There wasn’t a hairdresser in sight, but there was a blowout followed by a hair-raising nail-biter in semi-final action of the annual Mansfield Lady Lions Invitational Basketball Tournament on Thursday evening, as the Norwood Lady Pirates defeated the Licking Wildcats by a 29-point margin then the host team lost a 7-point decision to a strong Houston squad.
Norwood 59, Licking 30
The Lady Pirates, coming off of big wins against Summit Conference opponents Fordland and Mansfield, led the entire contest.
They jumped out to an early lead, on top 10-4 at the end of the first quarter and 19-12 at the half.
“Our defense was aggressive, and I was pleased with the amount of points we had held them to at the half,” said Norwood head coach Shannon Crain.
The third quarter saw a big push from the Lady Pirates as they doubled their lead to 20 points going into the final frame.
“Some of our leaders came out more motivated after halftime,” Crain said.
That lead would hold as Norwood cruised to a 59-30 victory.
“Our bench is deeper this year than it has been in the past, which is one of the aspects that has led to some of our success,” Crain said.
The victory left the Lady Pirates’ record at 15-2.
The Lady Pirates were led in scoring by senior center Cherokee McGraw with 13 points. A trio of juniors followed her in scoring – Jenna Ogletree scored 12 points, while Emily Chadwell and Emma McIntosh each contributed 8 points. Chloe Crain netted 6 points. Marla Chadwell, Emma Nelson and Sara McIntosh each scored 4 points.
The Lady Wildcats also held a balanced scoring attack, with nine players on the board, but none with over 10 points. Sophomore Dalrayn Feringa led the squad with 8 points, followed by Ashley Ingram with 7 points. Taylor Dawson, Lainy Hadix and Lexi Hadix each netted 3 points, while Melanie Curtis and Mckenzie Cook each contributed 2 points. Hailey Corkell and Jordan Pursifull rounded out the scoring, each with 1 point.
Houston 51, Mansfield 46
The host team set a blistering pace down the court, a fact that surprised Houston’s coach.
“We play fast, but this was a little fast even for us,” said the Lady Tigers’ head coach, Brent Kell. “And part of that was their defense, which was trying to speed us up, which surprised us, because that’s what we do (speed), and we’re pretty good at it at times.
Houston held a steady lead through the first two quarters of play, by totals of 15-10 and 26-19.
“I felt that at the end we rebounded well and made some big plays ,” said Lady Lions coach Gary Greene.
The tide seemed to turn after the half, with Mansfield cutting Houston’s lead to 4 points by the end of the third quarter.
The Lady Lions would lead the contest for the first time with 4 minutes left in the fourth frame.
“When we got a lead, we didn’t execute down the stretch in the last minute and a half,” Greene said.
The Lady Tigers would end up with the victory by a 51-46 final score.
It’s a win,” said Rissler with a smile. “It wasn’t the prettiest, but we’ll take it.”
He said that his quad struggled in the second half partially due to a leg injury to starter Sarah Kelley.
“She was playing at about 75 percent the rest of the game,” he said “She gutted it out and made some big plays, but she’s hurting.”
Junior Alyssa Hayes led the Lady Tigers with 14 points, while classmate Abby Casper netted 13 points. Sarah Kelley scored 9 points, Kaitlyn Root netted 6 points and Shelby Cremer scored 5 points. Jaydin Ramsey rounded out the scoring with 4 points.
Junior Maci Gray led the Lady Lions with 16 points, followed by Calista Bogart with 10 points. Alexis Farris scored 7 points, Karsyn Brooke netted 5 points, and Morgan Price and Lauren Harris each contributed 3 points. Adrian Adams rounded out the scoring with 2 points.
The winning teams, Norwood and Houston, will compete in the tournament championship Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Mansfield and Licking will compete in the third-place game at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
