GREENFIELD — The Miami Trace Lady Panthers visited McClain High School Saturday for a Frontier Athletic Conference game against the Lady Tigers.
McClain won the game, 51-39.
Senior Iva Easter was the game’s leading scorer for McClain with 19 points.
Sophomore Haylee Havens scored 10 points and junior Payton Pryor scored nine.
Junior Kaelin Pfeifer led Miami Trace with 13 points.
Hillery Jacobs was next for the Lady Panthers with seven points.
Junior Mallory Lovett led Miami Trace with eight rebounds.
Easter scored the first basket of the game, a three-point shot.
Lovett and Jacobs scored to give Miami Trace a 4-3 lead.
Pryor gave McClain back the lead with two free throws.
The game was tied momentarily at 7-7 with 3:40 to play in the first quarter.
By the end of the first quarter, McClain was in front, 14-9.
Miami Trace cut the margin to one point, 16-15, with approximately five minutes to play in the first half.
The Lady Tigers then went on a 10-1 run to lead 26-16 at the half.
McClain kept a lead of between seven and 10 points in the third quarter.
At the start of the fourth quarter, McClain was on top, 34-24.
McClain began the fourth quarter with an 8-0 run to surge in front, 42-24.
Miami Trace got to within eight points, but no closer as the Lady Tigers took the 51-39 victory.
“The biggest difference for us is the start we got off to, offensively,” McClain head coach Jarrod Haines said. “We’ve been missing that in the first quarter and that was huge for us.
“Defensively, we’ve been there all season,” Haines said. “Offensively, we have not. That start we got off to, I felt, was huge for us.
“I thought Lily (Barnes) was unbelievable for us,” Haines said. “Not just on the offensive end, which she hit that big three for us. She was big defensively for us.
“And Iva Easter, with 19 points…she’s struggled a little bit,” Haines said. “(We told her to) just slow down a little bit. She is tough to guard.
“They’re super athletic,” Haines said of Miami Trace. “(Libby) Aleshire is very active inside, a very good rebounder, as is (Hillery) Jacobs. She’s very athletic. I thought our nose to the ball really helped us out. Evelyn Vanzant face-guarded (Jessee) Stewart, who is an unbelievable shooter. It was a complete team effort.”
“There were a lot of plays that were big plays, 50-50 plays that kind of helped swing momentum in the game,” Miami Trace head coach Kayla Dettwiller said. “Give the McClain kids credit, they played hard. Every time there was a sub brought in, that kid came in dialed in.
“Defensively, they were giving us ball pressure,” Dettwiller said. “They’re big. They can play three post players and two of them can play guard positions.
“At the 4:32 mark I challenged them,” Dettwiller said. “If we want to get back in this, we’ve got to be a lot more aggressive to the hole. And (Kaelin Pfeifer) really took that to heart. When we were getting that high ball screen for her, or even off the wing, she was looking to the rim and looking to score, which is something that we’ve been trying to get her more into doing.”
McClain improves to 3-4 overall, 2-2 in the FAC.
Miami Trace is now 2-6 overall, 2-2 in the FAC.
McClain won the j-v game Saturday, 36-21.
Anna Eikenberry was the game’s leading scorer for McClain with 11 points. Kenzie Wise scored nine points and Brenna Wright had six points.
Nevaeh Lyons led Miami Trace with eight points. Ellie Robinette scored six points, Addyson Butts had three points and Sue Morris and Sureya Lopez both scored two points.
In other FAC games Saturday, Chillicothe beat Washington, 46-31 and Jackson got by Hillsboro, 60-55.
After Saturday’s games, Chillicothe and Jackson are tied for first place in the FAC at 3-1. Hillsboro, McClain and Miami Trace are 2-2 and Washington is 0-4.
Miami Trace is at North Adams Wednesday and will host Washington Saturday as part of a five-game rivalry day.
McClain hosts Piketon Wednesday.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
MT 9 7 8 15 — 39
Mc 14 12 8 17 — 51
MIAMI TRACE — Kaelin Pfeifer 3-7-13; Hillary McCoy 1-2-4; Jessee Stewart 0 (1)-1-4; Libby Aleshire 2-1-5; Mallory Pavey 0-0-0; Sidney Payton 1-0-2; Lilly Workman 0-0-0; Mallory Lovett 2-0-4; Hillery Jacobs 3-1-7. TOTAL — 12 (1)-12-39. Free throw shooting: 12 of 25 for 48 percent. Three-point field goal: Stewart. Field goal shooting: 13 of 38 for 27 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 1 of 9 for 11 percent. Rebounds: 26 (9 offensive). Turnovers: 19. Assists: 7. Steals: 8. Blocked shots: 2.
McCLAIN — Evelyn Vanzant 0 (1)-0-3; Payton Pryor 1 (1)-4-9; Jaden McCoy 0-0-0; Haylee Havens 4-2-10; Kaitlyn Jett 1-0-2; Lily Barnes 1 (1)-1-6; Madi Sykes 1-0-2; Iva Easter 6 (1)-4-19. TOTALS — 14 (4)-11-51. Free throw shooting: 11 of 18 for 61 percent. Three-point field goals: Vanzant, Pryor, Barnes, Easter. Field goal shooting: 18 of 40 for 45 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 4 of 8 for 50 percent. Turnovers: 18. Offensive rebounds: 8.
