Shania Massie scores 1,000th point; McClain rolls past Wilmington

GREENFIELD — McClain senior Shania Massie knew going into the Saturday afternoon game against the Wilmington Lady Hurricane that she needed just 13 points to become the fifth Lady Tiger in school history to reach 1,000 points for a career.

Not only did Massie finish with a team-high 14 points, she scored those points from the second through fourth quarters, along with making her teammates a big part of the scoring as well as the celebration, with various assists and passes to the basket for her teammates.

All in all, it was a very productive afternoon for the Lady Tigers as Massie gained her 1,000th point, but the Lady Tigers defended their home court with a 63-35 win, moving to 2-0 overall and having the same record in the South Central Ohio League.

"Shania has put a lot of hard work in," MHS head coach Jarrod Haines said. "She could have shot the ball every time she got it, but that's not the kind of kid she is."

Massie credited those around her for her being able to become the latest Lady Tiger to reach the milestone.

"This means a lot, and I put a lot of hard work into it," Massie said. "Everyone who has gotten me here … I want to thank them. All my teammates, coaches, parents and the community … everyone, I just want to thank all of them."

Massie then spoke about it being a goal she always set for herself, and how coach Audra (Cook) Branham spoke to her before the game about the 1,000 points, as she is also a 1,000-point scorer for the Lady Tigers.

"It has always been my goal, and I finally hit it," she said. "It is a lot of stress off me. She talked to me about it before the game and told me what it was. She said just go out and play my game and don't stress.

"I didn't score in the first quarter, but once I finally did in the second, I finally got into the game … and that was it."

Then there were the nerves for the senior guard, as she scored the 1,000-point basket with 2:50 left in the third quarter, as she went to the hoop for two points.

"I had nerves last night thinking about it," Massie said. "Everyone was talking to me at the boys game Friday saying 'we'll be there to support you' and sometimes I get stressed, but I got it, and again, I just want to thank everyone."

Besides the milestone set by Massie, the Lady Tigers played improved basketball from their first game of the season earlier in the week, but in the first quarter that wasn't the case, as they trailed by a score of 11-10 after eight minutes against the young Wilmington team that started two juniors and three freshmen.

"I think we built a little mental toughness the other night starting the way we did, staying in the game and coming back for the win. I think that helped with the first quarter today," Haines said. "Then we went on that big run in the second quarter where they (WHS) didn't really score until the end of the second quarter.

"Credit our kids. They got after it on defense. I thought we showed a lot of maturity and kept the pressure on them and took advantage of our opportunities, especially on the fast break. We did a lot better running the floor than we did in our first game."

Then came the second quarter where MHS really stepped up their game, both offensively and on the defensive side, holding the visitors to two points, while the Lady Tigers broke out for 17 points.

That 17-2 quarter put MHS ahead for good, including a 28-13 score at halftime.

In that second frame, Massie began with five consecutive points, followed by two points off a layup from Lexie Barton. From there, Taylor Polley, who played stingy defense the entire game, scored a three-point play with 3:44 left in the second, putting MHS ahead 20-11. Polley finished with 12 points.

MHS actually scored all their points on a 17-0 run with Massie adding four more points and Polley scoring on a fast-break layup with 16.5 left in the quarter. WHS scored their two points with under 15 seconds remaining in the first half.

The third frame saw MHS jump out with a layup from Massie and more fast break points from Polley, along with a free throw from Massie to complete a 5-0 run within the first minute of the third quarter.

After two points by WHS, Sarah Thompson added two points for the Lady Tigers, as did Sydney Barton, who converted a three-point play with 4:30 left in the third. More points from Thompson eventually put MHS ahead 40-19. Thompson finished the game with nine points.

Before the third quarter ended, the Lady Tigers were ahead, 45-25.

Scoring points for MHS in the fourth was Malea Montavon, Beth Montgomery and Sara Bennett (including a 3-pointer). Montavon finished with 10 points.

"The work Sara is putting in, practicing both ways … her hard work is showing," Haines said.

One negative Haines wants his team to continue to work on is free-throw shooting, as MHS was 7-of-16.

"We work on them every day, and they're still young," Haines said. "We have a lot of sophomores, and they aren't used to shooting in press situations, but we'll put them in some more big-pressure situations and hopefully they'll improve on it."

Wilmington was led in scoring by Victoria Fliehman with a game-high 17 points.

In JV play, the Lady Tigers moved to 2-0, defeating WHS, 31-23. Leading MHS were Bennett with 10 points and Hannah Smith with six points. For WHS, Lyla Self scored nine points.

MHS will travel on Wednesday to face SCOL opponent Chillicothe. From there, they'll continue what will be a three-game road trip against Unioto on Thursday, and on Saturday, MHS will face another SCOL foe in the Washington Lady Blue Lions at WSHS.