The Whiteoak Lady Cats hosted the Manchester Lady Greyhounds on senior night in an SHAC matchup on Thursday night.

The Lady Hounds came out on fire from behind the arc netting three three-point field goals in the first quarter. Turnovers and numerous offensive rebounds allowed by the Lady Cats allowed the Lady Hounds to take a 21-7 lead to the second period.

The Lady Hounds went to an inside game in the second utilizing their size advantage down low for easy layups. The Lady Cats continued to turn the ball over allowing easy points in transition falling behind 36-12 heading to the locker room.

The Lady Hounds found their rhythm from behind the arc coming out of halftime hitting four three-point field goals. Cylee Bratton and Megan Botts led the Lady Cat offense to their best quarter of the night each netting a three-point basket and Bratton adding two more points. However, the Lady Hounds were still firmly in control taking a 56-20 lead to the fourth.

With the game firmly in hand, the Lady Hounds switched to cruise control in the fourth. The Lady Cats continued to battle all the way to the final buzzer but were defeated by a score of 70-27. The Lady Cat seniors exited via curtain call with Botts finishing with eight and Courtney Gross finishing with five.

Despite a tough season, Lady Cats head coach Steve Smith was pleased with the progress made and was optimistic about the future of the program saying, “the first couple of weeks took some getting used to, but they’ve come around and done better. It’s going to hurt to lose Megan (Botts), but the freshman got a lot of experience.”

The Lady Cats will play a make-up game Saturday, February 10th at home against Eastern at 3:00 pm.

(Box Score)

Manchester: 21-15-20-14

Whiteoak: 7-5-8-7

Manchester: Sweeney 3(4)-2/3-20; Kennedy 5(2)-0/1-16; Cox 5-2/4-12; White 2(1)-7; Haskins 1(1)-5; Smith 1-2/2-4; Young 1-2; Hobbs (1)-3; Turner 1/2-1

Totals: 18(9)-7/12-70

Whiteoak: Bratton 4(1)-1/2-12; Botts 1(2)-8; Gross 2-1/3-5; Raines 1-2

Totals: 8(3)-2/5-27

Spencer Michael is a stringer for The Times-Gazette.