GREENFIELD — The Miami Trace Lady Panthers basketball teams visited McClain High School for a Frontier Athletic Conference conference Saturday. McClain won the varsity game, 45-37.

Before the game, there was a moment of silence for Staunton firefighters Ralph Stegbauer and Jeffrey Skaggs, who tragically passed away on Nov. 25.

The moment of silence was also in memory of the three men — David Beaver, Tim Furbee and Cameron Boatman — who died in an explosion at an auto repair shop in Hillsboro on Nov. 28. Stegbauer had three granddaughters — two of whom — Maddy and Emma, played basketball at McClain and have since graduated — and Olivia, who is a sophomore at McClain and who currently plays on the Tigers’ jayvee team. The McClain players wore memorial T-shirts in honor of Stegbauer during warmups.

The game was another rough and tumble affair between these friendly rivals. Respective freshmen led their teams in scoring.

Paisley Pryor of McClain was the game’s leading scorer with 20 points. She hit one three-point field goal and made 9 of 10 shots from the free throw line.

Gracie Lovett of Miami Trace scored 16 points and also led her team in rebounds with seven, assists with five and steals with three.

McClain senior Kaitlyn Jett hit two threes and scored eight points and senior Haylee Havens scored five points (making one three).

Junior Ellie Robinette scored seven points (with one three) and junior Nevaeh Lyons made two threes for six points for Miami Trace.

Both teams made 10 two-point field goals. McClain made five three-point baskets to four for Miami Trace.

The Lady Panthers struggled at the foul line, making 5 of 16 for 31 percent to McClain’s 10 of 11 for 91 percent.

McClain had the advantage in offensive rebounds, 16 to 7.

The Lady Tigers took an 11-1 lead in the first six minutes of the game.

Robinette hit Miami Trace’s first field goal (a three) with 1:34 remaining in the opening quarter. The Lady Tigers were in front, 13-5, after one quarter.

Miami Trace clawed its way back into the thick of things in the second quarter with two three-point buckets from Lyons, eight points by Lovett and a put-back by freshman Lauren Guess.

McClain took a 23-21 lead into the locker room at the half.

“We made a couple of adjustments there at halftime,” McClain coach Shania Massie said. “We’ve been practicing a zone offense for gosh, I don’t know how long. Jackson ran it against us and we did OK. We knew this was coming at us. (At first) we weren’t really seeing and understanding what was open. It was (like) we lost focus with what was going on and what we needed to be doing. In the third quarter we were able to come out and execute that.”

Having nine more offensive rebounds than Miami Trace was a key for Massie, especially with Haylee Havens and Lily Barnes.

“Something we’ve been working on the past couple of days is boxing out,” Massie said. “We didn’t do so well with that in Wednesday’s game (a 59-40 loss to Jackson). It’s something that you have to do every single game. It can be very critical, if not. Our practice on Thursday after Wednesday’s game was probably our best practice of the year.

Miami Trace coach Kayla Dettwiller, a McClain graduate, said, “This is a tough place to play. We always get this game on a Saturday afternoon. We came out and we were cold coming off the bus. I thought the girls did a nice job of battling back, taking it one possession at a time.”

Four of McClain’s five field goals in the third quarter were from behind the three-point line.

“That took a little of the wind out of our sails,” Dettwiller said. “We knew in their last two games they had taken a lot of threes, but hadn’t shot it especially well. We didn’t shoot well from the line and their kids do a nice job from the line.”

Miami Trace got a quick three-point basket from senior Jessee Stewart to open the third quarter. It was Miami Trace’s first and as it turned out, only lead of the game.

McClain senior Luca Matesic hit her only field goal of the game, a three-pointer, moments later putting McClain back in front, 26-24. Jett hit both of her threes in the third quarter.

The Lady Tigers held a 42-33 lead heading into the final period.

Both teams struggled offensively in the fourth quarter. Miami Trace scored four points (from Lovett) and McClain had three points at the foul line from Pyror.

McClain had six turnovers to three for Miami Trace in the fourth quarter. The Lady Tigers went 0 of 9 in field goal attempts and Miami Trace was 2 of 8 in the fourth.

Miami Trace (2-2 overall, 1-1 FAC) is at Hillsboro at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

McClain (2-1 overall, 1-1 FAC) plays at Chillicothe on Wednesday.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

MT 5 16 12 4 — 37

Mc 13 10 19 3 — 45

MIAMI TRACE — Ellie Robinette 1 (1)-2-7; Gracie Lovett 7-2-16; Jessee Stewart 0 (1)-1-4; Nevaeh Lyons 0 (2)-0-6; Lauren Guess 1-0-2; Ryleigh Vincent 1-0-2; Zoey Grooms 0-0-0; Bella Shull 0-0-0. TOTALS — 10 (4)-5-37. Free throw shooting: 5 of 16 for 31 percent. Three-point field goals: Lyons, 2; Robinette, Stewart. Field goal shooting: 14 of 42 for 33 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 4 of 11 for 36 percent. Rebounds: 20 (7 offensive). Turnovers: 11. Assists: 8. Steals: 7. Fouls: 13.

McCLAIN — Lindsey Hutchinson 0-0-0; Lillie Saunders 0-0-0; Katie Cook 0-0-0; Paisley Pryor 4 (1)-9-20; Luca Matesic 0 (1)-0-3; Haylee Havens 1 (1)-0-5; Kaitlyn Jett 1 (2)-0-8; Lily Barnes 2-0-4; Brenna Wright 0-0-0; Anna Eikenberry 2-0-4. TOTALS — 10 (5)-10-45. Free throw shooting: 10 of 11 for 91 percent. Three-point field goals: Jett, 2; Pryor, Matesic, Havens. Field goal shooting: 15 of 44 for 34 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 5 of 16 for 31 percent. Turnovers: 17. Offensive rebounds: 16.

McClain wins j-v game

McClain won the jayvee game with Miami Trace, 24-23. Leah Lovett led all scorers for McClain with nine points.

Brie Cummins and Baylee Hickok both had four points for the Lady Tigers, Larah Henson scored three and Olivia Stegbauer and MaKayla Murdock each scored two.

Bella Shull led Miami Trace with eight points, Cali Kirkpatrick scored seven (with one three-point basket), Katy Bock hit one three and finished with five points, Alison Reeves scored two and Elyse Day scored one.

Chris Hoppes is the sports editor at the Record-Herald in Washington C.H.