By Mark Carpenter-
The re-debut of Shawn Palmer as the head coach of the Manchester Lady Greyhounds came on Monday, Nov. 26 as the Lady Hounds played host to the Whiteoak Lady Wildcats in the season opener and Southern Hills Athletic Conference opener for both teams. As it turned out, the only thing Coach Palmer had to worry about in his debut was how many players to substitute and when as his Lady Hounds rolled to a convincing 69-12 win over the Lady Cats.
Manchester was paced by 20 points from sophomore Brooke Kennedy, a total that included a quarter of three-point goals, and freshman McKenzie Morrison, who tossed in 15 points in her first high school varsity contest.
The Lady Hounds wasted little time in establishing dominance in Monday night’s win, holding Whiteoak without a field goal in the first quarter while racing to an 18-1 advantage. It was a big opening period for Kennedy as she poured in 10 points, including a pair of treys, as Palmer was able to get every player on his bench into the game in the initial eight minutes.
The second stanza got no better for the visitors, as they again managed just a single point, a free throw from Cylee Bratton. Meanwhile, the entire Manchester roster continued to score at will, putting up 19 more points to take a more than commanding 37-2 halftime advantage. In that second frame, the Lady Hounds got three buckets from Morrison and two more from senior Darrington White on their way to their huge halftime cushion.
The Lady Cats finally got their first field goal of the night in the third quarter, but they still couldn’t slow down the Manchester offense as the Lady Hounds bettered both their first and second quarter performances by racking up 20 points in the third. Kennedy added seven to her total in the period, with Emily Sweeney adding 5 and Morrison picking up a pair of buckets, along with another from Yasmin Lucas. All of that added up to a 57-6 lead heading into the final eight minutes.
The final quarter on Monday night also went the way of the Lady Hounds, 12-6, with Lucas accounting for 5 of those points and Taylor Morrison adding 5 of her own. When the final horn sounded, Coach Palmer and his troops had secured an easy opening game triumph by the final count of 69-12.
The Lady Hounds had a break after that opening “W” and will be back in SHAC play on Monday, Dec. 3, traveling to Lynchburg to face a tough Lady Mustangs squad, and will continued their run of conference games with a trip to Fayetteville on Thursday, Dec. 6.
Whiteoak
1 1 4 6 —12
Manchester
18 19 20 12 —69
Whiteoak (12): Van Lieu 0 2-2 2, Leston 0 0-1 0, Ward 1 1-4 3, Bratton 1 5-8 7, Team 2 8-15 12.
Manchester (69): Palmer 1 0-0 2, White 4 0-1 8, Turner 1 2-2 4, M. Morrison 7 0-0 15, T. Morrison 2 1-4 5, Kennedy 8 0-0 20, Sweeney 1 3-3 5, Lucas 3 2-4 8, Hobbs 1 0-0 2, Team 28 8-14 69.
Three-Point Goals:
Manchester (5)- M. Morrison 1, Kennedy 4
