District Semifinal Preview: McClain, Marietta set for battle of Lady Tigers
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
GREENFIELD — On Saturday, the McClain Lady Tigers will look to continue their season. Doing that won't be an easy task, but one the Lady Tigers are capable of, as they will face another Lady Tiger team, the Marietta Lady Tigers, in a Division II SE District Semifinal matchup.
Both teams extended their season last weekend with McClain (15-6) defeating Logan Elm 41-29 at Adena High School. The Lady Tigers of Marietta defeated Vinton County 63-61 at Alexander High School.
Now it is time for their showdown at Southeastern High School, with the winner reaching a district final.
In Marietta's win again the Lady Vikings last Saturday, they were led by two 20-plus point scorers in Erica Dawson and Amanda Brown, with Dawson compiling a triple-double, scoring 28 points and tallying 14 steals and 11 rebounds. Brown added 23 points, including four 3-pointers.
[[In-content Ad]]Dawson, a junior, has already scored over 1,000 points in her career, as McClain head coach Dennis Overstake describes her as "the player Marietta wants to have the ball on each possession."
"We've been working on several things we've seen them run in film and working on what they like to do fundamentally," he said. "We're working on containing Dawson.
"She's a high percentage scorer and has help around her offensively. They (Marietta) can run their offense around other players, but they like for Dawson to have the basketball. She's capable of scoring 30 points on a given night."
Against Meadowbrook, Dawson scored a school record 52 points in an 89-45 victory. In that game, the junior made 18 field goals, along with six free throws.
This season, Marietta has wins against Vinton County, Dover, Cambridge, Winfield (W.Va), Warren, Alexander, Claymont, Meadowbrook, New Philadelphia, Parkersburg (W.Va) and Zanesville, defeating some of the teams on multiple occasions.
Playing in the East Central Ohio League, the Marietta finished 9-4.
Marietta isn't just about offense … as their defense is a big part of their success, especially causing turnovers.
"Though Dawson is their go-to player, you don't get as many wins as they did without having a quality group of players," Overstake said. "They are a physical team defensively, and they like to key on turnovers from transition. They will go after the ball anywhere on the court and will take advantage of teams when they mishandle the basketball.
"They are very opportunistic and have good execution."
The Lady Tigers of McClain (15-6) are coming off one of their most physical games of the year one week ago Saturday against Logan. Time heals all wounds, and the Lady Tigers of McClain are battle tested by being in the thick of things in the South Central Ohio League, facing three teams who also won a sectional title. Those teams included Miami Trace, Washington and Clinton-Massie, where McClain split the season series against MT and CM, who eventually became the league champion.
Against the 15-win Logan Elm squad, McClain was 13-of-34 from the field (38 percent), while they held their opponent to an 8-of-44 day (18 percent).
McClain had a balanced day scoring with seniors Jenna Perie and Sammy Rooks each scoring 10 points, while freshman Shania Massie added nine.
Overstake expects the game against Marietta to be similar to the game against Logan Elm in terms of the physicality.
"We've had a few games here lately that have been physical, and I expect this to be no different," Overstake said. "We know it will be physical, but we have to continue to shoot the ball well.
"We also have to play defense our way and have positive contributions from everyone when they step onto the floor."
This isn't a "normal" district semifinal type of game, as the bracket is full of quality teams, where the eight teams remaining have no less than 14 wins apiece.
"With this game … you just usually don't see this type of game in a semifinal round of the districts," Overstake said. "Both sides of the bracket have many good teams with top talent. This type of game is usually a district final game, but there is a lot of talent in our bracket this year.
"It's been like this the last couple years, the bracket having teams with good records. We had a talented Jackson team, who beat us, knocked out in the first round … every team has talent. This tournament will be a continual effort to play 32 minutes to win … we can't have any letdowns."
Both teams extended their season last weekend with McClain (15-6) defeating Logan Elm 41-29 at Adena High School. The Lady Tigers of Marietta defeated Vinton County 63-61 at Alexander High School.
Now it is time for their showdown at Southeastern High School, with the winner reaching a district final.
In Marietta's win again the Lady Vikings last Saturday, they were led by two 20-plus point scorers in Erica Dawson and Amanda Brown, with Dawson compiling a triple-double, scoring 28 points and tallying 14 steals and 11 rebounds. Brown added 23 points, including four 3-pointers.
[[In-content Ad]]Dawson, a junior, has already scored over 1,000 points in her career, as McClain head coach Dennis Overstake describes her as "the player Marietta wants to have the ball on each possession."
"We've been working on several things we've seen them run in film and working on what they like to do fundamentally," he said. "We're working on containing Dawson.
"She's a high percentage scorer and has help around her offensively. They (Marietta) can run their offense around other players, but they like for Dawson to have the basketball. She's capable of scoring 30 points on a given night."
Against Meadowbrook, Dawson scored a school record 52 points in an 89-45 victory. In that game, the junior made 18 field goals, along with six free throws.
This season, Marietta has wins against Vinton County, Dover, Cambridge, Winfield (W.Va), Warren, Alexander, Claymont, Meadowbrook, New Philadelphia, Parkersburg (W.Va) and Zanesville, defeating some of the teams on multiple occasions.
Playing in the East Central Ohio League, the Marietta finished 9-4.
Marietta isn't just about offense … as their defense is a big part of their success, especially causing turnovers.
"Though Dawson is their go-to player, you don't get as many wins as they did without having a quality group of players," Overstake said. "They are a physical team defensively, and they like to key on turnovers from transition. They will go after the ball anywhere on the court and will take advantage of teams when they mishandle the basketball.
"They are very opportunistic and have good execution."
The Lady Tigers of McClain (15-6) are coming off one of their most physical games of the year one week ago Saturday against Logan. Time heals all wounds, and the Lady Tigers of McClain are battle tested by being in the thick of things in the South Central Ohio League, facing three teams who also won a sectional title. Those teams included Miami Trace, Washington and Clinton-Massie, where McClain split the season series against MT and CM, who eventually became the league champion.
Against the 15-win Logan Elm squad, McClain was 13-of-34 from the field (38 percent), while they held their opponent to an 8-of-44 day (18 percent).
McClain had a balanced day scoring with seniors Jenna Perie and Sammy Rooks each scoring 10 points, while freshman Shania Massie added nine.
Overstake expects the game against Marietta to be similar to the game against Logan Elm in terms of the physicality.
"We've had a few games here lately that have been physical, and I expect this to be no different," Overstake said. "We know it will be physical, but we have to continue to shoot the ball well.
"We also have to play defense our way and have positive contributions from everyone when they step onto the floor."
This isn't a "normal" district semifinal type of game, as the bracket is full of quality teams, where the eight teams remaining have no less than 14 wins apiece.
"With this game … you just usually don't see this type of game in a semifinal round of the districts," Overstake said. "Both sides of the bracket have many good teams with top talent. This type of game is usually a district final game, but there is a lot of talent in our bracket this year.
"It's been like this the last couple years, the bracket having teams with good records. We had a talented Jackson team, who beat us, knocked out in the first round … every team has talent. This tournament will be a continual effort to play 32 minutes to win … we can't have any letdowns."