Round two of rivalry weekend took place on Saturday, Feb. 4 at Miami Trace High School, with the varsity girls basketball game as the co-main event of the evening.

When the two teams met up back in December, the Lady Panthers edged the Lady Lions by 10 points, 36-26.

Miami Trace held a ceremony for the senior basketball players and other winter sport athletes prior to the teams warming up.

Miami Trace jumped out to an 11-0 lead to start the game, thanks to a layup from Kaelin Pfeifer, two three-pointers from Hillery “Bean” Jacobs, and a three-pointer from Jessee Stewart.

Washington got into the scoring column with a basket from Calleigh Wead-Salmi to make it 11-2.

Both teams traded free throws and layups, with Washington’s Natalie Woods securing an offensive rebound and laying it back in at the buzzer to cut the lead to seven points at the end of one quarter, 16-9.

The Lady Lions began the second quarter with two quick buckets from Allie Mongold and Woods to cut it to 16-13, prompting a Lady Panther timeout.

Miami Trace responded with a jumper from Pfeifer to make it 18-13 and Washington wouldn’t get any closer than that throughout the rest of the quarter.

With just a few seconds left in the half, Miami Trace held a five-point lead and Washington had the ball. Jacobs was able to record a steal for the Lady Panthers and passed the ball to Pfeifer, who passed it to Nevaeh Lyons for a layup as time expired, giving Miami Trace a 27-20 lead at the half.

Washington never got any closer than seven points down in the third quarter, as Miami Trace outscored them 9-7.

The Lady Panthers led by as many as 15 points in the fourth quarter and ended up defeating Washington by a final score of 49-36. Miami Trace head coach Kayla Dettwiller was able to pull her seniors from the game to an ovation from the crowd with around two minutes to go in the contest.

Free throws played a big part in the victory for Miami Trace, as Washington missed 12 attempts from the line which was nearly the score differential.

Coach Dettwiller spoke after the victory.

“We relied a lot on our seniors tonight. We knew that coming in to play Court House the records don’t matter, they’re out the window. I’m real proud of the girls tonight. I thought they stood tall when things didn’t go their way, we didn’t get shots, or plays maybe didn’t go the way that we thought they should have. Instead of scolding or getting upset about it, we stood tall and went back on defense and we tried to shut them down.”

Detwiller talked about her seniors.

“Kaelin Pfeifer, she had to handle the ball. She was getting off screens, getting downhill, and using her speed to her advantage. Hillary McCoy was a big factor off the boards early on and we needed someone to get in there and get rebounds and she started cleaning up the glass in the first half which took some pressure off of her teammates.

“Bean Jacobs, she’s gotta go be a big kid every night. She’s outsized usually, either in inches or otherwise. She has to just go in there and compete with them. Mallory Lovett is a kid that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet a whole bunch other than rebounds and assists, but that kid goes in there and she just does all the work that no one else does. She sets the screens, she’s talking to people on defense, she does a lot of little things that no one sees. She gets those rebounds, she can box someone out, she’s always guarding a kid that’s bigger than her. I’m real proud of the way these seniors finished this year.”

Washington head coach Samatha Bihl shared some comments following the loss.

“We’re never gonna win a game missing that many free throws. I can tell you it doesn’t come down to a lack of practice, I think it’s just mentally we struggled and it just got into our heads a little bit. Whatever it was we just couldn’t knock them down. I’m really hopeful we can bounce back from this. We’ve got a week off and hopefully we can rest our legs a litttle bit and get one more win at home, especially for our seniors. I just want to send them out right and I think it’s a very winnable game.”

Bihl spoke about her seniors.

“Natalie Woods, I thought she did a tremendous job tonight just attacking the rim. She has a lot of ability but she does not always play as aggressive as she did tonight. But she’s a great defender. Allie Mongold has been running the point guard for us the last couple of years and directs everyone. She does a great job of keeping the tempo of the game and she’s a great defender as well. Megan Sever, defensively and rebounding she does so many of the little things that people typically don’t get credit for. She’s going to be a big missing piece next year and we’ll have to find someone to pick up and do all those little things.”

Statistically for Miami Trace, Hillery “Bean” Jacobs led the Lady Panthers with 17 points, followed by Kaelin Pfeifer and Hillary McCoy with nine, Nevaeh Lyons with seven, Jessee Stewart with six, and Sue Morris with one point.

Statistically for Washington, Natalie Woods led the Lady Lions with 11 points, followed by Calee Ellars with eight, Allie Mongold with six, Calleigh Wead-Salmi and Megan Sever with five, and Eliana Racine with one point.

Miami Trace (13-9, 6-4 in the FAC) plays again on Thursday, Feb. 16 at New Lexington with a 7 p.m. tip. This is a sectional semifinal game.

Washington (4-18, 2-8 in the FAC) plays again on Monday, Feb. 13 at home against Hillsboro in the first round of the postseason.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

MT 16 11 9 13 — 49

W 9 11 7 9 — 36

MIAMI TRACE — Ellie Robinette 0-0-0; Kaelin Pfeifer 4-1-9; Hillary McCoy 3 (1)-0-9; Sue Morris 0-1-1; Jessee Stewart 0 (2)-0-6; Nevaeh Lyons 3-1-7; Mallory Lovett 0-0-0; Hillery Jacobs 4 (2)-3-17; Ryleigh Vincent 0-0-0. TOTALS — 14 (5)-6-49. Free throw shooting: 6 of 12 for 50 percent. Three-point field goals: Jacobs 2, Stewart 2, McCoy. Field goal shooting: 19 of 37 for 51 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 5 of 9 for 56 percent. Turnovers: 18. Assists: 12. Steals: 5. Rebounds: 28 (4 offensive).

WASHINGTON — Allie Mongold 3-0-6; Calleigh Wead-Salmi 2-1-5; Eliana Racine 0-1-1; Megan Sever 2-1-5; Natalie Woods 4-3-11; Maggi Wall 0-0-0; Calee Ellars 1 (1)-3-8. TOTALS — 12 (1)-9-36. Free throw shooting: 9 of 21 for 43 percent. Three-point field goals: Field goal shooting: 13 of 49 for 27 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 1 of 11 for 9 percent. Turnovers: 16. Offensive rebounds: 13.

Lady Panthers win j-v game

In the j-v game, Miami Trace defeated Washington, 27-17.

Statistically for Miami Trace, Ella McCarty led the Lady Panthers with seven points, followed by Bella Shull and Katy Bock with six, Cali Kirkpatrick with four, and Kamika Bennett and Sureya Lopez with two points each.

Statistically for Washington, Jordyn G led the Lady Lions with nine points, followed by Kaithlyn Maquiling with four, Megan Mongold with three, and Keeona Ramirez with one point.

Washington finishes 7-11 and Miami Trace ends the season 10-9 (5-5 in the FAC).