Shooting touch returns for MT

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PEEBLES — The Miami Trace Lady Panthers were coming off a tough shooting night against Circleville Tuesday night when they made the trip down SR 41 to Peebles to take on the Lady Indians in a non-conference game Thursday.

Miami Trace made their first shot of the game and that was a very good sign as the Lady Panthers returned to form with a 66-55 victory.

Against Circleville, Miami Trace hit just 2 of 18 three-point field goals for 11 percent.

Thursday at Peebles, the Lady Panthers connected on 8 of 13 three-point attempts for an outstanding 62 percent.

Miami Trace shot just 29 percent from the field against Circleville.

Against the Lady Indians, Miami Trace made 21 of 44 field goal attempts for 48 percent.

Miami Trace had a very balanced scoring attack with four players achieving double figures and a fifth just a bucket away.

Junior Shay McDonald led Miami Trace with 20 points. She was one of four Miami Trace players with two three-point field goals.

A trio of players each scored 12 points; senior Olivia Wolffe, senior Cassidy Lovett and sophomore Gracee Stewart. Lovett and Stewart each hit two threes, as did senior Becca Ratliff, who finished with eight points.

Stewart led Miami Trace with five rebounds and McDonald had four. Stewart and Wolffe each had three assists and Lovett led the team with five steals.

Sophomore Jayce Justice was the game’s leading scorer for Peebles (10-4) with 23 points. She connected for the Lady Indians’ only three-point field goal.

Junior Tatum Arey scored 14 for Peebles.

“We knew coming in that (Justice) was a really nice player,” Miami Trace head coach Ben Ackley said. “We knew she was an incredible scorer. I was impressed with how hard she played. She never came out of the game. We did the best job we could on her. We made everything she did hard for her. When she did score, it wasn’t easy.

“It’s very important for our kids after the shooting effort we had Tuesday, to come out and make some shots,” Ackley said. “Gracee Stewart made her first shot tonight. Becca Ratliff made her first couple of shots. If we get those kids back on track, we’ll be in a great position moving forward.

“Cassidy Lovett and Olivia Wolffe are playing the best basketball they’ve played all year right now and that’s huge,” Ackley said. “Shay stepped up in the fourth quarter and made some really timely shots.

“We got good bench play again tonight,” Ackley said. “The kids came in and gave us maximum effort and stemmed the tide. Magarah Bloom hit a big shot there in the fourth quarter.

“We went deeper in our rotation than we normally do,” Ackley said. “But we’ve got a stretch of five games in nine days, so, we’re going to have to play some kids and we’re going to have to dig a little deeper than we have been.”

“We’ve got scrappers, we’ve got workers,” Peebles head coach Billie Jo Justice said. “They work hard and they’re going to give you everything they’ve got.

“Defensively, I thought we did a nice job, for the most part,” Justice said. “Until the end, we got in some foul trouble. We don’t have a whole lot of depth.

“Offensively, we struggled a little bit with their defense, trying to get in our sets and our offense,” Justice said. “But, they’re a nice team. They go inside to the big girl, they can kick it back out and they have a couple of shooters that will spot up and hit the shot.

“They came out and hit some (shots) and got us down and it was a battle the rest of the game,” Justice said.

Another area in which Miami Trace excelled was free throw shooting, going 16 of 19 from the line for 84 percent.

Miami Trace outscored Peebles by 12 points at the free throw line.

Miami Trace began the game with a 10-0 run and took a 21-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Miami Trace led by as many as 13 points in the first quarter and by that many in the second quarter.

The Lady Panthers were in front, 37-25 at the half.

With a couple of three-point field goals to start the third quarter, Miami Trace enjoyed its largest lead of the night at 16 points with 4:30 to play in the third.

Peebles cut the margin to 10 at the end of the third (48-38).

The Lady Indians weren’t finished yet as they continued to gain ground on Miami Trace.

Peebles cut the deficit to five points at 51-46 with 5:35 remaining in the game.

Miami Trace kept a safe distance from that point, outscoring Peebles 15-9 down the stretch.

Miami Trace (8-5 overall) is back at home for a Frontier Athletic Conference game against Chillicothe Saturday with the j-v contest starting at 5:30 p.m.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

MT 21 16 11 18 — 66

P 11 14 15 17 — 55

MIAMI TRACE — Olivia Wolffe 4-4-12; Cassidy Lovett 1 (2)-4-12; Becca Ratliff 1 (2)-0-8; Aubrey McCoy 0-0-0; Shay McDonald 5 (2)-4-20; Tori Evans 0-0-0; Magarah Bloom 1-0-2; Libby Aleshire 0-0-0; Aubrey Wood 0-0-0; Gracee Stewart 1 (2)-4-12; Emma Pitstick 0-0-0. TOTALS — 13 (8)-16-66. Free throw shooting: 16 of 19 for 84 percent. Three-point field goals: Lovett, 2; Ratliff, 2; McDonald, 2; Stewart, 2. Field goal shooting: 21 of 44 for 48 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 8 of 13 for 62 percent. Rebounds: 22 (5 offensive). Turnovers: 15. Assists: 11. Steals: 10. Fouls: 8.

PEEBLES — Jacey Justice 9 (1)-2-23; Madison Beekman 3-0-6; Jerilin Toller 3-0-6; Tatum Arey 6-2-14; Hope Brown 0-0-0; Lilly Gray 3-0-6; Kylie Sims 0-0-0. TOTALS — 24 (1)-4-55. Free throw shooting: 4 of 5 for 80 percent. Field goal shooting: 25 of 42 for 60 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 1 of 6 for 17 percent. Turnovers: 20. Offensive rebounds: 7.

Miami Trace senior Becca Ratliff takes the ball up the court during a non-conference game at Peebles High School Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019. Also pictured, for Peebles is Madison Beekman and for Miami Trace, senior Cassidy Lovett.
http://www.recordherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2019/01/web1_Becca-Ratliff-vs-Peebles-1-10-2019.jpgMiami Trace senior Becca Ratliff takes the ball up the court during a non-conference game at Peebles High School Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019. Also pictured, for Peebles is Madison Beekman and for Miami Trace, senior Cassidy Lovett.
Lady Panthers beat Peebles, 66-55

By Chris Hoppes

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