McClain Lady Tigers take FAC win against Lady Blue Lions
McClain's Brenna Wright looks to pass in the Lady Tigers' FAC win over Washington, Saturday at WHS. (HCP Photos/Stephen Forsha)
WASHINGTON C.H. — Saturday afternoon saw the McClain Lady Tigers travel to Fayette County and earn a Frontier Athletic Conference victory over the host Washington Lady Blue Lions, 36-22.
McClain only trailed once in the game, starting at the 7:32 mark of the first quarter, and they gained the lead by a 3-2 score with 5:55 on the first-quarter clock following a 3-pointer by freshman Paisley Pryor from the top of the key.
Pryor led McClain with 15 points, totaling four 3-pointers, a two-point basket, and she was 1-of-2 from the free-throw line.
From there, Lily Barnes also sank a 3-pointer for the Lady Tigers with 5:27 left in the first. Barnes finished the game with eight points.
A free throw made by Pryor put McClain ahead 7-2 with 4:56 remaining in the opening quarter.
Washington made their second basket of the game with 3:47 left in the first, but McClain’s Luca Matesic made it a five-point lead again for the Lady Tigers with a jumper.
After Washington made it a 9-6 score, Pryor sank her second 3-pointer of the game, from the corner of the court, for a 12-6 McClain advantage with 2:07 left on the clock. Washington ended the first frame with four consecutive points, but the Lady Tigers kept a two-point lead at 12-10.
McClain outscored Washington, 9-4 in the second, making three 3-pointers in the quarter, with those baskets made by Pryor, Barnes and Matesic.
“I’m pretty happy with how we played. We started off a little bit slow, and it's always hard to play here at Court House, but we finished it out,” MHS head coach Shania Massie said. “We made some adjustments at halftime, and I think we really just executed those during the fourth quarter. I think we just worked really hard, and we didn't give up.
“We really focus on getting a lot of shots up right before our games, and we have shootouts and stuff, or shoot-arounds in the mornings, right before we come in. I think that's really important to getting our kids up and ready. I think they just focus on their shot a lot more, and they’ve built some confidence in their shot. I think it's helping us a lot.”
With McClain holding a 21-14 halftime lead, it was Washington winning the third at 6-5, but McClain kept the lead by six points at 26-20.
The third frame saw Haylee Havens sink a 3-pointer, and Barnes scored two points on a put-back bucket after gaining the rebound in the paint.
McClain took over the fourth frame with a 10-2 quarter with Pryor scoring five points in the frame, including a 3-pointer.
Also for McClain in the fourth, Kaitlyn Jett knocked down a 3-pointer, and Brenna Wright scored two points with 2:30 left in the game, finalizing the team’s scoring for the remainder of the game.
Other final scoring totals for MHS are: Matesic with five points, Havens and Jett with three points each, and Wright with two points.
As a team, McClain was 1-of-4 from the free-throw line.
“I like to play a lot of girls. We like to get out, we like to go, and as long as we can keep their legs fresh, I think that's a really big key for us,” Massie said of her team. “I don't have a set starting lineup. I just base it on how they perform in practice that week, and our matchups versus the team that we're playing. I think that's just one of our big key factors, and I think keeping them fresh and building everyone's confidence is very important to us.
“I like that we have multiple people on our team that can score, whether it's inside or outside, and I think that's just gaining that confidence. That's just things we work on in practice as well. I give them the green light. They have a green light to shoot. Sometimes if they know their shots are not falling, they just need to take a step back and take it to the hole instead.”
Washington was led by Elianna Racine with seven points. As a team, Washington was 7-of-12 from the free-throw line.
McClain’s win improves them to 4-1 overall and 3-1 in the FAC.
Next for MHS is a non-conference game on the road against the Adena Lady Warriors on Wednesday, Dec. 13.
BOX SCORE
MHS – 12 09 05 10 — 36
WHS – 10 04 06 02 — 22
MCCLAIN (36) — P.Pryor 1 (4) 1-2 15, L.Matesic 1 (1) 0-2 5, H.Havens 0 (1) 0-0 3, K.Jett 0 (1) 0-0 3, L.Barnes 1 (2) 0-0 8, B.Wright 1 (0) 0-0 2. TOTALS: 4 (9) 1-4 36.
WASHINGTON (22) — M.Wall 2 (0) 0-0 4, C.Wend-Salmi 0 (0) 1-4 1, E.Racine 1 (1) 2-2 7, P.Hughes 0 (0) 3-4 3, C.Ellars 1 (1) 0-0 5, L.Shaw 1 (0) 0-2 2. TOTALS: 5 (2) 6-12 22.