Lady Tigers end season in Athens; fall to Panthers

     ATHENS - Shots wouldn’t fall and the McClain Lady Tigers’ two-year run in the district tournament came to an end Saturday night at the Convocation Center in Athens. The Lady Tigers fell to the Miami Trace Lady Panthers 36-19 in the Division II SE District Final.

    “This just wasn’t meant to be,” MHS head coach Dennis Overstake said. “We were forced to rush things, and the baskets weren’t falling for us. We didn’t do a good job of keeping Miami Trace out of the paint.”

    The Lady Tigers struggled in the opening half, unable to crack double figures in scoring and trailing 20-9 after 16 minutes.
Miami Trace started the first with a 7-0 run, and the Lady Tigers never recovered.

    Lady Panther Kristen Reisinger started with a jumper, followed by points from Josey Hull and Andrea Strahler. Reisinger topped off the run with a free throw.

    McClain senior Shelby Buck stopped the Lady Panthers with an inside layup, with the assist from senior Cortney Hyer.

    MT came back with a free throw from Hull, but MHS ended the opening frame with points from sophomore Jenna Perie.

    Leading by four points (8-4) to start the second, MT started off the eight- minute frame with a 3-pointer by Hull, extending the MT lead to 11-4. MT continued to add to their advantage with a retro 3-point play by senior Jenna Cobb for a MT 11-point lead.

    After senior Kate Hammond drove the ball to the hoop, MT answered with points by Ashley Lawson and Cobb at the 3:01 mark of the quarter for a 18-6 lead.

    Hammond ended the frame by scoring the final three MHS points, dropping the MT lead to 20-9 after two quarters.

    With three quarters played, the Lady Tigers trailed 28-16 as Hammond scored all of McClain’s points, 12, in the second and third quarters. Hammond ended with the game-high in scoring with 13 points. The senior made five shots from the field and was 3 of 6 from the free-throw line.

    Hull, who scored eight points, started the second half with a long-range jumper, but Hammond followed with a free throw to inch the Lady Tigers closer to MT. Hammond fueled the Lady Tigers with points off an offensive rebound at the 6:01 mark of the quarter to bring MHS within 10 points of tying the game.

    Even with defensive pressure from MHS junior Chrissy Cobb, the Lady Panthers kept adding to the lead with points off the glass by Reisinger.

    Jenna Cobb kept pushing MT further away from the Lady Tigers with a jumper at the 2:13 mark, as MHS kept missing shots with the ball bouncing off the rim. Cobb netted a team-high nine points, tied with teammate Reisinger.

    Hammond scored the final MHS points of the third with a layup at the 38 second mark to bring the Lady Tigers within 12 points of the Lady Panthers.

    MT kept pressuring MHS in the final eight minutes with Lawson netting two free throws.

    Miami Trace extended their lead to 36-17 with six straight points. MHS stopped the run when Kate Crabtree scored the final points of the Lady Tigers’ season with 1:27 remaining in the game.

    Each team had 18 turnovers.

    The game marked the end of the playing careers of Savanna Brown, Megan Saylor, Cortney Hyer, Kate Hammond, Shelby Buck and Alex Taylor.

    “The seniors put in a lot of hard work and effort for us,” Overstake said. “This group made it easy for us as a coaching staff to make it to this point.”

    MHS ended the season at 19-4. MT improves to 22-1.

BOX SCORE
SCORE BY QUARTERS

MTHS - 8 12 8 8 - 36

MHS - 4 5 7 3 - 19

INDIVIDUAL STATS

MTHS (36)

Lawson 2 2-2 6, Hull 2 (1) 1-2 8, Cobb 4 1-1 9, Strahler 2 4, Reisinger 4 1-2 9. TOTALS: 14 (1) 5-7 36.

MHS (19)

Hammond 5 3-6 13, Crabtree 1 2, Buck 1 2, Perie 1 0-1 2. TOTALS: 8 (0) 3-9 19.