Lady Tigers defeat Piketon in OT

The McClain Lady Tigers and the Piketon Redstreaks hooked up Monday night in a good old-fashioned barn-burner of a game in Greenfield.

Both teams went toe to toe, matching each other with some impressive outside shooting while playing some just as impressive man-to-man defense the entire game. It took an overtime period to decide, but the Lady Tigers managed to hold off a Piketon rally late and hang on for a heartstopping 63-61 non-conference victory. 

“Piketon is a great team that is well-coached and has really good outside shooters and some great guard play,” McClain head coach Shania Massie said. “They played hard to the very end and did everything they needed to do, never giving us any easy baskets all night.

“It was just one heck of a ballgame.”

Piketon came into the contest with one of the best players in southern Ohio in junior point guard Laila Kelley, and she did nothing to discredit that, scoring a game-high 34 points making five 3-pointers and converting 9-of-11 free-throws during the game. But she had to earn every one of her points against an aggressive McClain man-to-man defense that shadowed her and even double-teamed her most of the game.

“I thought we played solid defense the entire game, and we put a lot of pressure on the Kelley girl, but she was still able to score 34 points, which shows how good of a player she really is,” Massie said.

While Kelley was putting on a shooting clinic for Piketon, the Lady Tigers were able to offset her incredible performance with three players reaching double-figure scoring, led by post-player Leah Lovett, who had a career-high 24 points.

“Leah (Lovett) played an awesome game for us. I think she had 24 points, which is a career-high for her, and she made the shots she needed to make, especially inside the paint,” Massie said.

Larah Henson also played a complete all-around game for McClain, scoring 18 points and grabbing numerous rebounds on both ends of the floor.

“Larah (Henson) played a heck of a game for us tonight, not just by scoring but defensively too,” Massie said. “I’m anxious to see how many rebounds she had because it seemed like every time you turned around, she was getting a rebound.

“Leah (Lovett) and Larah Henson really stepped up for us offensively tonight.”

McClain’s leading scorer Paisley Pryor was held in check for most of the game and had just two points at halftime, but in the second half continued to work and play hard and finished the game with 12 points. She scored the Lady Tigers final four points in overtime, which included the game-winner underneath the basket with two Piketon defenders applying tremendous pressure on her.

“Paisley’s shots weren’t falling tonight, but she found a way at the end and made the most important one to win the game,” Massie said.

Piketon led 11-10 after one period of play and after both teams scored 14 each in the second the Redstreaks still led 25-24 at halftime. Kelley led Piketon with 12 points at the break, and Henson matched that total with 12 for McClain.

The Lady Tigers turned up the pressure in the third period on both ends of the court and outscored Piketon 15-10 and took a 39-35 advantage heading to the fourth.

Lovett was McClain’s scoring leader in that third frame, scoring nine points, including an off-balanced fall-away jumper at the buzzer.

The fourth quarter started impressively with both teams trading baskets, and the game was tied at 44-44 with just under five minutes to play in regulation. This is when it looked like McClain would pull away down the stretch and win after scoring the next seven points to take a somewhat comfortable-looking 51-44 advantage.

Pryor started the run, converting three straight free throws, followed by back-to-back baskets inside by Lovett.

But the Redstreaks answered with a 6-0 run of their own over the next couple of minutes and suddenly it was just a one-point 51-50 lead for the Lady Tigers with a minute remaining.

Lovett put McClain back up three 54-51 with another twisting inside jumper, but Kelley quickly tied the game again with seconds remaining. Both teams squandered opportunities to win at the end of regulation and the game went to overtime, deservedly so.

Piketon scored first on a shot by Haydn Daniels, and she then converted a free-throw for a 56-53 Redstreak lead.

Lovett pulled McClain to within one at 56-55 with another basket, but Kelley drained another jumper to put Piketon back on top 58-55.  Henson followed that up with back-to-back scores to put the Lady Tigers back in front 59-58 with one minute remaining.

McClain’s defense then forced a turnover, and Pryor converted a fast-break basket to give the Lady Tigers a 61-58 lead.

But once again, Kelley stepped up for Piketon and drilled her fifth long-ball of the game and tied the score, 63-63.

Pryor scored the aforementioned game-winner with just six seconds remaining to give McClain their 14th straight victory after an opening-season loss at Logan Elm.

Piketon was able to get off a desperation last-second shot, but it fell short, and the McClain faithful in attendance erupted into a frenzy.

“We definitely needed a game like this,” Massie said. “We knew coming in that this was going to be a tough game. Every team we play from here on out will be a tough game for us.

“I’m really impressed and proud of how this team has played. You would never have thought that we would have the record that we have after losing so many good players last year, but everyone on this team has stepped up and taken on the roles they needed to.”

McClain, now 14-1 overall (7-0 in the Frontier Athletic Conference), will travel to Jackson Wednesday night to play another tough FAC game.

Individual scoring for McClain: Larah Henson 7,2,18, Paisley Pryor 3,6,12, Allie Burgess 1,0,2, Brie Cummins 2,1,7, Leah Lovett 10,3,24. Totals: 23,12,63. 3-point goals: Henson 2, Cummins 2 and Lovett 1.  

The Lady Tigers converted 12-of-20 free throws for 60 percent.

Piketon was led by Laila Kelley with 34 points, and the Redstreaks made 11-of-19 foul shots for 59 percent.