HILLSBORO — The Miami Trace Lady Panthers visited Hillsboro High School for a Frontier Athletic Conference game against the Lady Indians Saturday, Dec. 14.
Miami Trace was able to overcome a strong start by Hillsboro to post a 44-33 victory.
Miami Trace evens its record at 3-3 overall. The Lady Panthers are now 3-1 in the FAC.
Junior Delaney Eakins led Miami Trace with 11 points. She had a double-double with 10 rebounds, including six on the offensive glass.
Senior Shay McDonald scored nine points in her second game of the season, hitting a pair of three-point field goals.
Freshman Hillery Jacobs scored eight points (with one three) and eight rebounds.
A trio of Hillsboro players — Gracie Dean, Karleigh Hopkins and Brynn Bledsoe — each scored nine points for Hillsboro.
Josie Hopkins led Hillsboro with seven rebounds. Hopkins also had four assists.
“I told them I thought we played three pretty good quarters,” Hillsboro head coach J.R. Moberly said. “Two really good quarters. They made some adjustments in the second quarter against our zone. They hit five threes, so, they shot it a little better than what we thought they might coming in.
“In the fourth quarter, we didn’t have good offensive possessions,” Moberly said. “They scored seven points there at the end when we were trying to sell out and see what happens. It was a closer ball game than what the score showed.
“Both teams played hard today,” Moberly said. “I thought both teams played pretty well.
“I did not do a good job of rotating people through,” Moberly said. “Trying to keep our legs fresh. We were without Kayden Watson. I needed to rotate some of our younger kids through to keep our legs fresh and I didn’t do a good job of that. As the game went along, we just didn’t have the legs to shoot it.
“I thought we got good effort and contributions from all the kids that played,” Moberly said. “I just didn’t play enough kids.”
“Hillsboro shot the ball very well in the first half,” Miami Trace head coach Ben Ackley said. “We knew they had some kids who were capable of making shots. We didn’t do a very good job of getting to them at times, and they made us pay.
“We’ve really struggled early on in games to come out with the right mindset,” Ackley said. “In five of our six games, we’ve really done a bad job of starting the game. We’re trying to dig ourselves out of a hole all the time.
“They do fight back,” Ackley said. “Our kids are fighters. We have some kids hurt right now. We’ve had some kids sick. We were down to six kids in the j-v game. We knew we were limited in the varsity game today, through injury and illness. Just to get out of here with a victory today is a big deal for us.”
After an opening three-point shot from Miami Trace’s Emma Pitstick, Hillsboro went on an 11-0 run.
Hillsboro led 14-6 at the end of the first quarter.
Miami Trace was 2 of 11 from the floor in the first quarter, while Hillsboro hit 6 of 10 field goal attempts.
Miami Trace continued to struggle, offensively in the second quarter. Miami Trace outscored Hillsboro, 18-8 in the second quarter.
The Lady Panthers converted 7 of 21 field goal attempts in the second quarter, to 3 of 7 for the Lady Indians.
Miami Trace connected on four three-point baskets in the second quarter to two threes for Hillsboro.
Miami Trace tied the game, 22-22 on a three-pointer by McDonald. The Lady Panthers took their second lead of the game on a bucket from McDonald with 1:45 to play in the half.
The half ended with Miami Trace in front, 24-22.
The third quarter was low-scoring for both teams, 7-5 in favor of Miami Trace.
The Lady Panthers hit 3 of 14 field goal attempts in the third quarter to 2 of 9 for Hillsboro.
Miami Trace held a 31-27 lead after three complete.
Hillsboro got as close as two points (33-31) after a three-point basket from Dean with 4:39 to go in the game.
Miami Trace outscored Hillsboro 11-2 down the stretch.
Hillsboro (1-8) hosts Jackson Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.
Miami Trace hosts Washington Saturday at 6 p.m.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
MT 6 18 7 13 — 44
H 14 8 5 6 — 33
MIAMI TRACE — Aubrey McCoy 0 (1)-0-3; Shay McDonald 1 (2)-1-9; Magarah Bloom 1-0-2; Libby Aleshire 3-0-6; Gracey Ferguson 1-0-2; Hillery Jacobs 2 (1)-1-8; Emma Pitstick 0 (1)-0-3; Delaney Eakins 5-1-11. TOTALS — 13 (5)-3-44. Free throw shooting: 3 of 6 for 50 percent. Three-point field goals: McDonald, 2; McCoy, Jacobs, Pitstick. Field goal shooting: 18 of 59 for 31 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 5 of 20 for 25 percent. Rebounds: 40 (21 offensive). Turnovers: 8. Assists: 12. Steals: 11.
HILLSBORO — Gracie Dean 3 (1)-0-9; Sinai Roberts 0-0-0; Josie Hopkins 1-0-2; Mallory Parsons 0-0-0; Karleigh Hopkins 2 (1)-2-9; Brynn Bledsoe 0 (3)-0-9; Jordan Moberly 2-0-4; Christine Page 0-0-0. TOTALS — 8 (5)-2-33. Free throw shooting: 2 of 2 for 100 percent. Three-point field goals: Bledsoe, 3; Dean, K. Hopkins. Field goal shooting: 13 of 37 for 35 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 5 of 16 for 31 percent. Turnovers: 19. Offensive rebounds: 6.
Lady Panthers fall to McClain
Miami Trace lost at McClain 33-30 on Wednesday, Dec. 11.
Head coach Ben Ackley spoke a bit about that FAC loss.
“It was back and forth the whole game,” Ackley said. “We had leads in the second half. We don’t do a good enough job of executing in key spots right now. Our youth showed a little bit in that game.
“Give McClain credit,” Ackley said. “They made the shots when they had to. When you’re in a game that tight toward the end of the game, it’s just about who steps up and makes plays and McClain made them and we didn’t.”
