It was an early season meeting for the two Fayette County members of the South Central Ohio League when the Lady Blue Lions of Washington High School hosted the Lady Panthers of Miami Trace.
Despite Ohio State playing Michigan at the same time, a good-sized crowd turned out for the game.
The game was a spirited contest that was close throughout, until the fourth quarter when Miami Trace outscored Washington 12-2 to take a 45-37 victory.
Miami Trace sophomore Tanner Bryant was the game’s leading scorer with 20 points.
Junior Samantha Ritenour scored 14 for the Lady Panthers
Freshman Hannah Haithcock led Washington with 16 points.
Junior Savannah Wallace was next in scoring for the Lady Lions with eight points.
Haithcock scored the first basket of the game, quickly answered by a three-pointer from Bryant and then a steal and layup from Bryant for a 5-2 Miami Trace lead.
Wallace hit a three-pointer for Washington, tying the game at the 5:47 mark of the first period.
Bryant hit a pair of free throws for Miami Trace and Ritenour scored and was fouled, sinking the free throw attempt to give Miami Trace a 10-5 lead.
Alexis Gray scored for Washington and Wallace hit another three-point shot to tie the game, 10-10.
Ritenour had a basket and Washington’s Jaycie McRoberts hit a free throw that left the score 12-11 in favor of Miami Trace at the end of eight minutes of action.
Both offenses were slow to get going in the second period.
Kyla Johnston scored for Miami Trace at the 5:25 mark of the period.
Washington’s first bucket of the second period was a rebound and stick-back by Haithcock with 3:54 to play until halftime. She was fouled on the play and sank the free throw for the old-fashioned three-point play, tying the game, 14-14.
Haithcock scored and Miami Trace junior Hanna Reisinger hit a three-point shot to give the Lady Panthers a 17-16 lead.
After a free throw by Ritenour, Washington freshman Kassidy Hines, one of four freshmen on the varsity for the Lady Lions, grabbed a rebound and scored to tie the game, 18-18.
Gray scored the final basket of the half to give the Lady Lions a 20-18 halftime lead.
Washington increased its lead to 23-18 with an old-fashioned three-point play by Haithcock to start the second half.
Washington held the lead by as many as five points and as few as one point throughout the third quarter, leading 35-33 after three.
The fourth quarter saw Miami Trace outscore Washington 12-2 to take the 45-37 win.
Bryant hit a three-point shot, the first bucket of the fourth quarter, to give Miami Trace the lead for good with 5:30 remaining.
“I’m very proud of our kids, because we didn’t play good basketball for most of the game today,” Miami Trace head coach Ben Ackley said. “We were disappointed in the way we handled their zone. We’ll have to go back and look at that.
“We just didn’t play the way we’re capable of playing in the first three quarters,” Ackley said. “In the fourth quarter I thought we did a very good job of taking what they gave us. I thought our kids made plays when they had to.
“Tanner Bryant and Sam Ritenour were absolutely huge today for us,” Ackley said. “Lexi Schwartz and Kyla Johnston, two of our seniors, had big buckets for us.”
“It’s the same, old story,” Washington head coach John Persinger said. “We beat Minford for three quarters and had one bad quarter. Against Wilmington, we had a bad second quarter. Today, we had a disastrous fourth quarter.
“I have to hand it to Ben,” Persinger said. “He changed things up, went to a 2-3 (zone). We pressured the offense too fast, instead of just sitting back and looking at it and getting into the offense. We just kept pushing the ball. We had several turnovers in the fourth quarter.
“Trace did a nice job of working the ball around the zone and getting the ball to their scorers,” Persinger said. “Still, after three quarters, we had the lead, but, we just lost our composure. We’re a pretty young team and it showed tonight.”
Washington (1-2 overall, 1-1 SCOL) continues SCOL play at Chillicothe Wednesday with the j-v game starting at 5:30 p.m.
After four road games to start the season, Miami Trace (3-1 overall, 2-0 SCOL) has its home opener Wednesday against Clinton-Massie. The j-v game gets things started at 5:30 p.m.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
MT 12 6 15 12 — 45
W 11 9 15 2 — 37
MIAMI TRACE — Kyla Johnston 2-0-4; Cassidy Lovett 0-0-0; Becca Ratliff 0-0-0; Hanna Reisinger 1 (1)-0-5; Harmonee Napier 0-0-0; Tanner Bryant 3 (3)-5-20; Alexis Schwartz 1-0-2; Samantha Ritenour 6-2-14. TOTALS — 13 (4)-7-45. Free throw shooting: 7 of 13 for 54 percent. Combined field goal shooting: 17 of 44 for 39 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 4 of 14 for 29 percent. Turnovers: 11. Three-point field goals: Reisinger, Bryant, 3. Rebounds: Ritenour, 6; Johnston, 4.
WASHINGTON — Alexis Gray 2-0-4; Jaycie McRoberts 2-1-5; Savannah Wallace 1 (2)-0-8; Hannah Haithcock 7-2-16; Wendy Hawk 1-0-2; Kassidy Hines 0-0-0; Tabby Woods 0-0-0; Maddy Jenkins 0-0-0. TOTALS — 14 (2)-3-37. Free throw shooting: 3 of 9 for 33 percent. Combined field goal shooting: 16 of 42 for 38 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 2 of 7 for 29 percent. Turnovers: 20. Three-point field goals: Wallace, 2.
MT j-v team goes to 4-0 with win over Lady Lions
In the j-v game Saturday, Miami Trace improved to 4-0 overall, 2-0 in the SCOL, with a 36-26 win over Washington (1-1 overall, 1-1 SCOL).
Miami Trace’s Rachael Campbell was the game’s leading scorer with 13 points.
Becca Ratliff scored 10 for Miami Trace.
Taylor Smith led the Lady Blue Lions with 10 points.
Breanna Taylor was next with six points for Washington.
Miami Trace began the season with a 31-19 win over Circleville on Nov. 20. They followed that with a 42-18 win at Madison Plains.
Miami Trace edged East Clinton at Lees Creek on Tuesday, Nov. 24, 28-24.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
MT 8 12 5 11 — 36
W 10 6 3 7 — 26
MIAMI TRACE — Becca Ratliff 3 (1)-1-10; Kaylee Hauck 0-0-0; Morgan Miller 0-0-0; Krissy Ison 0-0-0; Jessica Camp 0-0-0; Tori Evans 2-4-8; Rachael Campbell 6-1-13; Olivia Wolffe 1-1-3; Lena Steele 0-2-2. TOTALS —12 (1)-9-36. Free throw shooting: 9 of 16 for 56 percent. Combined field goal shooting: 13 of 37 for 35 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 1 of 1. Three-point field goal: Ratliff. Turnovers: 13.
WASHINGTON — Raven Haithcock 1-0-2; Maddy Garrison 1-1-3; Breanna Taylor 1-4-6; Savanna Davis 0-0-0; Megan Downing 0-0-0; Victoria Jones 0-0-0; Tahja Pettiford 0-0-0; Ally Funari 2-0-4; Delaney Greer 0-0-0; Taylor Smith 5-1-11. TOTALS — 10-6-26. Free throw shooting: 6 of 15 for 40 percent. Combined field goal shooting: 10 of 32 for 31 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 0 of 2. Turnovers: 19.
