Lady Tigers gain win; Overstake records career win No. 498
Lead Summary
By
The Highland County Press-
If any team this high school season has seen much improvement from the start of the year until present day, it has been the McClain Lady Tigers. That proved to continue on Tuesday evening as they used an 8-0 run in the final frame to defeat the visiting Zane Trace Lady Pioneers, 44-34.
The non-league win gives the Lady Tigers eight victories on the year, as head coach Dennis Overstake moves to within two wins of No. 500 total wins in his 30-plus year career.
MHS (8-11) has three regular-season games remaining, including a game Wednesday when they host the London Lady Red Raiders. Their game vs. Madison-Plains has been moved to Monday, Feb. 4.
"At the beginning of the year, we didn't have much time to practice with the schedule we had," Overstake said. "We were playing some really solid teams, but now after 19 games the girls have the varsity experience, been through a lot of situations and some of the girls have stepped up.
"We've had time to have practices, and things have come together."
On Tuesday, though, the Lady Tigers led the first frame by a 12-5 score and followed that with 11 points in the second for a halftime advantage of 23-19.
"We had to get the ball inside, and by doing that it gave us a nice lead," Overstake said.
As for the second (MHS was outscored 14-11), some of the quarter they had to play without three starters due to foul trouble, and the press by the Lady Pioneers was enough to cut into the McClain advantage as MHS had those players on the bench for the final 5:00 of the second.
"The pressure by Zane Trace bothered our subs," Overstake said. "We also didn't do a good job of taking care of the ball."[[In-content Ad]]
MHS was outscored 11-10 in the third, but when it mattered in the final eight minutes, the Lady Tigers took control, as they outscored the Lady Pioneers, 11-4 in the fourth, including an 8-0 run in the quarter.
"From around the 4:30 mark on, we handled their pressure well," Overstake said. "We took care of the ball, and our defense was good. Our man and zone defenses did a nice job, and we limited the nice looks they wanted."
Leading MHS were post players Tara Karnes with 14 points and Katy Unger with 13. Shania Massie followed with six points, while Lauren Rayburn followed with four points.
Also scoring for MHS were Alli Willett with three and Sarah Thompson with two points.
MHS was 3-of-4 from the free-throw line.
Leading ZT in scoring was Hayley Carle with 12 points. Also for ZT, Kylan Strausbaugh totaled nine points.
"We had girls step up (Tuesday)," Overstake said. "Both post players (Karnes and Unger) really played well, especially with their rebounding. They've been doing a good job rebounding lately."
Following their game Wednesday when they host London, MHS will host MP on Feb. 4, a game originally scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 9. After that, MHS will face Washington on Feb. 6 to wrap up the regular season.
"We can't have any let-downs from here on out," Overstake said. "We need to keep playing at this level or higher. These next three games are games we need to reach a certain level and not take a step back."
The non-league win gives the Lady Tigers eight victories on the year, as head coach Dennis Overstake moves to within two wins of No. 500 total wins in his 30-plus year career.
MHS (8-11) has three regular-season games remaining, including a game Wednesday when they host the London Lady Red Raiders. Their game vs. Madison-Plains has been moved to Monday, Feb. 4.
"At the beginning of the year, we didn't have much time to practice with the schedule we had," Overstake said. "We were playing some really solid teams, but now after 19 games the girls have the varsity experience, been through a lot of situations and some of the girls have stepped up.
"We've had time to have practices, and things have come together."
On Tuesday, though, the Lady Tigers led the first frame by a 12-5 score and followed that with 11 points in the second for a halftime advantage of 23-19.
"We had to get the ball inside, and by doing that it gave us a nice lead," Overstake said.
As for the second (MHS was outscored 14-11), some of the quarter they had to play without three starters due to foul trouble, and the press by the Lady Pioneers was enough to cut into the McClain advantage as MHS had those players on the bench for the final 5:00 of the second.
"The pressure by Zane Trace bothered our subs," Overstake said. "We also didn't do a good job of taking care of the ball."[[In-content Ad]]
MHS was outscored 11-10 in the third, but when it mattered in the final eight minutes, the Lady Tigers took control, as they outscored the Lady Pioneers, 11-4 in the fourth, including an 8-0 run in the quarter.
"From around the 4:30 mark on, we handled their pressure well," Overstake said. "We took care of the ball, and our defense was good. Our man and zone defenses did a nice job, and we limited the nice looks they wanted."
Leading MHS were post players Tara Karnes with 14 points and Katy Unger with 13. Shania Massie followed with six points, while Lauren Rayburn followed with four points.
Also scoring for MHS were Alli Willett with three and Sarah Thompson with two points.
MHS was 3-of-4 from the free-throw line.
Leading ZT in scoring was Hayley Carle with 12 points. Also for ZT, Kylan Strausbaugh totaled nine points.
"We had girls step up (Tuesday)," Overstake said. "Both post players (Karnes and Unger) really played well, especially with their rebounding. They've been doing a good job rebounding lately."
Following their game Wednesday when they host London, MHS will host MP on Feb. 4, a game originally scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 9. After that, MHS will face Washington on Feb. 6 to wrap up the regular season.
"We can't have any let-downs from here on out," Overstake said. "We need to keep playing at this level or higher. These next three games are games we need to reach a certain level and not take a step back."