Night two of rivalry weekend kicked off with the varsity girls basketball game, as the Miami Trace Lady Panthers visited Washington High School to take on the Lady Lions Saturday, Dec. 17. Coming into the contest, Washington was 1-6 overall and 1-3 in the Frontier Athletic Conference. Miami Trace was 5-4 overall and 2-2 in FAC play.

Lady Lion senior Allie Mongold started the scoring on the evening, knocking down a three-point basket to give Washington a 3-0 lead early in the game.

Miami Trace responded with a basket by Nevaeh Lyons and a three from Jessee Stewart, before Mongold buried another triple to put the Lady Lions back ahead, 6-5.

The Lady Panthers finished out the scoring in the quarter with a layup and two free throws from Hillery Jacobs to take a 9-6 lead into the second period.

Jacobs continued her scoring attack with an old fashioned three-point play to start quarter number two. Natalie Woods of Washington would end the 6-0 Lady Panther run with a three from the wing to cut the lead to 12-9 in favor of Miami Trace.

Both teams would then trade baskets, as Lady Panther Ellie Robinette knocked down a mid-range shot, followed by a basket from Woods, followed by a basket from Jacobs. Stewart then knocked down a three to give Miami Trace their largest lead of the game to that point, 19-11.

Washington called a timeout, and Mongold proceeded to knock down her third three of the game to cut the lead to just five points as Miami Trace held on to a 19-14 lead. This would be the score at the half. At the half, Mongold of Washington and Jacobs of Miami Trace led all scorers with nine points each.

Jacobs scored first in the third quarter to extend the Lady Panther lead to seven, before back-to-back layups from Calleigh Wead-Salmi cut the lead to three points and a Woods basket got the Lady Lions within one.

The Lady Panthers took a timeout to kill the Lady Lion momentum, and following the timeout, Lyons recorded a steal and took it the rest of the way for a layup to get the lead back to three points. 23-20 would be the score going into the final quarter.

Free throws were monumental for the Lady Panthers in the fourth quarter, as 11 of their 13 points came from the line. Stewart hit four free throws, then Jacobs converted two of her own to extend the lead to 29-20.

Stewart knocked down a shot to make it 31-20, then Robinette and Mongold traded one free throw each to make it 32-21. Robinette would sink two more free throws to make it 34-21, which was the largest lead of the game for Miami Trace. Mongold responded with her fourth three-pointer of the evening to get it back to a ten-point game.

Two more free throws from Robinette and a bucket from Mongold would round out the scoring as Miami Trace would go on to defeat Washington by a score of 36-26.

Washington head coach Sam Bihl shared some comments following the loss.

“It was a tough loss for our kids. I really believe we are starting to turn the corner. I see improvements in many areas. Our defense is looking really good and I’m proud of how well we are rebounding right now. I felt like our girls played confident from start to finish. I was pleased with our first half but knew we had to be better in the second half.”

Bihl continued, “At the start of the third quarter, our girls came out with energy. We had some big buckets from Calleigh (Wead-Salmi), but then really struggled to score. We had some good looks just couldn’t put the ball through the rim. Scoring is an area we know we have to improve and are working on being more efficient offensively. Allie had a great offensive game, knocking down four 3’s.”

She finished, “Overall, we succeeded in three out of the four areas we discussed before the game and the one we didn’t succeed in hurt us, that was scoring. Moving forward I believe our kids will continue to trust in the process and work on being better every day.”

“Our kids battled through some adversity with our shots not falling early,” Miami Trace head coach Kayla Dettwiller said. “Give Court House credit, they came out and played hard. I know they’d been practicing all week for us. Allie Mongold hit a few big shots for them to keep their momentum alive.

“We played as a team,” Dettwiller said. “We had kids going to the foul line and knocking down shots at key times.”

Statistically for Miami Trace, Jacobs led the Lady Panthers with 13 points, followed by Stewart with 12, Robinette with seven, and Lyons with four. Unofficially, Hillary McCoy led the Lady Panthers with seven rebounds, and Kaelin Pfeifer led the team with three steals.

Statistically for Washington, Mongold led all scorers with 15 points, followed by Woods with seven, and Wead-Salmi with four.

In other FAC games Saturday, Jackson defeated Chillicothe, 54-51 and McClain beat Hillsboro, 45-31.

After the first round of FAC play, Jackson is in first place at 5-0.

Chillicothe is in second place at 4-1, followed by Miami Trace at 3-2, McClain at 2-3, Washington at 1-4 and Hillsboro at 0-5.

Miami Trace (6-4/3-2) plays again on Tuesday at home against Wilmington with a 7 p.m. varsity trip.

Washington (1-7/1-4) plays again on Tuesday at home against Olentangy with a 7 p.m. varsity tip.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

MT 9 10 4 13 — 36

W 6 8 6 6 — 26

MIAMI TRACE — Ellie Robinette 1-5-7; Kaelin Pfeifer 0-0-0; Hillary McCoy 0-0-0; Sue Morris 0-0-0; Jessee Stewart 1 (2)-4-12; Nevaeh Lyons 2-0-4; Mallory Lovett 0-0-0; Hillery Jacobs 4-4-13; Ryleigh Vincent 0-0-0. TOTALS — 8 (2)-14-36. Free throw shooting: 14 of 17 for 82 percent. Three-point field goals: Stewart 2. Field goal shooting: 10 of 32 for 31 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 2 of 11 for 18 percent. Turnovers: 11. Assists: 7. Steals: 7. Rebounds: 19 (4 offensive).

WASHINGTON — Allie Mongold 1 (4)-1-15; Calleigh Wead-Salmi 2-0-4; Eliana Racine 0-0-0; Megan Sever 0-0-0; Natalie Woods 2 (1)-0-7; Maggi Wall 0-0-0; Calee Ellars 0-0-0. TOTALS — 5 (5)-1-26. Free throw shooting: 1 of 7 for 14 percent. Three-point field goals: Woods, Mongold 4. Field goal shooting: 10 of 28 for 36 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 5 of 8 for 63 percent. Turnovers: 15. Offensive rebounds: 4.