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Complete team game leads to Lady Mustangs win over McClain

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Lynchburg-Clay freshman Madison McMullen prepares to shoot a basket while being defended by McClain's Luca Matesic. McMullen tied for the team lead in scoring with 17 points, including nine in the first quarter. (HCP Photos/Stephen Forsha)
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Stephen Forsha, The Highland County Press

DODSONVILLE — A strong first quarter for the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs set the tone for their non-conference game Monday night as LCHS started their week with a big 26-point win over their Highland County counterpart, the McClain Lady Tigers, by a 62-36 score. 

The tone setter for LCHS was the play of freshman Madison McMullen, as she scored nine points in the opening quarter and for the game finished tied for the team lead with 17 points. 
 
“[McMullen] came out and just was on fire in that first quarter, my goodness,” Lynchburg-Clay head coach Whitney Lewis said. “I told the coaches to give her the ball. She was making shots, making moves — nothing that we didn't think that she could do, but she just came out super aggressive tonight and played a heck of a basketball game. 

“She's gotten a little bit more comfortable in the system, if you will. She's playing with four seniors on the floor, so as a freshman, I'm sure that's intimidating, but you'd never know it if you watched her play. She doesn't play like a freshman. She just gets after it, and gets after everybody, and tonight that paid off. She just stepped up to the challenge and had a really, really nice game. I can't say enough about that.”

Lynchburg-Clay scored first in the game with a basket by Jade Massey, but Paisley Pryor answered with a basket of her own for the Lady Tigers. McMullen scored the next three points, followed by LC’s Addison West going around the defense of McClain to the hoop for two points and a 7-2 lead. West totaled 16 points in the game. 

McClain battled back with six consecutive points off a free throw and two-point basket by Pryor, plus a 3-pointer by Kaitlyn Jett at the 5:20 mark, for an 8-7 lead built by the Lady Tigers. 

With 4:41 left, LCHS responded with a 3-pointer by Macy Etienne (who totaled six points), but those three points were answered with a 3-pointer from Luca Matesic with 3:58 left in the first for an 11-10 Lady Tigers lead. 

From the 3:41 mark of the first quarter until the end of the quarter, LCHS went on a 14-0 run for a 24-11 score. That run began with a jumper by Ella Barry, consecutive layups from West, six straight points off three baskets by McMullen and a basket in the paint with 3.9 seconds left in the quarter by Massey. Massey finished the game with 17 points. 

LCHS won the second frame at 16-11, leading by as many as 21 points twice, and 18 points when halftime arrived at 40-22. 

“That first half was important,” Lewis said. “We talked about that, preparing for these guys and setting the tone. We knew Greenfield is a good team, and if they got off to a good start, then it wasn't going to be a good ending for us. I thought we did a good job of trying to get the pace to where we needed it to be, and playing our basketball game. I'm super proud of our kids for doing that there in that first half.

“I think that as a group, as a whole, we just really played with high intensity, high energy. When we do that, we're really dangerous. Everybody kind of stepped up. Ella had a really good game defensively and scored some buckets. Jade was just, you know, Jade was Jade. As far as being on the defense side of the ball, Addison and Macy kind of ran the show for us.”

MHS scored first in the second with points in the paint by Pryor, but McMullen answered for LCHS with four straight points, including a steal and fast break to the hoop for a 15-point Lady Mustang lead at the 6:54 mark of the second. 

Again, Pryor knocked down a 3-pointer for McClain points, but LCHS answered with two baskets, one being a 3-pointer by Etienne, and the other also being a 3-pointer by Massey, putting LCHS ahead by 18 points at 34-16 with 5:02 left in the quarter. 

Brenna Wright made a free throw for the Lady Tigers at the 4:19 mark of the second, and that point was answered with a put-back basket by McMullen, and two free throws from West. Pryor followed with two free throws made for MHS, and the LCHS scoring closed for the quarter with two points by West. MHS ended the quarter with a 3-pointer made by Lindsey Hutchinson, leaving the score 40-22 in favor of the Lady Mustangs.

“Paisley came out and started hitting shots there, which really helped us,” McClain head coach Shnnia Massie said. “We had some other people go in there and score, but it just didn't fall for us tonight. 

“Something that we've been working on for the beginning of the season is those turnovers. We knew the press was coming. We knew the trap was coming. Granted, I’ll give my team the benefit of the doubt, we haven't practiced since Thursday.

“We have good shooters,” Massie continued. “I think one of our main things tonight was they were rushing us a little bit, so we weren't able to get our feet set and we weren't able to get good passes to our shooters, get into the shooting pocket. I think that's something that we struggled with.” 

Each team scored seven points in the third with McClain having points from Matesic (a 3-pointer) and four points off two baskets by Haylee Havens. In the third for LCHS, Massey was 4-of-4 from the free-throw line, and West connected with a 3-pointer as the Lady Mustangs led McClain 47-29 after three quarters.

Lynchburg-Clay outscored McClain in the fourth quarter at 15-7. For LCHS, they had six points from Massey, three points off free throws by West, four points by Barry and two points from McMullen. Barry totaled six points for the game. 

MHS in the fourth quarter had two points each by Lillie Saunders, Havens and Barnes, and one point by Anna Eikenberry. 

Pryor led MHS with 12 points in the game, while Matesic and Havens each followed with six points. The rest of McClain’s scoring included Hutchinson and Jett with three points each, Saunders and Barnes with two points each, and with one points apiece were Wright and Eikenberry. 

As a team, the Lady Mustangs totaled 20 two-point baskets, four 3-pointers, and they were 10-of-12 from the free-throw line. MHS finished with eight two-point baskets, five 3-pointers and went 5-of-10 from the free-throw line. 

MHS now stands at 9-8 overall, while LCHS moves to 11-4 overall this season. 

Lynchburg-Clay is scheduled to play again on Thursday, Jan. 25 at home against Whiteoak (7-2, 12-5) in Southern Hills Athletic Conference action. LCHS is 8-1 in the Division I standings (North Adams is currently leading at 9-1). 

McClain will play next Wednesday, Jan. 24 at home against the Washington Lady Blue Lions (3-5, 7-9) in Frontier Athletic Conference play. MHS is second place in the FAC with a 5-3 conference record. 

BOX SCORE
MHS
     11 11 07 07 — 36
LCHS    24 16 07 15 — 62


LYNCHBURG-CLAY (62) — M.Etienne 0 (2) 0-0 6, A.West 4 (1) 5-6 16, J.Massey 5 (1) 4-4 17, M.McMullen 8 (0) 1-2 17, E.Barry 3 (0) 0-0 6. TOTALS: 20 (4) 10-12 62.


MCCLAIN (36) — L.Hutchinson 0 (1) 0-0 3, L.Saunders 1 (0) 0-0 2, P.Pryor 3 (1) 3-6 12, L.Matesic 0 (2) 0-0 6, H.Havens 3 (0) 0-0 6, K.Jett 0 (1) 0-0 3, L.Barnes 1 (0) 0-0 2, B.Wright 0 (0) 1-2 1, A.Eikenberry 0 (0) 1-2 1. TOTALS: 8 (5) 5-10 36.