Manchester’s Mahayla Brown, left, goes full extension to grab this rebound away from West Union’s Jocelyn Hall (12) in action from the girls consolation contest of the 2023 Holiday Classic. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
A 23-point performance in the girls consolation games earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team for West Union junior guard Ashlah Staten. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
After suffering lopsided defeats in the first round of the Holiday Classic, the West Union Lady Dragons and the host Manchester Lady Hounds faced off for third place in the girls consolation game on the afternoon of December 29. A lot of fans likely expected a repeat of the 30+ point win that the Lady Dragons had over Manchester earlier in the season, but that was not the case as the Lady Hounds battled from start to finish before Coach Jacob Stout’s West Union squad pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 51-43 victory, improving their season mark to 4-5.
The Lady Hounds struck first with a bucket by Abbey Neria but West Union responded with a 6-0 run, fueled by an Ashlah Staten three-pointers, the beginning of her game-high 23 point effort. Back came the host team to take a 9-6 , moving ahead on a three-ball from Raegan Wikoff. The scoreboard flipped again when West Union’s Olivia Lewis drilled a three-point goal, but with 5.2 seconds left in the first quarter, a pair of free throws from Manchester’s Mahayla Brown tied the score at 11 apiece.
The second stanza began with yet another three-point shot, this one drained by the Lady Dragons’ Emmy Stapleton, followed by a bucket in the paint from Brown to make it 14-13 West Union. At that point, a scoring drought devoured both teams, as the score didn’t change for over four minutes.That spell was broken when Manchester’s Wikoff fired in another three to give her team the lead, one that quickly vanished when a Staten basket tied the game at 16. The Lady Hounds went back in front on a Neria score at the 2:15 mark and then after another two minutes of scoreless basketball, a steal and score at the horn by Staten sent the teams to the intermission again all even, deadlocked at 18.
Both sides scored on their first two possessions of the second half and after West Union’s Madison Stout hit two from the charity stripe and Brown banked another one home in the paint, the deadlock continued, tied at 25, but at that point he momentum began to shift as the Lady Dragons went on a 9-2 run, taking a lead they would never relinquish.
The run began with an old-fashioned three-point play from freshman Annabelle McIntosh and ended with back-to-back buckets from Staten that put West Union up 34-27. The Lady Hounds regained some composure and when Wikoff was fouled on a three-point attempt with no time left, she sank all three shots to pull the Lady Hounds to within 34-32 as the final period began.
Early in the final quarter, the Lady Dragons opened up a double-digit advantage with a 10-0 spurt, four of those points coming from Stout and Lewis at the foul line and a Lewis trey that made it 45-34. From that point on, the Lady Hounds hustled and scrapped but could never really cut into the West Union lead. A late three from Destiny Alexander made it 50-43 and the final point of the contest came on a Stout free throw, closing out a third-place consolation win for the Lady Dragons.
Earning All-Tournament honors and leading all scorers was West Union’s Ashlah Staten, with teammates Madison Stout and Olivia Lewis scoring 8 each. Stout going 6 for 8 on her free throw attempts. Annabelle McIntosh added 7 for the winners.
For Manchester, Mahayla Brown led the way with 17 points, going 5 for 6 from the free throw line. Raegan Wikoff added 9 with the Lady Hounds also getting 8 points from Abby Neria. Madison Dunn was the Manchester representative on the All-Tournament Team.
After the break for the New Year, the two teams will be back in Southern Hills Athletic Conference action this week. The Lady Hounds (3-7) will travel to Lynchburg on Thursday, January 4 while the Lady Dragons will host Eastern Brown on January 4 and then face Georgetown in non-conference play on Saturday, January 6.
West Union
11 7 16 17 —51
Manchester
11 7 14 11 —43
W. Union (51): Randolph 1 0-0 2, Stapleton 1 0-0 3, Staten 9 3-6 23, Stout 1 6-8 8, Lewis 2 2-2 8, McIntosh 3 1-1 7, Team 17 12-17 51.
Manchester (43): Dunn 2 0-0 4, Bryant 1 0-0 2, Wikoff 2 3-3 9, Alexander 1 0-0 3, Neria 4 0-0 8, Brown 6 5-6 17, Team 15 8-9 43.
Three-Point goals:
W. Union (5)- Stapleton 1, Staten 2, Lewis 2
Manchester (3)- Wikoff 2, Alexander 1
