Ohio Locker Room - Free throws lift MHS over Blue Lions

Sponsor

Free throws lift MHS over Blue Lions

Tuesday, 02 December 2008

By CHRIS HOPPES
Brown News Service

   WASHINGTON C.H. — The McClain Lady Tigers played their final game ever in "The Den" on the campus of Washington Senior High School Tuesday night. (A new high school will be open next season.)

     Their efforts were rewarded with a come-from-behind 44-38 win in the SCOL-opener for both squads.
   For the Lady Lions, junior Lauryn Robinson led with 15 points and eight rebounds. She was hampered by foul trouble, however, and had to sit a good portion of the second quarter and also in the fourth quarter.
   Senior Erin Ross had eight points and senior Brittany Thomas had six points.
   For McClain, junior Kate Hammond scored 15 points, including 9 of 11 from the free throw line.
   Junior Megan Saylor added nine points, going 7 of 10 from the charity stripe.
   When all was said and done, the game came down to free throw shooting and the edge went to McClain, both in terms of percentage and total shots attempted and made. McClain was a whopping 27 of 35 from the line for 77 percent.
   Meanwhile, Washington went 6 of 16 from the line for 38 percent.
   The 21-point differential from the line helped negate McClain's cool field goal shooting, which in the first half saw them go unofficially just 3 of 23 for 13 percent. Washington hit 7 of 17 shots from the floor in the first half for 41 percent.
   Washington played some outstanding defense against a McClain squad coming off a 96-point outburst in its previous game. McClain countered with a full-court press much of the game that helped cause many of Washington's 20 turnovers.
   "I kind of feel like we lost our composure at times against the press," Washington head coach Ryan Day said. "I give Greenfield credit. They did a good job of executing (the press); we didn't always look for the open person. We kind of panicked a little bit and threw the ball away at times.
   "The other deciding factor was their free throw shooting," Day said. "If they shoot 60 percent or even 70 percent, it's a whole different ballgame. It was a good press, we just didn't make some good decisions there at the end."
   "(Our free throw shooting) has improved greatly over last year," McClain head coach Dennis Overstake said. "We keep telling the girls, 'we're not the same team we were last year.' We've got 13 players on the team and we saw (almost) everybody get in the ballgame tonight and that's what we're striving for. We're looking for those situations where people are going to benefit the team by being out there.
   "There toward the end of the ballgame you saw our rotations that coach (Audra) Bolender, coach (Jarred) Haines and coach (Emma) Thorne were working in and out," Overstake said. "They were making those things happen for us."
   The Lady Lions held a 9-5 lead at the end of the first quarter.
   After an old-fashioned three-point play by junior Anna Frazier, Washington had its largest lead, 14-6 with just over six minutes remaining in the half.

    When Hammond scored and was fouled, she sank the free throw to make it 14-13, part of a 7-0 run by the Lady Tigers.
   Ross hit a bucket and later a free throw to make it 17-13, Lions at the half.
   After a scoreless 90-second intro to the third quarter, Chrissy Cobb hit what proved to be the only three-point basket of the game by either team. She quickly scored again off a steal for a 5-0 run by McClain and an 18-17 lead by the Tigers.
   Trailing 20-19, Washington went on what proved to be their best scoring run of the game, a 7-0 surge with five points from Robinson and a basket by Thomas to give Washington a 26-20 lead with three minutes left in the third period.
   Saylor hit two free throws, answered by two points from junior Caitie Chrisman.
   After three quarters, Washington held a 30-26 lead.
   The fourth quarter was pivotal, with McClain scoring 14 of its 18 points in that frame from the free throw line. Washington was 2 of 4 from the line during the final quarter.
   Meanwhile, Washington went 2 of 5 from the floor with back-to-back baskets by Robinson and Nicole Fore that made it a 35-34 game with three minutes to play.
   McClain was 8 of 12 from the line in the final three minutes of play. A last-second shot by Robinson fell for the final, 44-38.
   "The shots we were hitting Saturday weren't falling tonight," Overstake said. "We were struggling early. Coach Day has his team playing a nice, physical type of defensive game out there. They took our offense away from us. We kept telling the girls,'we're not out of this.' We just kept coming after it and coming after it and trying to make something happen."
   "It was a good challenge tonight," Day said. "We thought we matched up pretty well with them. We were very pleased with our defense tonight. I think if any team holds Greenfield to 44 points, they're going to feel like they have a chance to win. We just didn't do enough to get the victory tonight. I think they're going to have a very good season and we look forward to playing them again."
   McClain, now 3-0 overall, 1-0 SCOL, hosts Eastern Brown Saturday at 12:30 p.m. for their first home game of the season.
   Washington, 1-1 overall, 0-1 SCOL, travels to London Friday night in another league game at 6 p.m.

GAME SUMMARY:
SCORE BY QUARTERS
MHS — 5 8 13 18 — 44
WHS — 9 8 13 8 — 38

McCLAIN (44)
Samantha Crabtree 0-0-0; Lyndi Seely 0-0-0; Katie Wilkin 0-2-2-; Chrissy Cobb 1 (1)-0-5; Megan Saylor 1-7-9; Evann Gabriel 2-1-5; Cortney Hyer 0-5-5; Paige Ellis 0-0-0; Kate Hammond 3-9-15; Shelby Buck 0-3-3; Lesley Faulconer 0-0-0. TOTALS: 7 (1)-27-44. Free throw shooting: 27 of 35 for 77 percent.

WASHINGTON (38)
Amanda Pendergraft 0-0-0; Alyssa Daugherty 0-0-0; Erin Ross 2-4-8; Nicole Fore 2-0-4; Brittany Thomas 3-0-6; Anna Frazier, 1-1-3; Caitie Chrisman 1-0-2; Lauryn Robinson 7-1-15. TOTALS: 16-6-38. Free throw shooting: 6 of 16 for 38 percent. Turnovers: 20. Assists: 9. Steals: 4. Rebounds: 24 (7 offensive).

   In the reserve game Tuesday, Washington improved to 2-0 overall (1-0 SCOL) with a 30-24 win over McClain (1-1, 0-1).
   Cortney Merritt led Washington with 10 points. For McClain, Jenna Perie was the game's leading scorer with 11 points.