Clinton-Massie squeaks by Lady Tigers

The McClain varsity girls basketball team found it difficult to score points for a second straight game, leading to a disappointing 37-36 loss to Clinton-Massie Saturday in Greenfield.

After starting off the season winning four of their first five games, the Lady Tigers have dropped back-to-back non-league contests in which points seemed to come at a minimum.

McClain started quickly in the first period and jumped out to an early 7-0 advantage and later extended it to 13-2 after senior point guard Kaitlyn Jett drilled back-to-back threes. Things looked fine on both ends of the floor at the end of the opening period when the Lady Tigers held a 14-5 lead.

But the next two quarters saw McClain score just 14 total points and trail the Lady Falcons 29-28 heading to the fourth. Foul trouble also was a contributing factor over those two periods when senior post player and leader Lily Barnes was called for her second personal foul early in the second quarter and had to sit out a lot during that two-period scoring drought for McClain.

“Lily (Barnes) is our fire for the team, and when she came out of the game after picking up her second foul, it seemed like our team lost their focus and mindset to what they had been doing well,” said McClain head coach Shania Massie.

“It’s something that a coach has to do, and it’s tough because she is our leader on the floor, but we felt if we had left her on the floor, she might have picked up her third or fourth foul before halftime.”

Jett was McClain’s offense catalyst in that big offensive first period, scoring eight of the team’s 14 points with six of those coming on those two long balls.

“K.K. (Jett) really got us going in that first quarter with those two big threes, but they figured out what they needed to do to stop her after that,” Massie said.

Another factor in the low-scoring ballgame for the Lady Tigers was that Paisley Pryor, the team’s leading scorer, was held to just six points with four of those coming in the first quarter.

One big positive in the game was how well McClain controlled the boards, especially on the offensive end where the Lady Tigers pulled down an amazing 19, led by sophomore Leah Lovett.

“Leah (Lovett) did a great job on the boards today. She came into last week’s game against Adena and played really well, and that’s how she gained my trust and why she got the opportunity to play today,” Massie said.

McClain led the entire contest until Clinton-Massie grabbed their first lead of the game 29-27 with just 33 seconds left in the third period.

Both teams battled hard over the final eight minutes of the game, and there were six lead changes, but the Lady Falcons prevailed at the end, winning the non-league affair 37-36.

McClain (4-3) was led by Kaitlyn Jett, who had a team-high 10 points followed by Lily Barnes, who totaled nine that included going 5-of-8 from the foul line. Rounding out the scoring for the Lady Tigers were Paisley Pryor 6, Luca Matesic 5, Leah Lovett 4 and Brenna Wright 2.

Almost half of the Lady Tigers’ points came from the free-throw line where they made 15-of-24 in the contest for 62 percent.

Clinton-Massie (3-7) was led by their freshman point guard Hailey Myers, who scored a game-high 12 points, followed by Alex Pence with 9.

McClain travels to Waverly on Monday, Dec. 18 before returning home Wednesday, Dec. 20 to host Piketon.