On the Saturday before Christmas, the Miami Trace Lady Panthers hosted the Sherman Tanks from Unioto High School.
Miami Trace won the non-league contest, 44-33.
Miami Trace sophomore Tanner Bryant shared game high scoring honors with sophomore Summer Sigman of Unioto, each with 13 points.
Junior Hanna Reisinger had 11 points for Miami Trace, senior Harmonee Napier had nine points and junior Samantha Ritenour scored nine points.
Miami Trace overcame an early deficit to take a 13-9 first quarter lead.
The Lady Panthers led 22-16 at halftime.
Miami Trace began the third quarter with a 7-0 run, threatening to run away from Unioto with a 29-16 lead.
A little later in the quarter, Miami Trace increased its lead to 16 points at 34-18.
Unioto showed no signs of quitting, despite coming into the game with just one win on the season.
The Shermans outscored Miami Trace 12-2 in the final four minutes of the third and kept themselves in contention, although trailing, 36-30.
The fourth quarter was the lowest-scoring period of the game.
Miami Trace scored eight points to three for Unioto for the final, 44-33.
“Unioto is extremely well-coached,” Miami Trace head coach Ben Ackley said. “We knew they were going to have us scouted well and be very prepared.
“I thought Unioto’s energy was really good early,” Ackley said. “They knocked down a couple of threes in the first quarter and they started playing with a lot more confidence.
“They’re young and they’ve struggled some this year, but, you can tell today that they really took a step forward,” Ackley said. “And, they’ll only continue to get better with that coaching staff.
“I thought Harmonee Napier played well,” Ackley said. “She started today and came out and gave us some very good minutes in the first half.
“I just never thought that we got into a rhythm today, offensively or defensively,” Ackley said. “We need to be more consistent with what we’re doing. We’re really good for three or four minutes, then we have three or four minutes where we’re not very good at all.”
“Obviously, we’ve had our struggles so far this year,” Unioto head coach Jeff Miller said. “We’re kind of in a rebuilding phase right now. We’ve talked about, when we play good opponents, our goal is to compete. We want to fight all the way to the end of the game and I felt today our kids really did that.
“We made plenty of mistakes,” Miller said. “But we didn’t hang our heads. The girls really competed for 32 minutes. We don’t like the fact that we lost, but, I’m looking on the bright side. We’ll take a lot of positives away from this game.”
Unioto (now 1-7 overall) is back in action Wednesday at home against Vinton County.
The Shermans have home games with Logan Elm (Dec. 30) and Chillicothe (Jan. 2) before returning to Scioto Valley Conference play on Jan. 5 at Southeastern.
Miami Trace (now 8-2 overall) will compete next in the McDonald’s Holiday Tournament Tuesday at Greeneview High School taking on London at 6:30 p.m.
In the second game Tuesday, Madison Plains will play Greeneview at 8 p.m.
The consolation game of the tournament is Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. and the championship game is at 8 p.m.
Miami Trace will then travel to Jonathan Alder on Monday, Dec. 28 and usher in 2016 with a home game against Washington on Saturday, Jan. 2 at 5:30 p.m.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
MT 13 9 14 8 — 44
U 9 7 14 3 — 33
MIAMI TRACE — Kyla Johnston 1-0-2; Cassidy Lovett 0-0-0; Hanna Reisinger 2 (2)-1-11; Morgan Miller 0-0-0; Harmonee Napier 3 (1)-0-9; Tanner Bryant 4-5-13; Rachael Campbell 0-0-0; Samantha Ritenour 3-3-9. TOTALS — 13 (3)-9-44. Free throw shooting: 9 of 14 for 64 percent. Three-point field goals: Reisinger, 2; Napier. Combined field goal shooting: 16 of 43 for 37 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 3 of 9 for 33 percent. Turnovers: 11. Rebounds: 24 (6 offensive). Assists: 12. Steals: 13.
UNIOTO — Carly Adkins 0-3-3; Kassidey Winegardner 0 (1)-0-3; Summer Sigman 3 (2)-1-13; Kaylee Valentine 0-2-2; Taylor Britton 0-0-0; Bri Thomas 0-2-2; Caroline Thiel 1 (2)-2-10. TOTALS — 4 (5)-10-33. Free throw shooting: 10 of 16 for 63 percent. Three-point field goals: Sigman, 2; Thiel, 2; Winegardner. Combined field goal shooting: 9 of 32 for 28 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 5 of 13 for 38 percent. Turnovers: 20.
Unioto wins j-v game over Miami Trace
In the j-v game Saturday, Unioto defeated Miami Trace, 30-14.
Olivia Wolffe led Miami Trace with four points.
Kara Payton led the Shermans with eight points.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
MT 6 2 2 4 — 14
U 10 11 2 7 — 30
MIAMI TRACE — Cassidy Lovett 1-0-2; Kaylee Hauck 0-0-0; Morgan Miller 1-0-2; Rachael Campbell 1-0-2; Krissy Ison 1-0-2; Jessica Camp 1-0-2; Lena Steele 0-0-0; Olivia Wolffe 2-0-4. TOTALS — 7-0-14. Free throw shooting: 0 of 6. Three-point field goals: none. Field goal shooting: 7 of 29 for 24 percent. Turnovers: 16.
UNIOTO — Carly Adkins 1-0-2; Kara Payton 1 (2)-0-8; Morgan Ramsey 0 (1)-0-3; Morgan Popp 1-0-2; Cadee Causey 0-0-0; Jayla Campbell 1 (1)-1-6; Jocie Fisher 1 (1)-0-5; Elayna Gunnoe 0-0-0; Morgan Seitz 1-0-2; Kaylee Hagen 0-0-0; Kate Ellison 1-0-2. TOTALS — 7 (5)-1-30. Free throw shooting: 1 of 3 for 33 percent. Three-point field goals: Payton, 2; Ramsey, Campbell, Fisher. Combined field goal shooting: 12 of 25 for 48 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 5 of 9 for 55 percent. Turnovers: 15.
Miami Trace j-v girls beat McClain
In the j-v game against McClain on Wednesday, Dec. 16, Miami Trace beat the Lady Tigers, 37-28.
Olivia Wolffe was the game’s leading scorer for Miami Trace with 10 points.
Morgan Miller and Rachael Campbell each had seven points for the Lady Panthers.
Elizabeth Kegley led McClain with six points.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
MT 12 7 13 5 — 37
Mc 1 9 5 13 — 28
MIAMI TRACE — Becca Ratliff 2-2-6; Kaylee Hauck 0-0-0; Morgan Miller 3-1-7; Krissy Ison 0-0-0; Jessica Camp 1-0-2; Tori Evans 1-3-5; Rachael Campbell 2-3-7; Olivia Wolffe 4-2-10; Lena Steele 0-0-0. TOTALS — 13-11-37. Free throw shooting: 11 of 15 for 73 percent. Three-point field goals: none. Combined field goal shooting: 13 of 34 for 38 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 0 of 2. Turnovers: 13.
McCLAIN — Macie Adams 1-0-2; Grace Savage 1 (1)-0-5; Kelli Uhrig 0-5-5; Hunter Scott 2-1-5; Bryn Karnes 0 (1)-0-3; Elizabeth Kegley 2-2-6; Chantel Landrum 1-0-2; Hannah Smith 0-0-0. TOTALS — 7 (2)-8-28. Free throw shooting: 8 of 16 for 50 percent. Three-point field goals: Savage, Karnes. Combined field goal shooting: 7 of 28 for 25 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 2 of 5 for 40 percent. Turnovers: 15.
