 2-2 20, A.Carraher 2 (1) 2-2 9. TOTALS: 14 (1) 5-6 36.

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