Lady Hounds open with victory over Sciotoville East

By Mark Carpenter

People’s Defender

It was a full day of high school girls basketball on Saturday, November 25 at Manchester High School as the Lady Hounds hosted their annual Tip-Off Classic to kick off the 2023-24 regular season. The final contest of the day pitted the host Lady Hounds under first-year head coach Jordan Johnson with the visiting Lady Tartans of Sciotoville East High School.

Both squads are in sort of rebuilding modes and the action was a t time uneven and sloppy, but it was the Lady Hounds who notched the “W” in their season opener. Behind a double double effort of 10 points and 11 rebounds from sophomore Mahayla Brown, the home team jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, giving Coach Johnson his first varsity win by a final count of 45-26.

“We just wanted to make tonight special for our girls,” said Coach Johnson. “The pre-game ceremony, new uniforms, new shoes, they’ve been working hard and we’re just trying to create a new era of lady Hounds basketball. We’ve been voted last in the preseason poll for three or four years in a row now and we just want to change that. We have an army on the coaching staff now which has made practice more effiecient and I’ve learned to delegate more to my assistants.

It took nearly three minutes for either team to score on Saturday night when a jumper from Brown broke the ice for Manchester. Thirty seconds later, a three-pointer from Shawna Bryant made it 5-0. A stickback by Brown and a layup from Jaela Horner off an inbounds play, followed up by a Madison Dunn free throw gave the Lady Hounds a 10-0 advantage, which is how the opening quarter ended.

A steal and score by Shey Johnson finally got East on the board early in the second frame, answered immediately by a Bryant jumper. Maddie Fitzgerald drained a trey for East to make it 12-5 and a later three-point play by Fitzgerald pulled the visitors to within 14-8. The Lady Hounds went on a 6-2 run to end the first half, two baskets from Brown and the third from Destiny Alexander to lead 20-10 at the break.

Coming out of the locker room, the Lady Hounds scored the first eight points of the third quarter to open up a commanding 18-10 advantage and though the Lady Tartans got the next three, things were well in hand for the home side. Manchester went on a 6-0 run, getting two Abby Neria free throws plus baskets from Alexander and Raegan Wikoff. Sciotoville’s Taylor Thomas hit a three to end the third, but the Lady Hounds were still up comfortably 36-18.

Manchester got a putback bucket from Horner on their first possession of the final quarter, one that the two teams played pretty evenly. East got a pair of threes from Fitzgerald in the eight-minute span but the final basket of the night belonged to the Lady Hounds’ Madelyn Napier as the host squad opened their 2023-24 campaign in a successful manner with the 19-point triumph.

Mahayla Brown led the winners with her double-double effort of 10 points and 11 rebounds, with Madison Dunn adding 9 while Shawna Bryant and Jaela Horner scoring 6 apiece.

East was led by a game-high 16 points from Maddie Fitzgerald.

The Lady Hounds were back in action on their home floor on Monday night, opening Southern Hills Athletic Conference play with a 72-40 loss to Whiteoak to even their mark at 1-1. Manchester hosted Scioto Christian on Tuesday evening and then will continue their season-opening home stand when they host Portsmouth Clay on Saturday, December 2 at 6 p.m., part of a girls-boys doubleheader.

BOX SCORE

S. East

0 10 8 8 —26

Manchester

10 10 18 7 —45

S. East (26): Fitzgerald 6 1-1 16, Thomas 1 0-0 3, Lewis 2 1-6 5, Sheffield 0 0-2 0, Johnson 1 0-0 2, Team 10 2-9 26.

Manchester (45): Dunn 4 1-4 9, Napier 1 0-0 2, Arnett 1 0-0 2, Bryant 2 1-2 6, Horner 3 0-2 6, Wikoff 1 0-2 2, Alexander 2 0-0 4, Neria 1 2-2 4, Brown 5 0-0 10, Team 21 4-12 46.

Three-Point Goals:

S. East (3)- Fitzgerald 3

Manchester (1)- Bryant 1