Senior night is 'golden' for Lady Tigers: McClain captures gold basketball

It wasn’t their prettiest game of the year, and the free-throw line wasn’t kind all night, but the McClain Lady Tigers finished off an undefeated slate in the Frontier Athletic Conference by defeating Miami Trace 43-34 Wednesday night in Greenfield and will now receive the symbolic gold basketball.

Sophomore Paisley Pryor was the only McClain player to reach double-figure scoring with a game-high 16 points in limited action due to some early foul trouble.

“We know everyone is going to give us their all, and Miami Trace is a good team with a great point guard (Gracie Lovett), and we knew we needed to stop her,” said McClain head coach Shania Massie. “Unfortunately, we didn’t do too well with that tonight, but overall I thought we stepped up and executed when we had to.

“Offensively, we struggled some, but when we needed to, we did enough to get it done.”

McClain started well and took a 15-6 advantage after one period of play with Larah Henson and Pryor both scoring five points each.

The second period was a low-scoring one for both teams, but the Lady Tigers still managed to outscore Miami Trace 10-9 and extended their lead to double digits, 25-15 at the half. A big factor in the quarter for McClain’s offensive struggles was that Pryor got into early foul trouble and had to sit out most of the period.

“I played some different combinations early tonight trying to give everyone some playing opportunities,” Massie said. “Especially with it being senior night, but when Paisley (Pryor) got into foul trouble, we had to adjust to that.”

Gracie Lovett led the Lady Panthers and all scorers at the break with nine points, while Henson paced McClain with eight points and Pryor added sevens.

The Lady Tigers looked like they would put the game on ice midway through the third quarter after Lindsey Hutchinson connected on her second three-point shot to extend the lead to 33-17.

“Miami Trace started the third quarter in a zone, and it really slowed us down until Lindsey (Hutchinson) and Paisley (Pryor) converted back-to-back three-point plays, and that got them to come out of it,” Massie said. “We can’t let zones slow us down like that, so we need to execute better against it than we did tonight.”

Miami Trace opened the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run and quickly cut the McClain deficit to just five points 33-28 with six minutes still remaining in regulation time. Lovett was the big contributor for the Lady Panthers in the spurt when she connected on two long balls.

After Pryor made a pair of free throws to give the Lady Tigers a 35-28 advantage, Lovett was whistled for her fifth personal foul and had to leave the game, finishing with 14 points on the night.

McClain could have put the game away several times at the foul line down the stretch but struggled to convert, especially in the fourth period when they made just 3-of-12 charity tosses and only 6-of-24 for the entire game.

“Free throws have been our biggest struggle lately, and we work on them a lot in practice, but that’s just something these girls are going to take upon themselves and correct,” Massie said. “If we could have made our free throws lately, we wouldn’t have been in so many close games here at the end of the season.”

The Lady Tigers finally put the game away at the end after Pryor hit a long three and Wright scored inside, and the “golden” moment arrived — a perfect FAC season.

McClain, who started the season with a 1-1 record, has now won 20 straight games heading into the tournament, which is a remarkable accomplishment.

Four seniors — Anna Eikenberry, Brenna Wright, Katie Cook and Lindsey Hutchinson — who were honored before the game are not only extremely athletic, but also great leaders and role models who have been a huge part of Coach Massie’s team and the program’s success.

Now they will get to play one more time in the McClain gymnasium when they will host the tournament winner of the South Point vs. Vinton County game on Saturday, Feb. 15 with a 2 p.m. tipoff.

“We are now 21-1, and we know that we’re not done yet,” Massie said. “Hopefully we still have a long road ahead of us, and hopefully if things work out, we can keep this thing going and keep on winning.”

Pryor led McClain in scoring with a game-high 16 points that included one long ball and was followed next in scoring by Henson, who added eight points, all of which came in the first half.

Rounding out the scoring for the Lady Tigers were Wright with seven, Hutchinson with six (2 3-pointers) and Eikenberry with six points.

Gracie Lovett led the Lady Panthers with a team-high 14 points.

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