The Manchester Lady Hounds eighth grade girls and head coach Johns Kennedy pulled out a close win on Saturday, Dec. 19 on their home court, squeaking past the Fairfield Lady Lions 34-32. Though the Lady Hounds are classified as an eighth grade team, there are only three eighth graders on the squad, the rest being seventh graders.

“With most of us being seventh graders, we’ve had some problems with size discrepancy and this game was no different,” said Coach Kennedy. “Their size gave us some trouble and we trailed the majority of the game.”

“Defensively we had quite a few breakdowns that gave them easy opportunities the entire game. We were finally able to speed them up and force some turnovers and convert them into points.”

The Lady Hounds trailed after the first quarter 11-7 and at the half 13-10, after both teams could only muster a combined 5 second period points.

In the third quarter, the Lady Hounds fell behind 21-14 but rallied behind three-pointers by Taylor Morrison and Abby Young to close the gap to 23-22 after three periods. The fourth quarter was an exciting one, going right down to the wire. A basket by Brooke Kennedy tied the game at 32 with just 30 seconds left and after a Fairfield miss, Kennedy rebounded and found Young on the break. Young took the ball to the hole and hit the contested, left-handed layup with 11 seconds left that proved to be a game-winner for Manchester. The Lady Lions turned the ball over before they could get off a shot attempt. giving the Lady Hounds the two-point victory.

Kennedy led the Lady Hounds, who improved to 3-1, with 8 points, with Young and Braxlynn McClanahan adding 7 each. Morrison also tossed in 6 for the winners.

The junior high Lady Hounds will be back in action on Monday, Jan. 4 with a road game at Northwest.

FJH 11 2 10 9 —32

MJH 7 3 12 12 -34

FHS (32): Oder 1 0-0 2, Jones 3 0-0 7, G. Lawson 3 1-2 7, Thackston 1 0-0 2, Duffie 0 2-2 2, T. Lawson 1 0-0 2, Wolfe 2 0-0 4, Sanderson 3 0-1 6, Team 14 2-5 32.

MJH (34): Turner 0 1-2 1, Young 3 0-0 7, Jones 1 0-0 2, Kennedy 4 0-0 8, Morrison 2 0-0 6, Sweeney 1 1-2 3, McClanahan 3 1-2 7, Team 14 3-6 34.

Three-Point Goals:

FJH- Jones 1

MJH- Young 1, Morrison 2

https://www.peoplesdefender.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_Greyhound2.jpg
Manchester 34 Fairfield 32

By Mark Carpenter

mcarpenter@civitasmedia.com

Reach Mark Carpenter at 937-544-2391 or on Twitter @adamscosports.