Lady Tigers power past Lynchburg-Clay
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
GREENFIELD — The McClain Lady Tigers were able to execute when the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs were not, leading to a Saturday afternoon non-league victory for MHS by a 41-31 score.
The friendly Highland County rivalry was more than a bit physical between the two teams as the defense of the two teams seemed to outshine the offense, especially in the first half.
"Defense was our game plan … we wanted to pressure them with our defense," MHS head coach Jarrod Haines said. "Lynchburg-Clay has some talented kids, but we were hoping our pressure would be effective against them.
"LC is a talented team … they are good."
MHS (5-4) led 9-4 after the first quarter, but it was Lynchburg-Clay's Hannah Binkley who opened the game with a 3-pointer at the 7:35 mark. Binkley led LC with 14 points, including a total of three 3-pointers.
Following the 3-pointer by Binkley, the Lady Tigers scored the next eight points of the game with points by Taylor Polley, Tara Karnes, Sarah Thompson and Shania Massie, for a lead of 8-3 with 2:57 left in the opening quarter.
For the game, Karnes led all scorers with a game-high 15 points, followed by Massie with 14 points.
Leading by a 9-4 score at the start of the second quarter, MHS continued to score with a free throw by Karnes and consecutive layups from Katy Unger for a 14-4 advantage with 5:59 left in the second.
What turned into a scoring run of 14-1 from the 4:15 mark of the first to the 5:59 mark of the second by MHS was stopped with a field goal by LC's Hannah Binkley with 5:46 left in the first half, as that was the first field goal of the game for LC since Binkley opened the game with the aforementioned 3-pointer.
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The scoring picked up a little in the second (including two points by McClain's Beth Montgomery off a pass by Thompson), but it was still a game of defense and hustle for MHS that gave them a 22-11 lead at the conclusion of the first half.
"Once we started scoring, that helped our defense," Haines said. "We knew we wanted to win the rebounding, so we crashed the boards. I was pleased with the effort."
Each team scored 13 points in the third quarter, as the Lady Mustangs just couldn't break the double-figure scoring deficit by MHS. The closest they got to MHS in the quarter was a deficit of 10 points. That was until a 3-pointer by Hannah Binkley at the buzzer got LC within nine points of tying the score.
The final frame saw MHS outscore the visiting Lady Mustangs, 12-7 to seal the win with points from Polley, Massie, Thompson, Unger and Karnes.
"Turnovers and rebounding hurt us," LC head coach Whitney Lewis said. "We had 29 turnovers, and you can't win ball games playing like that.
"They got to every loose ball before we did, and we just didn't play really well. They (MHS) took us out of the offensive flow and just beat us."
Unger finished the game with seven points, while Polley totaled five and Thompson had four.
For LC (5-4), Ali Little totaled six points, and Morgan Fittro had five. Sarah Rosselott chipped in with three, with McKayla Binkley totaled two and Bailey Leininger had one.
LC finished 8-of-15 from the free-throw line, while MHS was 17-of-26.
The friendly Highland County rivalry was more than a bit physical between the two teams as the defense of the two teams seemed to outshine the offense, especially in the first half.
"Defense was our game plan … we wanted to pressure them with our defense," MHS head coach Jarrod Haines said. "Lynchburg-Clay has some talented kids, but we were hoping our pressure would be effective against them.
"LC is a talented team … they are good."
MHS (5-4) led 9-4 after the first quarter, but it was Lynchburg-Clay's Hannah Binkley who opened the game with a 3-pointer at the 7:35 mark. Binkley led LC with 14 points, including a total of three 3-pointers.
Following the 3-pointer by Binkley, the Lady Tigers scored the next eight points of the game with points by Taylor Polley, Tara Karnes, Sarah Thompson and Shania Massie, for a lead of 8-3 with 2:57 left in the opening quarter.
For the game, Karnes led all scorers with a game-high 15 points, followed by Massie with 14 points.
Leading by a 9-4 score at the start of the second quarter, MHS continued to score with a free throw by Karnes and consecutive layups from Katy Unger for a 14-4 advantage with 5:59 left in the second.
What turned into a scoring run of 14-1 from the 4:15 mark of the first to the 5:59 mark of the second by MHS was stopped with a field goal by LC's Hannah Binkley with 5:46 left in the first half, as that was the first field goal of the game for LC since Binkley opened the game with the aforementioned 3-pointer.
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The scoring picked up a little in the second (including two points by McClain's Beth Montgomery off a pass by Thompson), but it was still a game of defense and hustle for MHS that gave them a 22-11 lead at the conclusion of the first half.
"Once we started scoring, that helped our defense," Haines said. "We knew we wanted to win the rebounding, so we crashed the boards. I was pleased with the effort."
Each team scored 13 points in the third quarter, as the Lady Mustangs just couldn't break the double-figure scoring deficit by MHS. The closest they got to MHS in the quarter was a deficit of 10 points. That was until a 3-pointer by Hannah Binkley at the buzzer got LC within nine points of tying the score.
The final frame saw MHS outscore the visiting Lady Mustangs, 12-7 to seal the win with points from Polley, Massie, Thompson, Unger and Karnes.
"Turnovers and rebounding hurt us," LC head coach Whitney Lewis said. "We had 29 turnovers, and you can't win ball games playing like that.
"They got to every loose ball before we did, and we just didn't play really well. They (MHS) took us out of the offensive flow and just beat us."
Unger finished the game with seven points, while Polley totaled five and Thompson had four.
For LC (5-4), Ali Little totaled six points, and Morgan Fittro had five. Sarah Rosselott chipped in with three, with McKayla Binkley totaled two and Bailey Leininger had one.
LC finished 8-of-15 from the free-throw line, while MHS was 17-of-26.