The Chillicothe Lady Cavaliers basketball team, as well as the rest of Chillicothe High School’s athletic teams, began play in the 2020-21 season just after the first of the year.
Wednesday, Chillicothe visited Miami Trace High School to take on the Lady Panthers in a Frontier Athletic Conference game.
Miami Trace engineered a 16-point lead through three quarters of play.
That gave them some breathing room when the Lady Cavs outscored Miami Trace 18-9 in the fourth quarter.
The final result was a 48-41 victory for Miami Trace.
Senior Gracee Stewart was the game’s leading scorer for Miami Trace with 18 points. She hit two three-point field goals.
Senior Delaney Eakins scored eight points to go along with four rebounds and two steals. She had one three-point field goal.
Senior Magarah Bloom scored eight points and sophomores Gracey Ferguson and Hillery Jacobs shared the team lead in rebounds, each with five.
Sophomore Jacey Harding led Chillicothe with 17 points. She hit three three-point field goals.
Junior Emma Fromm scored 11 for the Lady Cavs, also connecting for three three-point baskets.
Miami Trace took a 14-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.
At the half, Miami Trace was in front, 22-16.
Miami Trace outscored Chillicothe 17-7 in the third quarter.
“Our seniors have won a lot of games, but, they’ve never done it as the senior leaders,” Miami Trace head coach Ben Ackley said. “We haven’t been in that position against a quality team like Chillicothe, to be up 15 or 16.
“We got a little lax with the ball,” Ackley said. “Our effort on defense was a little questionable for three or four possessions and they hit three straight threes and made us pay.”
Ackley spoke a bit about his team’s depth off the bench.
“We feel very confident in 11 or 12 kids,” Ackley said. “Some of the younger kids would play varsity in a lot of spots, but, we return a lot of experience and it’s just tough to get them all minutes. We have a lot of kids who bring a lot of different things to the table. We’re very blessed to have the kids that we do and we appreciate all of the hard work they put in.
“Chillicothe is a young team,” Ackley said. “Coach (Anthony) Gordon does a fabulous job with his group. I was very impressed with their man sets. We were really concerned about No. 32 (Emma Barnes). She gets downhill well. We thought she would present a difficult match-up for us.
“We don’t normally like to play much zone, but, tonight we leaned on it a lot,” Ackley said. “Other than when they hit those threes, I thought it gave us an advantage.”
Ackley spoke about the McClain match-up on Saturday.
“They are extremely gritty,” Ackley said. “They play very well together. (Head coach) Jarrod (Haines) does a great job with them. We’ll definitely have our hands full. It’s always a battle and we look forward to it.”
The Lady Panthers (6-4 overall, 4-0 in the FAC) will play at McClain High School Saturday with the j-v game starting at noon.
Chillicothe is now 2-4 overall, 0-3 in the FAC.
In other FAC games Wednesday, McClain defeated Jackson, 33-28 and Hillsboro edged Washington, 35-34.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
MT 14 8 17 9 — 48
C 9 7 7 18 — 41
MIAMI TRACE — Audrey Craig 0-0-0; Hillary McCoy 0-0-0; Jessee Stewart 0-0-0; Gracee Stewart 4 (2)-4-18; Magarah Bloom 1-6-8; Libby Aleshire 1-1-3; Gracey Ferguson 1 (1)-0-5; Mallory Lovett 0-0-0; Hillery Jacobs 1-0-2; Emma Pitstick 2-0-4; Delaney Eakins 2 (1)-1-8. TOTALS — 12 (4)-12-48. Free throw shooting: 12 of 16 for 75 percent. Three-point field goals: G. Stewart, 2; Ferguson, Eakins. Field goal shooting: 16 of 40 for 40 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 4 of 8 for 50 percent. Rebounds: 21 (6 offensive). Turnovers: 18. Assists: 7. Steals: 14. Blocked shots: 1. Fouls: 14.
CHILLICOTHE — Jacey Harding 2 (3)-4-17; Emma Fromm 1 (3)-0-11; Caroline Corcoran 0-0-0; Kendra Allen 0-0-0; Avery Erslan 2-0-4; Paige Huggins 1-2-4; Emma Barnes 2-1-5. TOTALS — 8 (6)-7-41. Free throw shooting: 7 of 12 for 58 percent. Three-point field goals: Harding, 3; Fromm, 3. Field goal shooting: 14 of 34 for 41 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 6 of 14 for 43 percent. Turnovers: 24. Offensive rebounds: 6.
Statistics by Karl Kellenberger
