Lady Tigers tarnish Lady Golden Eagles

     MT. STERLING – The McClain Lady Tigers built a strong first half lead and never let up Saturday afternoon, as they won another South Central Ohio League contest, defeating the Madison-Plains Lady Golden Eagles 64-49 at MPHS.

     The Lady Tigers kept the lead for the entire game, and held off a late fourth quarter charge by the Lady Golden Eagles, with the game already in hand.

     In the opening quarter the Lady Tigers went on a 15-5 run with Kate Hammond scoring first, followed with points by Shelby Buck off of free throws. Megan Saylor joined in the first quarter scoring and Chrissy Cobb scored seven consecutive points to put the Lady Tigers ahead at 15-5. The 15^th point scored was a 3-pointer by Cobb.

     After MP scored two points, Hammond and MP’s Natalie Wolfe exchanged buckets.

     Late in the first Jenna Perie put MHS ahead 23-14 with a jumper and Cobb ended the first with a free throw conversion.

     Cobb started the second quarter the same as she ended the first, but this time making two baskets from the free-throw line to put the Lady Tigers up 10 points with 6:48 remaining in the opening half.

     The game continued to go in favor of the Lady Tigers with Buck, Kate Crabtree and Saylor pushing MHS to a 36-22 advantage. Hammond made two free throws and Buck sank a 3-pointer to put MHS in the lead at 41-22 after two quarters.

     The third quarter was dominated by the Lady Tigers with Cortney Hyer knocking down two 3-pointers, with the second trey putting MHS ahead by 25 points.

     Frankie Wise connected with a basket to put MHS ahead 54-29 to end the third.

     With the game in hand the Lady Tigers allowed MP to rally in the fourth with a 20 point final frame.

     Wolfe sank three 3-pointers in the fourth, as MP went on a 14-2 run in the middle stage of the quarter.

     Hyer connected twice from the free-throw line to fend off the Lady Golden Eagles.

     Hammond led the Lady Tigers in scoring with 19 points, followed by Cobb with 16. Cobb also gained four steals, four assists and one block. Wolfe led all scorers with a game-high 21 points for MP.

     Perie led MHS with eight of their 24 team rebounds.

     MHS shot 38 of 44 for 52 percent from the field. MP was 17 of 34 for 50 percent.

     The Lady Tigers finished with an 88 percent free throw performance at 14 of 16, as MP was 8 of 11 for 73 percent.

     The win lifts the Lady Tigers to 11-2 overall, 8-1 in the SCOL.

BOX SCORE

SCORE BY QUARTERS

MHS – 24 16 13 10 – 64

MPHS – 16 6 7 20 – 49

INDIVIDUAL STATS

MHS (64)

Wise 1 2, Cobb 5 (1) 3-4 16, Saylor 2 2-2 6, Hyer 0 (2) 2-2 6, Hammond 7 5-6 19, Crabtree 1 2, Buck 2 (1) 2-2 9, Perie 1 2. TOTALS: 19 (4) 14-16 64.

MPHS (49)

Wilson 6 3-3 15, Toops 0 1-2 1, Isaacs 2 4, Wolfe 3 (5) 21, Newman 1 2, Lenieux 0 2-2 2, Oravec 0 2-2 2, Phillips 1 2. TOTALS: 13 (5) 8-11 49.