GREENFIELD— The McClain Lady Tigers hosted the Fairfield Lady Lions on Saturday, January 5, in a matchup of cross-county rivals and turned a 25-25 tie at halftime into a 10 point 52-42 win.
Fairfield’s ladies started the game with a quick four points with Trinity Huff and Brianna Barnes each getting early buckets but, the Lady Tigers aswered immediately as Kyla Burchett hit back to back three pointers, Bryn Karnes split a pair of free throws and Kelli Uhrig hit a triple to give McClain a 12-4 lead and force the Lady Lions and Head Coach Chad Hamilton to call a timeout with 3:41 to play.
Following the stoppage in play the Lady Lions outscored the Lady Tigers 7-6 before the first quarter buzzer with Madison Bronner recording five points including a three pointer while Samara Cannon and Molly Thackston each split a pair of free throws.
The Lady Tigers got contributions from Karnes who went two of four at the charity stripe while Jaelyn Pitzer and Uhrig each had baskets over the final 3:41 to keep McClain in control with the score at 18-11.
In the second quarter of play the teams traded baskets over the first few minutes before foul trouble for the Lady Lions led to McClain making five consecutive trips to the foul line where they went a combined three of 10 and allowed the Lady Lions to creep back into the game hitting four of six free throws over the same span and a basket from Ella Newkirk and two from Cannon the last of which tied the game at 25 points apiece with 1:29 to play in the first half.
Neither team scored over the final 1:29 and the scoreboard read 25-25 as the halftime buzzer sounded.
“Good start for Kyla Burchett, really got us off to a good start. We shot the ball extremely well in the first quarter, did some really good things defensively,” said McClain head coach Jarrod Haines. “Just kind of got lackadaisical there in the second quarter, gave them some easy points, kind of watched people on offense rather than moving and a big key there in the first half was free throws.”
The Lady Tigers blew the game open in the third quarter when they outscored Fairfield 19-4 and took a 44-29 lead headed into the fourth quarter.
Uhrig led the way for the Lady Tigers with 10 points in the third while Emma Stegbauer had five points including a three point shot. Karnes and Burchett each had two in the third to help McClain establish a lead they would not relinquish.
Cannon led the Lady Lions with seven points in the final frame while Barnes had four and Thackston had two for Fairfield as they attempted to rally.
However, the McClain scored eight of their own with senior Lix Kegley scoring four points to lead the Lady Tigers and help secure the 52-42 win.
The McClain Lady Tigers traveled to Portsmouth on Monday to take on Notre Dame and will travel to Unioto High School on Thursday to take on the Lady Shermans in a non-conference game.
Fairfield traveled to Manchester on Monday and took on the Lady Greyhound in Southern Hills Athletic Conference competition and will not be in action again until Thursday, Jan. 17, when they host the Fayetteville Lady Rockets in SHAC action.
Score by quarters
MHS: 18-9-19-8
FHS: 11-14-4-13
McClain: Weller 1/2-1; Pitzer 1-2; Uhrig 6(1)-2/4-17; BUrchett 4(2)- 1/4-15; Karnes 2-4/8-8; Kegley 2-4; Stegbauer 1(1)-0/3-5
Totals: 16(4)-8/21-52
Fairfield: Newkirk 1-4/4-6; Cannon 3(1)-1/2-10; Fouch 1-2; Huff 1-2; Thackston 1-1/2-3; Bronner 1(1)-5; Haines 1-2; Barnes 5-2/2-12
Totals: 14(2)-8/11-42
Ryan Applegate is the sports editor for The Times-Gazette. Reach Ryan Applegate at 937-402-2572, or on Twitter @RCApplegate89.
