The Miami Trace Lady Panthers varsity basketball team welcomed the Lady Lions from Washington High School for a Frontier Athletic Conference game Saturday, Dec. 18.
The varsity game was the concluding event in a five-game afternoon and evening of rivalry basketball on the Saturday before Christmas.
Miami Trace won the game, 53-33, snapping a five-game losing skid.
Miami Trace improves to 3-2 in the FAC with the win and is in a three-way tie for second place with Chillicothe and Hillsboro.
Hillsboro defeated McClain, 41-37 Saturday. Unofficially, it was the first varsity basketball win by Hillsboro’s girls team over McClain in the 21st century.
Jackson beat Chillicothe, 30-29 Saturday. Jackson is in first place in the FAC at 4-1.
McClain is fifth at 2-3, followed by Washington (0-5).
Miami Trace senior Libby Aleshire was the game’s leading scorer with 12 points. Aleshire also led Miami Trace with nine rebounds, including six offensive.
Junior Hillery Jacobs scored 11 points with one three-point field goal.
Junior Hillary McCoy scored 10 points.
Sophomore Jessee Stewart scored nine points and had four rebounds. One of her field goals was a three-point basket.
Junior Kaelin Pfeifer scored five points and grabbed seven rebounds for Miami Trace.
Junior Mallory Lovett scored three points and sophomore Sue Morris scored one.
Junior Allie Mongold led Washington with eight points.
Senior Aaralyne Estep scored seven points and freshman Maggi Wall scored six points. Wall had two three-point baskets, while Mongold and Estep each had one.
Sophomore Trinity George scored six points for Washington, junior Natalie Woods scored four and sophomore Alizae Ryan had two points.
Miami Trace led 10-9 at the end of the first quarter and 21-19 at the half.
The Lady Panthers won the third quarter, 17-8 to go in front, 38-27.
Miami Trace scored 15 points in the fourth quarter to six for Washington for the 53-33 final.
“Give Washington credit,” Miami Trace head coach Kayla Dettwiller said. “They played their hearts out. Natalie (Woods) does a lot of good stuff for them. She gets them into their offense. When they need a score, they look in to her.
“Our schedule has been rough,” Dettwiller said. “This is our 11th game. We have one on Wednesday and two right after Christmas. So, that will be 14 before Jan. 1.
“We’ve played some really quality teams,” Dettwiller said. “Fairfield Union, they might be undefeated. Eastern Brown only has one loss. Unioto is at the top of the SVC (Scioto Valley Conference) right now. (Playing those teams) is going to help us come tournament run time.”
“I was really impressed with the way that we came out,” Washington head coach Samantha Bihl said. “We knew what we needed to do from the start of the game. Something that we’ve struggled with is coming out ready to go, taking care of the ball from the beginning of the game.
“I felt like today we were ready to go,” Bihl said. “We missed a few early box-outs, but, other than that, offensively we were pretty sound. I saw improvement there.
“That second half stretch really killed us,” Bihl said. “I’m excited for the Christmas break to come up, just to give our kids some rest and get some of our kids who have been injured out there. Our kids are just drained. We’ve been basically playing five or six kids and we have been since the start of the season.
“Not to make excuses, or anything,” Bihl said. “Miami Trace played a great game. It’s hurting us, it really is. Our girls are exhausted.”
Washington played seven players in the game, while Miami Trace played 14.
Washington (3-7 overall) is playing in a tournament in Glenn Oak Monday and Tuesday.
Miami Trace (3-8 overall) will host Huntington Wednesday with the j-v game starting at 5:30 p.m.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
MT 10 11 17 15 — 53
W 9 10 8 6 — 33
MIAMI TRACE — Kaelin Pfeifer 1-3-5; Hillary McCoy 4-2-10; Sue Morris 0-1-1; Jessee Stewart 2 (1)-2-9; Libby Aleshire 5-2-12; Mallory Pavey 0-0-0; Sidney Payton 1-0-2; Lilly Workman 0-0-0; Mallory Lovett 1-1-3; Hillery Jacobs 4 (1)-0-11; Ellie Robinette 0-0-0; Nevaeh Lyons 0-0-0; Hannah Binegar 0-0-0; Sureya Lopez 0-0-0. TOTALS — 18 (2)-11-53. Free throw shooting: 11 of 19 for 58 percent. Three-point field goals: Stewart, Jacobs. Field goal shooting: 20 of 51 for 39 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 2 of 9 for 22 percent. Rebounds: 35 (15 offensive). Turnovers: 17. Assists: 8. Steals: 14. Blocked shots: 3. Fouls: 8.
WASHINGTON — Maggi Wall 0 (2)-0-6; Aaralyne Estep 1 (1)-2-7; Allie Mongold 2 (1)-1-8; Trinity George 3-0-6; Alizae Ryan 1-0-2; Natalie Woods 2-0-4; Lindsey Bunch 0-0-0. TOTALS — 9 (4)-3-33. Free throw shooting: 3 of 6 for 50 percent. Three-point field goals: Wall, 2; Mongold, Estep. Field goal shooting: 13 of 41 for 32 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 4 of 15 for 27 percent. Turnovers: 24. Offensive rebounds: 6.
MT girls win j-v game with Washington
In the j-v girls game Saturday, Miami Trace beat Washington, 14-10. The game was only two quarters in length.
Nevaeh Lyons scored nine points for Miami Trace to lead all scorers. She connected for one three-point field goal.
Ellie Robinette scored three points and Addyson Butts scored two.
Trinity George led Washington with six points.
Aysha Haney and Lindsey Bunch both scored two points for the Lady Lions.
