Lady Tigers blast Rock Hill to earn sectional championship
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
LUCASVILLE — Everything went to plan for the McClain Lady Tigers Saturday as they breezed through their Division III SE District Sectional Final game, by defeating Rock Hill, 64-22 en route to earning a sectional title.
Not only did the No. 1 seeded Lady Tigers (13-7) win their game, the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 seeds in their side of the District bracket all lost on Saturday, leaving the Lady Tigers to face No. 5 seeded Crooksville on Monday, Feb. 24 at 6:15 p.m. at Waverly High School.
The other district semifinal game that evening will be at 8 p.m. when No. 7 Chesapeake will take on No. 6 Wellston at Waverly H.S.
Now for the game on Saturday by the Lady Tigers, they opened tournament play with a 22-0 run that began and ended with 34.0 seconds left in the first when RHS, who have four wins this season, scored their first points of the game.
[[In-content Ad]]"Our defensive intensity out of the gate was the difference," McClain head coach Jarrod Haines said. "I was really pleased with our ability to knock down open shots."
The 22-straight points by the Lady Tigers began with Katy Unger scoring their first two points of game off a put-back bucket. From there, Taylor Polley scored two points and Tara Karnes had points in the paint for a 6-0 lead with 6:24 left in the opening quarter.
Karnes ended the game with 14 points and Polley totaled 12.
From there, Lauren Rayburn sank a jumper, and Shania Massie, who finished with 13 points, stole the ball at mid-court and took it to the hoop for two points on a fast break. Polley came back to the scoring column with a 3-pointer with 4:37 left in the first.
Massie scored the next four points for MHS, and Polley made the score an even 20-0 after netting two more points. Karnes increased the lead to 22-0, and following a three-point play by RHS, Massie had her own three-point play for a 25-3 first-quarter advantage.
From there, it was smooth sailing for the Lady Tigers as they outscored RHS, 18-3 in the second frame for a lead of 43-6 after 16 minutes of action.
In the second, Sarah Thompson sank a 3-pointer and netted five points in the quarter. Massie and Karnes also contributed to the MHS second-quarter scoring. Thompson ended the game with 10 points.
In the third, MHS continued to control their opponent with a 14-8 third, and in the final eight minutes and with the game well in hand, RHS outscored MHS, 8-7.
Adding to the MHS lead in the second half were Beth Montgomery, Allison Willett, Polley, Caitlyn Lovett, Thompson, Unger, Sydney Barton and Karnes.
Lovett's points came off a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter.
MHS finished 6-of-14 from the free-throw line while RHS went 10-of-14. Leading RHS in scoring was Kaci Russell with 10 points.
Not only did the No. 1 seeded Lady Tigers (13-7) win their game, the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 seeds in their side of the District bracket all lost on Saturday, leaving the Lady Tigers to face No. 5 seeded Crooksville on Monday, Feb. 24 at 6:15 p.m. at Waverly High School.
The other district semifinal game that evening will be at 8 p.m. when No. 7 Chesapeake will take on No. 6 Wellston at Waverly H.S.
Now for the game on Saturday by the Lady Tigers, they opened tournament play with a 22-0 run that began and ended with 34.0 seconds left in the first when RHS, who have four wins this season, scored their first points of the game.
[[In-content Ad]]"Our defensive intensity out of the gate was the difference," McClain head coach Jarrod Haines said. "I was really pleased with our ability to knock down open shots."
The 22-straight points by the Lady Tigers began with Katy Unger scoring their first two points of game off a put-back bucket. From there, Taylor Polley scored two points and Tara Karnes had points in the paint for a 6-0 lead with 6:24 left in the opening quarter.
Karnes ended the game with 14 points and Polley totaled 12.
From there, Lauren Rayburn sank a jumper, and Shania Massie, who finished with 13 points, stole the ball at mid-court and took it to the hoop for two points on a fast break. Polley came back to the scoring column with a 3-pointer with 4:37 left in the first.
Massie scored the next four points for MHS, and Polley made the score an even 20-0 after netting two more points. Karnes increased the lead to 22-0, and following a three-point play by RHS, Massie had her own three-point play for a 25-3 first-quarter advantage.
From there, it was smooth sailing for the Lady Tigers as they outscored RHS, 18-3 in the second frame for a lead of 43-6 after 16 minutes of action.
In the second, Sarah Thompson sank a 3-pointer and netted five points in the quarter. Massie and Karnes also contributed to the MHS second-quarter scoring. Thompson ended the game with 10 points.
In the third, MHS continued to control their opponent with a 14-8 third, and in the final eight minutes and with the game well in hand, RHS outscored MHS, 8-7.
Adding to the MHS lead in the second half were Beth Montgomery, Allison Willett, Polley, Caitlyn Lovett, Thompson, Unger, Sydney Barton and Karnes.
Lovett's points came off a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter.
MHS finished 6-of-14 from the free-throw line while RHS went 10-of-14. Leading RHS in scoring was Kaci Russell with 10 points.