Turnovers lead to Lady Tiger loss in regular-season finale
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
GREENFIELD — Not much added up correctly for the McClain Lady Tigers Saturday night in their regular-season finale against the Miami Trace Lady Panthers.
Miami Trace used their defense to keep top scorers for the Lady Tigers in check, and McClain didn't help their cause much as they had more turnovers than points scored, all leading up to a 29-22 loss against the rival Miami Trace.
The loss snapped what was a five-game winning streak by MHS (8-4, 14-6), along with dropping them to a third-place finish in the South Central Ohio League. MT (9-3, 16-3) finishes second, tied with the Washington Lady Blue Lions in the SCOL. The league champion was Clinton-Massie, which snaps an eight-year stranglehold for the league title by the Lady Panthers, who before this season had won the outright or a share of the league title since the re-formation of the league in '03.
Before the game, six MHS seniors were honored in a pre-game ceremony. These seniors included: Sammy Rooks, Kaitlyn Faulconer, Taylor Faulconer, Jenna Perie, Brittany Mullikin and Kate Crabtree.
"These seniors have been playing together since the third grade," MHS head coach Dennis Overstake said. "It hurt them a lot to lose this game, but we talked in the locker room … if they want to continue, it's game by game. I told them the more they want to play together, the more they have to fight to maintain that, and that's game by game.
"There aren't any easy teams … we don't have an easy route."
Saturday night wasn't a good night for MHS on the court, with MHS committing 25 turnovers, including 13 in the second half, as the host Lady Tigers never led in the game and tied the score twice, early in the first quarter and at the half.
"We had as many points as we did turnovers in the first half," Overstake said. "Year in and year out, Miami Trace is a well-coached team. Coach (James) Stutzman always does an excellent job of preparing them."
MT led 8-5 following the first quarter, and by the time halftime rolled around, each team scored 13 points. In the third, MT led 22-15, outscoring the Lady Tigers, 9-2 in the eight minutes of play.
In the fourth, MT and MHS each scored seven points. Shooting-wise, though MHS scored fewer points, they outshot the Lady Panthers. MHS finished 10-of-24 for 42 percent from the field, and MT was 9-of-30 for 30 percent.
The difference was in turnovers as MT finished with nine turnovers. MT caused chaos with their defense, as they totaled 11 steals. Another difference was the free-throw shooting, with MT finishing 11-of-14 (78.5 percent), and MHS was 1-of-2 (50 percent).
"We did get the score tied at 13 at the half, but when we needed a second-half surge, we didn't get it," Overstake said. "We scored just two points in the third, then we caught a little bit of fire in the fourth, but the fouls were too costly. We just didn't do enough offensively to get it down to where we would have a chance to win with the final shot like we did at their place or against Clinton-Massie.
"I told the girls before the game, I don't even want in that position anymore. We need to get a lead and maintain a lead, which is something we never did."
Both MHS and MT had trouble scoring in the opening quarter as they combined for a total of 13 points. MT opened with the game's first points, but Lady Tiger senior Perie tied the game at 2-2 with a layup. Perie led MHS with nine points.
MT then scored four points, but Taylor Faulconer was there to keep the score close with points in the paint, bringing the Lady Tigers within two points of the lead. Again, MT answered with a jumper, but the fifth MHS point came with Perie connecting on a free throw with 43.5 left in the opening frame.
Though turnovers haunted the Lady Tigers throughout the second frame, their defense was able to hold MT to five points in the second, as the offense of McClain was able to add eight points to their total for a 13-13 tie at the half.
[[In-content Ad]]MHS freshman Shania Massie, who totaled seven points for the game, opened the quarter with two points. Miami Trace's Josie Cobb answered with a jumper, putting MT ahead by three points with 7:27 left in the quarter.
MT then went on what amounted to a 5-2 run after points by Perie, taking a 13-9 lead with 2:54 left in the second.
From the 1:59 mark until the buzzer sounded for halftime, Perie scored the remaining points for MHS, first shooting a turnaround jumper, followed by a put-back bucket at the buzzer, tying the score at 13.
Then the third quarter happened, and it wasn't good times for the Lady Tigers, as they unofficially committed seven turnovers in the quarter, while scoring just two points at the 7:14 mark of the frame.
The points by Massie ended up being the the last points the Lady Tigers would score until the 3:17 mark of the fourth, totaling nearly 12 minutes of game time without a single point.
In that span though, the MHS defense still kept the game within striking distance, as they tallied seven points in the same span, trailing 22-17 with the aforementioned 3:17 left in regulation.
The points that broke the scoreless streak by MHS was a jumper by Rooks, but following that, those points were answered with two free throws from Deidre McKay, who totaled a game-high 13 points. Rooks, who was double- and even sometimes triple-teamed the entire game, finished with four points.
Perie followed with a jumper 23 seconds later, bringing MHS back within five points, leaving 2:33 left on the clock.
Even after turnovers committed by MT, along with a jump ball in favor of MHS, the Lady Tigers still were unable to score, as MT slowly added to their lead from the free-throw line by McKay and Cobb.
Massie sank a 3-pointer with 33 seconds remaining, but it came too late, with MHS forced to foul and MT making a two free throws by McKay to seal the win with 29.1 left on the clock.
"We need to do a better job of finding people that are open, rather than just turning around and throwing the ball back to the spot where the ball came from," Overstake said. "Holding a team to 29 points is good enough to win any ball game, but the number of turnovers we had … you have to be able to convert as many shots as you can."
The win by MT splits the season series with MHS, as MHS previously defeated the Lady Panthers at MT 49-47 in overtime on Jan. 12.
MHS wraps up the regular season at 14-6 overall. They will play again on Saturday, Feb. 18 in the Division II SE Sectional tournament, as they are a No. 4 seed and will face No. 5 seed Logan Elm at Adena High School at 2:45 p.m.
MT will only play 19 games this season, finishing with a regular-season mark of 16-3 overall and 9-3 in the SCOL. MT will play again, also in the Division II SE Sectional tournament on Saturday, Feb. 18 against the winner of the Hillsboro-Circleville game. MT game will start at 1 p.m.
In JV play (two quarters) MHS defeated MT 19-14. Leading MHS were Tara Karnes with eight and Megan Mustard with six. For MT, Ashley Henry led with seven points.
BOX SCORE
SCORE BY QUARTERS
MT 08 05 09 07 — 29
MHS 05 08 02 07 — 22
INDIVIDUAL STATS
MT (29)
J.Cobb 1 (0) 2-3 4
D.McKay 3 (0) 7-8 13
A.Mabra 1 (0) 1-1 3
A.Schwenk 1 (0) 0-0 2
K.Reisinger 3 (0) 1-2 7
TOTALS: 9 (0) 11-14 29
MHS (22)
S.Rooks 2 (0) 0-0 4
T.Faulconer 1 (0) 0-0 2
S.Massie 2 (1) 0-0 7
J.Perie 4 (0) 1-2 9
TOTALS: 9 (1) 1-2 22
Miami Trace used their defense to keep top scorers for the Lady Tigers in check, and McClain didn't help their cause much as they had more turnovers than points scored, all leading up to a 29-22 loss against the rival Miami Trace.
The loss snapped what was a five-game winning streak by MHS (8-4, 14-6), along with dropping them to a third-place finish in the South Central Ohio League. MT (9-3, 16-3) finishes second, tied with the Washington Lady Blue Lions in the SCOL. The league champion was Clinton-Massie, which snaps an eight-year stranglehold for the league title by the Lady Panthers, who before this season had won the outright or a share of the league title since the re-formation of the league in '03.
Before the game, six MHS seniors were honored in a pre-game ceremony. These seniors included: Sammy Rooks, Kaitlyn Faulconer, Taylor Faulconer, Jenna Perie, Brittany Mullikin and Kate Crabtree.
"These seniors have been playing together since the third grade," MHS head coach Dennis Overstake said. "It hurt them a lot to lose this game, but we talked in the locker room … if they want to continue, it's game by game. I told them the more they want to play together, the more they have to fight to maintain that, and that's game by game.
"There aren't any easy teams … we don't have an easy route."
Saturday night wasn't a good night for MHS on the court, with MHS committing 25 turnovers, including 13 in the second half, as the host Lady Tigers never led in the game and tied the score twice, early in the first quarter and at the half.
"We had as many points as we did turnovers in the first half," Overstake said. "Year in and year out, Miami Trace is a well-coached team. Coach (James) Stutzman always does an excellent job of preparing them."
MT led 8-5 following the first quarter, and by the time halftime rolled around, each team scored 13 points. In the third, MT led 22-15, outscoring the Lady Tigers, 9-2 in the eight minutes of play.
In the fourth, MT and MHS each scored seven points. Shooting-wise, though MHS scored fewer points, they outshot the Lady Panthers. MHS finished 10-of-24 for 42 percent from the field, and MT was 9-of-30 for 30 percent.
The difference was in turnovers as MT finished with nine turnovers. MT caused chaos with their defense, as they totaled 11 steals. Another difference was the free-throw shooting, with MT finishing 11-of-14 (78.5 percent), and MHS was 1-of-2 (50 percent).
"We did get the score tied at 13 at the half, but when we needed a second-half surge, we didn't get it," Overstake said. "We scored just two points in the third, then we caught a little bit of fire in the fourth, but the fouls were too costly. We just didn't do enough offensively to get it down to where we would have a chance to win with the final shot like we did at their place or against Clinton-Massie.
"I told the girls before the game, I don't even want in that position anymore. We need to get a lead and maintain a lead, which is something we never did."
Both MHS and MT had trouble scoring in the opening quarter as they combined for a total of 13 points. MT opened with the game's first points, but Lady Tiger senior Perie tied the game at 2-2 with a layup. Perie led MHS with nine points.
MT then scored four points, but Taylor Faulconer was there to keep the score close with points in the paint, bringing the Lady Tigers within two points of the lead. Again, MT answered with a jumper, but the fifth MHS point came with Perie connecting on a free throw with 43.5 left in the opening frame.
Though turnovers haunted the Lady Tigers throughout the second frame, their defense was able to hold MT to five points in the second, as the offense of McClain was able to add eight points to their total for a 13-13 tie at the half.
[[In-content Ad]]MHS freshman Shania Massie, who totaled seven points for the game, opened the quarter with two points. Miami Trace's Josie Cobb answered with a jumper, putting MT ahead by three points with 7:27 left in the quarter.
MT then went on what amounted to a 5-2 run after points by Perie, taking a 13-9 lead with 2:54 left in the second.
From the 1:59 mark until the buzzer sounded for halftime, Perie scored the remaining points for MHS, first shooting a turnaround jumper, followed by a put-back bucket at the buzzer, tying the score at 13.
Then the third quarter happened, and it wasn't good times for the Lady Tigers, as they unofficially committed seven turnovers in the quarter, while scoring just two points at the 7:14 mark of the frame.
The points by Massie ended up being the the last points the Lady Tigers would score until the 3:17 mark of the fourth, totaling nearly 12 minutes of game time without a single point.
In that span though, the MHS defense still kept the game within striking distance, as they tallied seven points in the same span, trailing 22-17 with the aforementioned 3:17 left in regulation.
The points that broke the scoreless streak by MHS was a jumper by Rooks, but following that, those points were answered with two free throws from Deidre McKay, who totaled a game-high 13 points. Rooks, who was double- and even sometimes triple-teamed the entire game, finished with four points.
Perie followed with a jumper 23 seconds later, bringing MHS back within five points, leaving 2:33 left on the clock.
Even after turnovers committed by MT, along with a jump ball in favor of MHS, the Lady Tigers still were unable to score, as MT slowly added to their lead from the free-throw line by McKay and Cobb.
Massie sank a 3-pointer with 33 seconds remaining, but it came too late, with MHS forced to foul and MT making a two free throws by McKay to seal the win with 29.1 left on the clock.
"We need to do a better job of finding people that are open, rather than just turning around and throwing the ball back to the spot where the ball came from," Overstake said. "Holding a team to 29 points is good enough to win any ball game, but the number of turnovers we had … you have to be able to convert as many shots as you can."
The win by MT splits the season series with MHS, as MHS previously defeated the Lady Panthers at MT 49-47 in overtime on Jan. 12.
MHS wraps up the regular season at 14-6 overall. They will play again on Saturday, Feb. 18 in the Division II SE Sectional tournament, as they are a No. 4 seed and will face No. 5 seed Logan Elm at Adena High School at 2:45 p.m.
MT will only play 19 games this season, finishing with a regular-season mark of 16-3 overall and 9-3 in the SCOL. MT will play again, also in the Division II SE Sectional tournament on Saturday, Feb. 18 against the winner of the Hillsboro-Circleville game. MT game will start at 1 p.m.
In JV play (two quarters) MHS defeated MT 19-14. Leading MHS were Tara Karnes with eight and Megan Mustard with six. For MT, Ashley Henry led with seven points.
BOX SCORE
SCORE BY QUARTERS
MT 08 05 09 07 — 29
MHS 05 08 02 07 — 22
INDIVIDUAL STATS
MT (29)
J.Cobb 1 (0) 2-3 4
D.McKay 3 (0) 7-8 13
A.Mabra 1 (0) 1-1 3
A.Schwenk 1 (0) 0-0 2
K.Reisinger 3 (0) 1-2 7
TOTALS: 9 (0) 11-14 29
MHS (22)
S.Rooks 2 (0) 0-0 4
T.Faulconer 1 (0) 0-0 2
S.Massie 2 (1) 0-0 7
J.Perie 4 (0) 1-2 9
TOTALS: 9 (1) 1-2 22